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Bharatiya Kisan Sangh

Activists want PepsiCo to compensate farmers for ‘harassment’

Nine farmers from Sabarkantha and Aravalli districts were sued by PepsiCo in two separate courts for allegedly growing a variety of potatoes for which the company has claimed plant variety protection (PVP) rights, and sought damages ranging from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 1 crore from each of them. Agitated by PepsiCo's earlier decision to sue potato growing farmers for allegedly growing a variety of potato registered by it, around 25 major farmers' bodies of Gujarat and the country, including Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), along with activists and NGOs have decided to form a central body - Seed Sovereignty Forum - to protect farmers' rights on seeds. A meeting to chalk out an action plan under this umbrella body was held on Friday at the Gujarat Vidyapith here, said farm rights activist, Kapil Shah of NGO 'Jatan'.