FARMERS’ AGITATION HAS HIT TRADE, ACTIVITIES WORTH RS 5,000 CRORE: CAIT

NEW DELHI: The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Tuesday said that in the last 20 days, trade and other activities worth Rs 5,000 crore have been affected in Delhi and the surrounding states. On Tuesday, the Confederation held a conference with the leaders of other sectors of the economy and sections associated with the agriculture sector on implications of farmers’ agitation.

In a unanimous resolution passed at the conference, the leaders of different sectors called upon the farmer leaders to resolve their issues soon by holding talks with the government and at the same time they call upon the government to listen the views and problems of the farmers with an open mind and their legitimate demands must be resolved. In pursuance of this object, a joint committee of prominent leaders of all sections was formed under the convenorship of prominent farmer leader Naresh Sirohi. 

Leaders attending the conference said, “We sympathise with the legitimate demands of the farmers, the farmers in India have been cultivating deficit farming and therefore it is essential to convert the deficit farming to profit farming to encourage the common farmer of the country to continue farming in a better way”.

A leader at the conference said, “It is a wrong narrative to call farm laws only related to farmers, whereas the fact is that beside farmers, the transporters, traders who trade in agricultural commodities, food grains, consumers, industries and trade engaged in food processing, seed and pesticide sector, people dealing in fertilizers, wholesalers and retailers, big industries, brokers and other sectors of agriculture, are equally related to farm bills.  Many classes of people, including the big industry concerned, will be affected. Therefore, there is a need to protect the interests of all stakeholders through these laws.”

A formula should be drawn on mutual coordination to convert the deficit farming into profit farming.

It was said in the conference, “All the people of the country respect the democratic right of the farmers› movement and the farmers have every right to carry any agitation in a democratic way, but it is to be ensured that democratic rights of other sectors may not be encroached upon by any movement. “

Delhi is neither an agricultural state nor an industrial state, but Delhi is the largest commercial distribution centre of the country, where goods from different states of the country come to Delhi and goods from Delhi to all the states of the country are supplied. According to an estimate, about 30 to 40 percent of the goods coming to Delhi have been affected by the movement of farmers, which is adversely affecting the trade and other activities of Delhi and neighbouring states. In the last 20 days, trade and other activities of about Rs 5,000 crore has been affected in Delhi and surrounding states.

The leaders of the conference said, “If this continues, the traders, transporters and other sections of Delhi will face a huge loss of business in the near future and due to corona, business and other activities were already badly affected and just from Diwali. The trade and other activities are recovering, but now there is a huge possibility of business getting badly affected once again due to the farmers’ movement. So, it is very important to address the issues of the farmers’ movement.”