It is a good thing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come out publicly on India’s stand at the WTO on the signing of the developed-countries-centric Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman did do a marvellous job explaining India’s stand but the PM’s reiteration gave India’s stand further authority.
It is strange to hear former commerce minister Anand Sharma saying Mr Modi is confused about the right of public stockholding and the sovereign right to food security. India’s stand is that the WTO’s accusation that India is procuring grain for public stockholding at a high price is patently wrong as it is using the 1986-1988 prices and inflation has increased tremendously since then. So India wants the WTO to revise this outdated price. Mr Sharma’s government was also aware of this when it signed the agreement in Bali in December 2013 that would allow the Doha Round to proceed.
But it gave in on WTO’s assurance that it would find a solution four years down the line as the then PM, Dr Manmohan Singh, did not want to displease the US. But since December 2013 there has been no discussion (or even mention) about India’s concerns, which shows the ill intentions of the developed countries and unmasks the true nature of the WTO as a neo-colonial outfit. The conspiracy (if one may call it so) of the developed countries was evident during US secretary of state John Kerry’s visit. He was hunky-dory about Mr Modi until the WTO issue came up and then he warned India would face dire consequences if it went back on its word.
