Farmers' organisation All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) on Monday congratulated the agriculturists for "forcing" the government to back out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) deal.

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India on Monday shut the doors to joining the China-led mega trade deal in Bangkok, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi deciding that there would be "no compromise" on the nation's core interests, as the deal would have impacted the lives and livelihoods of all Indians, especially the vulnerable sections of the society.

Also read: Not possible for India to join RCEP agreement, says government

AIKSCC said that it sincerely hoped that the government will not try any back-door method of sabotaging the interests of the Indian farmers and farm workers.

"AIKSCC is happy that good sense has prevailed on this government and its decision to barter away the lives and livelihoods of crores of farmers, workers and small businesses has been averted," said AIKSCC convenor VM Singh.

The organisation underlined that agriculture should never be brought under the ambit of free trade agreements as it involved the livelihoods of more than half the nation's population and has the potential of harming the nation's food sovereignty.

RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the 10 member states of the ASEAN — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam — and its six FTA partners, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

First Published:Nov 5, 2019 7:16 AM IST