Sikhs raise plight of Indian relatives at Queensland rally

HUNDREDS of Far Northern Sikhs have joined a global rally to campaign about unfair farming rules in India.

More than 100 cars decorated with Indian flags, carrying over 200 passengers, made their presence felt on the streets as they toured from Innisfail's Department of Transport depot to King George Park on Tuesday.

Event organiser Raj Singh said the purpose of the rally was to raise awareness of "unfair" farming regulation changes the Indian Government made in September last year, which were currently being protested by growers from the states of Punjab and Haryana.

"We did the drive so people would take notice and hopefully ask what is going on, and we can tell them about what's happening in India."

Speaking at the rally were Far Northern farmers - many who have relatives in Punjab - sharing their concerns for the health of the protesters in India who have been on the road since November.

Mr Singh said the aim of the rally was to plead with local governments to "use their good offices to write to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and seek assurances for suffering farmers."

The changes in regulations include the removal of minimum price guarantees for produce - an issue close to Hill MP Shane Knuth.

"We saw the dairy farmers here lose 20c off their price of milk," Mr Knuth said. "The policies we're seeing introduced in India, we've seen them here and we've seen the loss of 1300 dairy farmers in 21 years. I've seen governments listening to big corporations instead of farmers."

Originally published as Sikhs raise plight of Indian relatives at Innisfail rally