NEW DELHI, Dec 9 Asia Pulse - More than five million small and medium scale farmers on Thursday handed over a global public petition to Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, urging him to protect their livelihoods at the forthcoming WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong next week.
Farmers and civil society group representatives handed over the signatures to the Minister as part of a global public petition, an Oxfam-initiated "Big Noise" signature campaign, urging the decision-makers at Hong Kong to change unfair global trade rules so that poor producers in developing nations are able to share the benefits of trade.

The "Big Noise" petition is currently being presented around the world at the country-level to heads of country trade delegations as they prepare for the WTO ministerial, an official release said.

Last week, world renowned actor Colin Firth handed over 10 million signatures to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.

While 80 per cent of these signatures are from poor farmers and garment workers in developing countries, the rest are from individuals in developed nations. India tops the list of signatures from a single country.

The current phase of the mobilisation for the "Make Trade Fair" campaign in India began in October in four states and was a success in spreading awareness and reflecting concerns of small and marginal farmers on the need for sovereign nations to have the power to decide at multilateral fora the fate of poor producers, the release said.

(PTI)