Ex-Indian envoys ask US, EU to help India on farm legal guidelines, expose hypocrisy of WTO

In a significant improvement, round 20 former Indian envoys spoke out towards the prejudiced World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s Agreement on Agriculture.
The open letter acknowledged that the Agreement was conceived by the United States and the European Union (EU) with out consulting the opposite members of the World Trade Organisation. “The WTO Agreement on Agriculture is characterised by democratic deficit and based on commercial realpolitik,” the previous envoys acknowledged.
The letter argued that home subsidies, one of many three pillars of the Agreement, has penalised the creating and least developed international locations however not the developed ones.”It is nearly as if Special and Differential Treatment was prolonged to the developed international locations and to not those who deserve it, particularly, the creating and least developed international locations,” the letter identified.
A bunch of Indian envoys name spade a spade! They present mirror to those that, within the WTO, oppose India’s meals stockpiling & our grant of MSP & then bask in doublespeak, subjecting us to pious homilies on farmer protests.A should learn. pic.twitter.com/zdDoYJwi6M— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) February 4, 2021
Letter exposes double requirements of WTO
The former envoys emphasised that though the US, EU and the UK wished India to liberalise the agriculture markets, but a number of legislators from these international locations have expressed open help for anti-farm regulation agitation in India. “Obviously, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. The balance between market forces and food security/farmers’ welfare is a delicate one and it is the sovereign prerogative of Governments to strike that balance,” they added.
While urging the developed nations to amend the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, the letter acknowledged, “India will gradually and incrementally allow the market to decide prices of agricultural produce, not because of the WTO or because the developed countries are saying so, but because it is in the fundamental interest of the Indian farmers and will enable the latter to double their income.” The ex-envoys reiterated that it will assist India and different creating nations to make sure meals safety and finish starvation.
They additionally highlighted the ironical stance by developed international locations with reference to Agriculture. The US and EU have argued over 50 years that agriculture can’t be subjected to the identical General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) guidelines as footwear and chemical compounds. However, they’re now pushing for ‘special status’ of agriculture in creating nations. “At present, the Agreement has clauses on domestic subsidies and special safeguards which are in favour of farmers of developed countries,” they additional added.
US, EU didn’t think about Indian calls for
The letter reiterated that for international locations comparable to India, which actively engages in public stockholding of meals grains, the AMS can’t exceed 10% of the worth of the manufacturing of the commodity. “If there is an import surge of a particular commodity (say wheat or sugar), countries like India want to be able to impose safeguard duties to avoid the danger of their own farmers getting wiped out because of a huge increase in imports,” the previous envoys emphasised. They mentioned that the affordable demand didn’t discover any takers in US or the EU.
Ex-Indian envoys ask WTO to help India’s farm legal guidelines
“The WTO faces an existential crisis. If it is to revive itself as a credible forum for negotiations, it must be seen as helping its Members achieve the SDG goals,” the letter mentioned. The former envoys identified that India can solely obtain the objectives by public stockholding because the nation didn’t have a proper ‘social security system’ or a ‘system of unemployment dole’. The letter concluded, “The farm laws passed by the Government recently strike this delicate balance. The developed countries led by US, EU and the Cairns Group have opportunity to be on the right side of history here.”