Clarifying the Indian position on the recent World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Geneva, the Government on Tuesday said it cannot accept the unrealistic proposal of the developed world on subsidies on foodgrain stockholding.
In a statement in Parliament, Minister of State for Finance and Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman said India wanted timely correction of any imbalances, anomalies in the working of system or rules to ensure that the WTO works impartially in the interest of all its members and not just a select few. She said the present agreement was heavily tilted in favour of the rich developed nations. India took a tough stand at WTO on the food security issue.
Supporting India’s tough stand, chief of UN body for development of agriculture, International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), Kanayo Nwanze, said in New Delhi ensuring food for its people is more important than creating jobs in certain other nations and every Government has the responsibility to ensure that it can feed its people. Nwanze is currently in India on a five-day tour.
“Developed countries continue to have large entitlements to provide support to farmers. These would have been cut in the Doha Development Round which unfortunately remains unfinished. Had this Round concluded as per the agreed timelines and its development agenda, the world would have had an outcome in a single undertaking in which competing interests could have been balanced. Today, developing countries are fighting to keep the negotiations focused on development against the single-minded mercantilist focus of most of the rich developed world on market access issues,” Sitharaman said.
She added that India was an unwavering votary of multilateral trading system and the Government is confident that it will be able to persuade WTO members to appreciate its sensitivities. “We continue to believe that it is in the best interest of developing countries, especially the poorest, most marginalised ones among them, and we are determined to work to strengthen this institution,” the minister said.
In Washington, referring to Kerry’s India visit, State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said Kerry reiterated US position that unraveling the Bali Accord was not in India’s interests and was not in keeping with Modi’s vision of opening the economy.
However, Sitharaman made it clear that for India a permanent solution on food security is a must. “We cannot wait endlessly in a state of uncertainty while the WTO engages in an academic debate on the subject. Developing countries such as India must have the freedom to use food reserves to feed their poor without the threat of violating any international obligations. This is our sovereign right. It is our duty to protect our citizens’ fundamental rights to life and livelihood,” Sitharaman said.
India believes that without a permanent solution, public stockholding programmes in the country and other developing countries will be hampered by the present ceiling on domestic support which is pegged at 10% of the value of production. This domestic support is considered as trade-distorting subsidy to farmers under the existing WTO rules. India feels the subsidy is determined by comparing present day administered prices with fixed reference prices of the 1986-88 period, which is “unrealistic.” The Minister said this issue was also discussed during the BRICS meeting in Brazil this month where India made it clear it is not standing in the way of Trade Facilitation but is seeking an equal level of commitment and progress in working on the issue of public stockholding which affects the country`s livelihood and food security.