शेतकरी संघटक

Summary

This is the 21 August 1992 issue (Year 9, Issue 10) of शेतकरी संघटक (Shetkari Sanghatak), the Marathi fortnightly organ of the Shetkari Sanghatana. The issue is given over almost entirely to a single long signed essay by Sharad Joshi, ‘बुद्धिसंपदेच्या चाच्यांचा कांगावा’ (loosely, ‘the clamour of the pirates of intellectual property’), which mounts a free-trade defence of the patent system and intellectual-property regime against the swadeshi (स्वदेशी) critique then dominant in Indian debate. Writing in the context of the GATT Uruguay Round and the Dunkel draft, Joshi argues that the patent/IP framework (and bodies such as WIPO) is not a Western imposition to be feared but a market institution that can serve Indian farmers and innovators; he attacks the protectionist ‘swadeshi’ position as self-defeating, links it to the movement’s ‘सीताजोती’ campaign on plant-variety and bio-diversity rights, and examines US trade pressure (Super-301) and the Narasimha Rao government’s liberalisation. A boxed item on page 8 carries a data table of world sugar-production rankings. The masthead lists owner Mohan Vihari­lal Pardeshi and editor-printer-publisher Sureshchandra Mhatre, Pune.

Essays

Essay

Sharad Joshi’s essay ‘बुद्धिसंपदेच्या चाच्यांचा कांगावा’ reframes the intellectual-property and patent debate from a free-market, pro-farmer standpoint. Against the swadeshi argument that the GATT Dunkel proposals and Western patent norms would enslave Indian agriculture, Joshi contends that the real beneficiaries of an open trade and patent regime are cultivators and innovators, and that the loud ‘patriotic’ opposition is a cover for entrenched protected interests. He works through the mechanics of patents, WIPO and the Dunkel draft, the threat of US Super-301 sanctions, and the Sanghatana’s own ‘सीताजोती’ position on protecting plant varieties and bio-diversity, concluding that India should embrace rather than fear the new global intellectual-property order.

• Defends the patent and intellectual-property system from a free-trade, pro-farmer angle.
• Rejects the swadeshi claim that the GATT Dunkel draft would ‘enslave’ Indian agriculture.
• Argues protectionist ‘patriotic’ opposition shields entrenched interests.
• Engages WIPO, the Dunkel draft, US Super-301 pressure, and the movement’s सीताजोती plant-variety stance.

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