Subject: Militant Farmers Rekindle Anti-Transnationals Campaign Date: Sept 7, 1995 From: Rich Winkel (by way of Vegetarian Resource Center ) India-Economy: Militant Farmers Rekindle Anti-Transnationals Campaign by Mahesh Uniyal New Delhi, Aug 3 (IPS) - India's activist campaign against transnationals has been energised again by a well known militant farmers' group serving notice on a fast food subsidiary of the U.S.based Pepsi corporation. The Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha ,which uses physical force in its campaign to drive out agribusiness transnationals from India, has given Pepsi affiliate Kentucky Fried Chicken a week's time to close shop in the country. Kentucky Fried Chicken opened the first of its 30 planned Indian outlets a month ago in Bangalore, the capital of Southern Karnataka state and the country's fastest growing metropolis. However, Kentucky Fried Chicken denies the threat publicised by media reports from Bangalore where the The Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha is based. the farmers' outfit made news in recent years by twice ransacking the Bangalore-based office of the U.S. seed firm Cargill. Two years ago, Cargill abandoned a salt making venture on India's western India coast, citing business reasons. but it was widely seen as a surrender to activist threats. "Kentucky Fried Chicken has not received any such notice from The Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha so we are not commenting on it," said a Kentucky Fried Chicken spokesperson in Delhi. She dismissed as baseless the charges levelled against Kentucky Fried Chicken by the farmers' organisation and other activists. In recent months, Kentucky Fried Chicken, along with international burger giant McDonald's has been targeted by activists who include prominent political leaders. Agitated members of Indian parliament shot off a letter to prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao two months ago, accusing the government of buckling under pressure from transnationals. They urged the government to learn from China's tough stand against McDonald's. "If China can stand up to the pressure, what is it that India lacks in saying no to the American junk food sellers?," They asked in their letter which ended with an appeal to cancel the clearance given to Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and McDonald's. A driving force behind the campaign is former Indian environment minister Maneka Gandhi. The The Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha has repeated Gandhi's well-publicised charges against the fast food transnational chains. "I am against all meat junk foods," says Gandhi who has attacked Pepsi and McDonald's for promoting unhealthy eating habits, damaging ecology and reducing job opportunities for locals. She cites scientific studies in the west, including a U.S. Senate probe which found that every seven seconds a U.S. citizen gets cancer from overindulging in junk foods. Gandhi has also charged that the Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets will use 100,000 poultry birds a day while McDonald's will buy an equal number of goats a week. She fears the spread of poultry disease among the birds which will be reared on a diet laced with size and weight- enhancing drugs. Activists argue that large scale livestock farming necessary to feed the fast food industry will lead to overgrazing and increased soil erosion of already degraded lands. they also ridicule the claim by the transnationals that their ventures will create jobs for Indians. However, Kentucky Fried Chicken rebuts the charges. "Kentucky Fried Chicken is not doing any of the things that they are saying it is going to do," says the food chain's spokesperson. Kentucky Fried Chicken will open its remaining outlets in other big Indian cities over the next seven years. the biggest planned outlet, like the one in Bangalore, where 200 people can eat, will not use more than 200 birds daily, she claims. Not all Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets will be of this size and Kentucky Fried Chicken expects to use about 1,500 poultry birds a day when all its shops in India start working, she says. The company has tied up with Venkateshwar Hatcheries for the supply of chicken and will ensure the highest quality standards, she adds. "The allegation that the birds will be diseased does not make sense. Kentucky Fried Chicken has 9,400 outlets worldwide and strict quality control measures are followed," the Kentucky Fried Chicken spokesperson says. Each Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet will employ 50 people. and for every person hired directly, 10 indirect jobs will be created, she claims. Kentucky Fried Chicken also denies charges that its joints will use beef as a filling. Under the terms of the clearance given by India's foreign investment promotion board, Kentucky Fried Chicken cannot use beef at all in the Hindu majority nation. (end/ips/mu/mv/95) origin: new Delhi/India-economy/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [c] 1994, Inter Press Third World News Agency (IPS) - all rights reserved. This information is for personal use only. It may not be reproduced, reprinted, resent or posted to any system without specific permission from IPS. For information about this copyright, e-mail to ips-info@igc.apc.org. IPS is the developing world's largest news agency. In the United States, it is availabe from PeaceNet. The entire IPS feed is available at *no addition charge* to users of PeaceNet and EcoNet (e-mail to peancenet-info@igc.apc.org for more information). You can also have IPS delivered to your e-mail box every day. 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