Indian Scene

Indo-US Agricultural Knowledge Initiative
Abhi Dutta Majumdar

(The author is the State-Convener of the Forum Against Monopolistic Aggression (FAMA). This article is the text of his lecture delivered in a workshop arranged by FAMA, and is essentially a primary observation. Dutta Majumdar has kindly consented to the publication of this article-RS)
Synopsis: The Indo-US Agricultural Knowledge Initiative is actually a project adopted in the interests of the US multinational companies. The scenario of agriculture and retail and wholesale business is undergoing a change by dint of this agreement. It is this agreement that effects to introduce contract farming, commercial farming and cultivation of cash crops. The cause behind the screen of the ever-growing aggression of the foreign monopolies, especially of the US capital that we find today in the internal market of the country is this black agreement. Corporations like Wal-Mart, Archer Daniels Midland, Monsanto verge on using Indian lands as their production fields. In addition, with bio-technology as their weapon, these monopolies are advancing to jeopardize the agro-diversity of India and gain their control. It is this agreement that is paving the way for BT crops; shopping malls, cold storages, godowns, special agricultural zones are sprawling all around. Beside the agriculture and supply chain, one of the objects of this agreement is to capture the affluents’ market of the country and markets of foreign countries. AKI is actually a part of the wider Indo-US Strategic Economic Partnership. AKI has also spread its strong influence in the fields of science and research and education in addition to agriculture. Besides, initiative is on to overhaul the whole education system in tune with the AKI in the mould of globalization—with preference definitely on private-public partnership. [Essence of the lecture delivered on 20/02/2010 at Rammohan Library arranged by FAMA]  
One among the bunch of agreements signed between the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the US President George Bush on 18 July, 2005 was the Agricultural Knowledge Initiative agreement. Though this agreement is being projected in the name, in short, of Agricultural Knowledge Initiative, this is actually US-India Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture, Education, Teaching, Research, Service and Commercial Linkages (KIA). Thus, from the complete name, one can have a primary idea about the span of the agreement.
To remember, this agreement is actually a part of the more extensive US-India Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement. To understand the significance, scope and the danger of this agreement, one should read the Indo-US joint statement which clearly reveals the alarming rate at which US domination is increasing in the matters of India’s internal policy decisions and thereby how the very economic foundation of the country is undergoing changes at the will and demand of the USA. Moreover, hints will be found in the Statement of the various interests of different commercial enterprises operating behind the policies presently adopted in India, and at whose winks the ‘development’ projects are being framed and the laws are being changed at the cost of the sovereignty of the nation.
In this joint statement, beside the agricultural agreement, matters like the US-India Energy Dialogue for deciding policies on energy and environment of India, the US-India Global Democracy Initiative for policy decisions on the matters of democracy and development, extension of activities of the US-India High Technology Group for higher technology and space research etc are also mentioned.
Simultaneously, India’s role as a partner of the USA’s anti-terrorist war is profusely admired in this document. Even the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act is also mentioned in the statement. In a word, this joint statement and the related agreements can be said to be the draft of all of India’s internal policies in economic, military, administrative and political affairs—which is directly connected with the interests of the US government and private MNC’s  and a class of India’s industrialists.
Indo-Us Strategic Economic Partnership
As the AKI is a part of the Indo-Us Strategic Economic Partnership, it is necessary to present some facts regarding this partnership before entering the core of the discussions on AKI. Firstly, Manmohan Singh, in that historic tour in 2005 was accompanied by the Indian magnates like Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, Baba Kalyani, Y.C.Deveshwar, Deepak Parekh et al.
In this very tour, the Indo-US CEO Forum was formed under the stewardship of US-India Business Council in order to properly implement the Strategic Partnership agreement. The principal task of this forum is to supervise the US investment in India and to ensure free entry of US capital. In fact, all the economic policies of this country are being decided according to the will of this forum and the AKI is also being shaped and extended accordingly.
The Chairman of this forum chosen on India’s part is Ratan Tata on behalf of Tata Sons Ltd., and on the US’s part, William Harrison on behalf of J.P.Morgan. In addition, the Board members on behalf of the USA are representatives of Cargill, City Group, Pepsico, McGraw-Hill, Xerox etc companies. And those from India are Pratap Reddy of Apollo Hospital, Baba Kalyani of Bharat George Ltd, Ashok Ganguly of ICICI, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, Yogi Deveshwar of ITC Ltd., Deepak Parekh of HDFC, et al. It is learnt that virtually the charter of demands placed by this group of industries is finally signed as the agreement. It is worth mention that many of them are directly or indirectly connected with the AKI and trade in agro-products and related businesses—as for example the Kisan Sangsar of the Tatas and the Reliance Fresh of the Ambanis. Moreover, they are enjoying the advantage of this agreement through export business colluding with US companies and effecting changes in the very laws of the land in their own interests.  
