On International Human Rights Day,
World Leaders Speak Up in Support of Indian Farmers
Full Webinar: Farmers Rights Conference
December 14, 2020
New York, NY
On December 10, 2020, over 12,200 viewers, and counting, watched the UNITED SIKHS International Human Rights Day webinar live entitled Indian Farmer Laws and Rights, Challenges and Solutions. The panel was moderated by UNITED SIKHS’ Executive Director, Jagdeep Singh, and world leaders addressed the current crisis the farmers in India are facing as a result of recent agricultural reforms.
Speakers included civil and human rights activists, internationally renowned scholars, and elected officials from Australia, Canada, India, UK, and the USA. All condemned the abusive tactics used by the government against the peaceful protestors.
Leaders who joined UNITED SIKHS included: UK MP Preet Kaur Gill; U.S. Congressman and Chair of the Congressional Sikh Caucus John Garamendi (CA); U.S. Congressman TJ Cox (TX); world renown biometrical genetics and plant breeding scientist, Professor Daljit Singh Virk(OBE); Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Aman Singh; Dr. Gurnam Singh; Mr. R. Venkatraman; Professor Manjit Sing and many others.
Some of the quotes from Farmers Rights Conference included:
Preet Kaur
UK Representative
“To watch our elders being attacked was personally upsetting, It was inspiring to see how resilient the farmers were in the face of this aggressive government reaction.”
Congressman John Garamendi
United States Representative
“I support your efforts for peaceful demonstrations and successful resolution of the problems in India.”
Congressman also sent a letter on December 4, 2020 to the Indian Ambassador to the United States, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, regarding the ongoing farmer protests in India.
Congressman TJ Cox
United States Representative
“Sikh Americans, the Congress and all Americans stand in Solidarity with their Punjabi brothers and sisters who are suffering at this point in time.”
Sara Singh
Canadian Representative
“The legislation would displace farmers, take away their right to access the markets.”
Aman Singh
Canadian Representative
“It is important that we lend our voice to the farmers who are out there on the streets because this issue does not only affect the land we came from, it affects us here as well.”
Professor Daljit Singh Virk
OBE(Officer of the Order of the British Empire)
“The MSP is not a law, it is an administrative order and there are no penalties for failure to follow the MSP. This lack of enforcement hurts farmers and us all because it does not allow for diversification of crops and more environmentally-friendly practices.”
Dr. Gurnam Singh
Associate Professor, Blogger and Journalist
“We need a Green Punjab Investment Bank that provides funds for social enterprises also for farmers crops. Punjabi diaspora across the world can help massively, they can invest in the future.”
Mr. R. Venkatraman
General Secretary of Tamil National Movement
“The laws should be tailored to each region. Setting national standards does not address the realities facing farmers in different regions.”
Professor Manjit Singh
“The Indian government started listening when hundreds of farmers began protesting in major cities in India.”
Dr. Srinivasan Janakarajan
Economist
“These changes in the law would lead to the extreme distress of farmers and a debt trap.”
Tim Uppal: MP Edmonton, Alberta couldn’t join UNITED SIKHS conference but showed his solidarity in support of farmers by issuing a statement on December 10, 2020.
On December 11, 2020, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) also joined UNITED SIKHS in support of farmers by writing a letter to the Indian Ambassador on this very important issue.
Many thanks to the moderator and the speakers who reached more than 500,000 supporters on UNITED SIKHS’ networks!
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Gundeep Singh
Media Coordinator
UNITED SIKHS
contact@unitedsikhs.org
