Civil society urges PM Modi to resist US pressure on agricultural tariffs

By A Representative 

Civil society voices have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to resist United States pressure over agricultural tariffs, warning that any concession could devastate Indian farming and food sovereignty. In a letter dated August 31, 2025, public policy expert Dr. Narasimha Reddy Donthi and Supreme Court petitioner Aruna Rodrigues argued that U.S. demands for greater access to India’s agricultural market are based on a false notion of “comparative advantage.”

“We face an all-out and unequal war with the US over agri tariffs, which unless resolutely opposed will drive India’s farming community to the wall and threaten Indian agriculture and food sovereignty,” they wrote. The letter warns of “massive displacement and equally massive migration to urban India, creating shanty towns, shortage of agri-produce, a huge import burden, famine and disease. Millions will die.”

The authors pointed to long-standing imbalances, recalling Dr. Verghese Kurien’s critique in the 1980s of U.S. subsidies that enabled American farmers to undercut Indian producers. “We could not afford to give our farmers billions of dollars in direct payments, which the US hands out to American farmers,” Kurien had argued. According to the letter, U.S. farm subsidies in 2025 are projected at $42.4 billion—over 15 times higher than support available to Indian farmers

The letter highlights India’s advantage as a non-GMO farming nation, contrasting it with the U.S., where genetically modified soybeans, corn, and canola dominate production. Rodrigues and Donthi warned that allowing such products into India would “risk our people, our children and our animals,” citing pesticide and GMO-linked health hazards.

“India’s right to safeguard the integrity of its agriculture, the very essence of democratic control over its food systems, farmers, their livelihood, and the health of its people is straightforward, non-negotiable and must be respected,” the authors stressed, reaffirming support for the government’s current stance.