Deed of the CEO Forum
In 2006, a deed was published on CEO Forum’s behalf which can, in a word, be termed as the charter of demands of trade organizations. The entire ‘development’ projects and various legal reforms in India are rooted at the various demands of this forum. From infrastructure building to energy security, trade and intellectual properties, foreign direct investment, insurance-banking-pension, SEZ, defence, Special Investment Zones, agriculture, even outlines of various ‘co operations’ on reforms of India’s judiciary and the legal system are drawn in this document. For instance, it is said here that the restrictions on FDI in retail trade should be relaxed; barriers to investment are to be lifted from real estates, news media, satellite broadcasting etc, food processing industry should be opened for foreign investment, ‘Investment Zones’ other than SEZ’s are to be made in order to attract foreign investment—with ‘loose labour system’. It is said here that the barriers of investment of ‘Dow Chemicals’ in Union Carbide of Bhopal are to be removed. It is said that the recommendations to impose price control by Dr. Pranab Sen’s task force should be reviewed. The liability of building infrastructure will lie with the Government, Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) are to be welcomed for investment. All these will be under Indo-US joint initiative.
The CEO Forum has emphasized on higher education and research in the discussion of human resource development, taken initiatives of tying different universities of India and the USA, demanded complete independence in all the matters including fees, making curriculum, etc. That the AKI can be especially effective regarding joint initiatives of Indian agricultural research centres and universities with the US agricultural universities in the field of technological research is clearly mentioned in this deed.
AKI Agreement
The US MNC’s have advanced to establish their absolute control over the Indian agricultural system through the AKI. This agreement is, however, not limited to only agriculture, rather extended to the production of seeds, retail and wholesale business, food processing, education and research, agricultural production-distribution and everything. With this the US administration, the US agricultural department and US Agency for International Development (USAID) are directly connected and also a number of US universities as well. To illustrate, the draft of contract farming of the ITC is chalked out by business school of the Michigan University of the USA. The Cornel University is associated with the research on BT crops.
Primarily, this agreement has chosen four fields: (a) Education, Selection of Curriculum, Research and Training, (b) Food Processing and use of Bio-fuel, (c) Bio-technology, (d) System of control of water supply in agriculture. Quite naturally, implementation of this agreement will be according to the PPP model, which means that expenses of building infrastructure will be borne by the Govt. while profits will go to the coffers of the MNC’s under private ownership.
AKI Board
The chief representative enterprises of the US Govt. in the high-powered board formed to implement the Indo-US agricultural agreement are Wal-Mart—the No.1 retail trader of the world, Archer Daniels Midland—the largest international trader on food, and Monsanto—the monopoly house controlling chemicals, seeds and research on bio-technology. They want to build India as global food storage and accordingly have taken initiatives to resume commercial trade, cash-crops, vegetables fruits and flowers instead of food crops, mainly to export.
Second Green Revolution
One of the main objects of this agreement is to organize a Second Green Revolution in India. Regarding the joint statement of 2005 and the agreement signed, Manmohan Singh, in his address to the US Congress, categorically said, “India was offered huge co- operation by the USA during its Green Revolution. We expect that agricultural knowledge exchange will pave the way for the second green revolution in our country”. It can be mentioned relevantly that the first ‘Green Revolution’ was basically a joint initiative of the Ford Foundation of Henry Ford and the Rockefeller Foundation of Standard Oil, through which the agricultural system of the third world including Mexico and India was contrived to make dependent on more energy and oil, which was an inseparable part of the oil-dependent development planning, and behind this so-called Green Revolution, the interest of the USA itself  was much more than that of the agricultural production in India.
The main technological weapon of the second green revolution is bio-technology, through which Monsanto seeks to establish its capture almost singly over the entire seed storage of the world. Not only the seeds, these MNC’s now strive to establish control over the whole of the fauna. As for example, gene technology is already in wide use for the production of cattle and fishes. The MNC’s are subjugating all the scientific researches today—the entire researches on science and technology is being driven in accordance with their will and necessity. And India has become a partner of such an obnoxious project through a bunch of agreements.
Globalisation, Neo-liberalisation and AKI
Globalisation is bringing about a new international division of labour. This globalization is but a phase of the expansionist imperialist capitalist system that strives to dislodge all the barriers in the way of movement of capital. Globalisation advocates for relative advantage; in implementing the program of globalization, India’s role will be mainly to satisfy the need of agricultural products and raw materials in the global market, to employ its own army of labour to mainly labour intensive jobs by ensuring supply of cheap labour. The present Indian economy is, in the main, agro-economy; 67% of population of this country depends on agriculture for sustenance. Next to agriculture, the largest field of employment in India is retail trade, which involves 14% of its population. The AKI agreement will deal the blow on the subsistence of this huge population.