WTO – India Continues 3 Way Corrupt AGRICULTURE Policies
July27, 2014 (C) Ravinder Singh
ravinderinvent@gmail.com
India has been Persisting With Corrupted AGRICULTURE policies UNIQUE
in the world even under NDA regime which is hindering progress of
Agriculture, Value Additions of Crops & Food Processing and Marketing
Farm Fresh Fruits and Vegetables and Processed Foods.
India could potentially export $100b to $200b worth of foods. Just
hygienic storage, processing, packaging and Branding could earn 200%
higher price for food exports than present – actually Branded Basmati
Rice or Ice Creams etc are retailed for 5-10 times wholesale price.
Real Earnings of Indian farmers could TRIPLE in five years.
1.] Worldwide Agriculture is considered Low Income Activity and to
maintain Income Levels of Farmers, in Developed Countries Farmers get
DIRECT subsidies $25,000 to $100,000 annually. Land holdings are
smaller in Switzerland therefore Swiss farmers get maximum subsidy.
Income of every farmer in developed countries is PROTECTED.
Majority, 75% of the farmers in India don’t even Get Bank Credit and
the lucky ones get it late and had to depend on Moneylenders for loans
at 40% to 120% annual rate of interest. Monsoon this year is delayed
in first 1 month and 27 days there is 25% deficit than normal but
there is no scheme to automatically compensate or assist farmers and
there is no Crop Insurance for 95% farmers.
Essential grains are procured and inefficiently stored and States
Identify Poor and Very Poor who are together around 25% population are
eligible for Public Distribution and half of subsidized food allocated
is diverted for Open Market Sale and in addition good quality food is
replaced by rotten foods.
2.] Small and Medium Farmers in Developed Countries Hygienically
Store, Process Foods, Preserve Nutrients, Brand and Market all foods
at FARMERS MARKETS. Indian Farmers are prevented from such VALUE
ADDITION ACTIVITIES. 80% of Foods in Developed Countries is PROCESSED,
but not even 2% in India.
3.] Indians are SUPPLIED UNHYGENIC, Poor Quality foods at 200% to
500% Market Price through network of middlemen.
Poor and Lower Middle Class spend 80% to 50% of their earnings on
Foods but when their brothers in rural India are selling their produce
– Onion, Potato and Tomato at Rs.2 to Rs.5 per kg they in urban India
pay Rs.20 to Rs.80 per kg. for degraded and unhygienic foods.
India Attracted 1.2% of EU FDI & WTO Dispute
5.] Dullards in UPA Government were Promoting WEIRD idea of supplying
$30b worth of Foodgrains or $30 per capita to 1 billion Indians that
is good enough to buy say 40 Liters of Milk or 60 kg of Tomato (110 gm
of milk or 160gm of Tomato per day.*) UPA-I & II MADE NO EFFORT TO
CONTAIN MIDDLEMEN & PRICE RISE.
UPA-I & II wanted DEVELOPED COUNTRIES like SWITZERLAND for example to
Cut Down $5b annual Subsidy to 50,000 Farmers. Here in the following
7m USA Farmers export $116b worth of Foods Equal to Subsidy farmers
get in 2010.
Subsidy to Farmers in India like in USA of say $100b Would also
generate EXPORTS worth $100b or more when processed by BRANDED
companies.
7. Assuming FDI in FOOD INFRA at 20% is $200b and companies
repatriate $20b annual but shall BOOST INDIAN EXPORTS to Well Over
$100b, Avoid Quantity, Quality and Nutrient Loss worth $50b. So India
has over $100b NET ADVANTAGE.
CREATE OVER 100M JOBS AS BIGGEST ADVANTAGE – TRIPLE FARMERS REAL INCOME.
Ravinder Singh, National General Secretary.
Sabka Bharat Mission 2019
Y-77, Hauz Khas, New Delhi -110016
Ph: 9650421857, 9718280435
Sabkabharatmission2019@gmail.com
*This is Most WEIRD because $30 Per Capita Shall Be Funded By Tax
Collection Which Is Most Inefficient in India, Second even $30 Per
Capita Shall Be Subjected To Leakages and Administrative Cost and
Inefficient Transportation & Distribution. Diversion of Resources
from Farming Infrastructure Would Actually Increase Food Prices to
Consumers and Net Benefit to People Would Be Negative.
Rich Rattled by India’s Stance
Jul 26 2014 The Economic Times (Delhi)
Won’t back trade protocol unless concerns addressed
India stuck to its guns at the World Trade Organization in defiance of
developed nations with a strongly worded statement at the general
council meeting in Geneva on Friday that it will not agree to any
accord on trade facilitation unless food security issue is also taken
up, signalling its intent to take a hard stand on July 31, the
deadline by which a decision has to be made.
Instead, India has suggested a four-point action plan that seeks to
deliver by December 31 a complete package on agreements reached at the
Bali ministerial that includes trade facilitation, a package for least
developed countries and public stocking for food security. The
hardening of India’s stand emerged after the new government took stock
of the situation earlier this week.
Rattled rich countries have hit back at India, accusing it of going
back on what was signed in December 2013 at Bali, a charge India has
strongly countered. “The EU is not ready to renegotiate basic elements
or timelines that were agreed as integral part of the Bali package,”
the European Union said, indicating a heightened risk of a stalemate
or talks unravelling.
Another delay looms, an expert said.
“WTO goes by consensus and with India along with the other African,
Latin American countries not agreeing to sign the trade facilitation
protocol, it will have to get deferred,” said Biswajit Dhar, professor
at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
It is by no means clear what will happen next, said a person present
at the general council meeting, adding that the atmosphere was very
tense.
“It will be suicidal, absolutely. And that’s not a threat, that’s just
a statement of fact,” one Western diplomat was cited as saying by
Reuters. “They say we’re going to get what we want or we’ll blow
everything else up, but if they do that they won’t even get what they
want.” India said the concerns of poorer nations needed to be
addressed.
“To fully understand and address the concerns of members on the TF
(Trade Facilitation) Agreement, my delegation is of the view that the
adoption of the TF Protocol be postponed till a permanent solution on
public stockholding for food security is found,” India said at the
general council meeting, adding that that it was disappointed by the
lack of similar urgency shown on issues of importance to the
developing countries. The trade facilitation agreement seeks to cut
down red tape in global trade that some studies say could add $ 1
trillion to the global economy. At the Bali ministerial in December,
WTO members had agreed to pursue trade facilitation, a solution to the
issue of public stock holding for food security and a package for
least development countries.
India’s food security law, which is based on massive government
procurement from farmers and distribution to poor at subsidised
prices, runs the risk of violating WTO rules that prescribe a limit on
farm subsidies at 10% of output.
The country has budgeted Rs 1.15 lakh crore for food subsidies in the
current year.
“India is of the view that the Trade Facilitation Agreement must be
implemented only as part of a single undertaking including the
permanent solution on food security,” New Delhi said in its
submission, accusing the developed world of not having the “will to
engage in areas of interest”.
The G-33 countries, a group of developing nations, want a complete
exclusion of subsidies given on account of public stockholding
programmes from the category of actionable subsidies at the WTO. This
will require amendment to the WTO Agreement on Agriculture to allow
countries to procure food grain from poor farmers at minimum support
prices and sell to poor people at subsidised rates through public
distribution systems.
India said timelines were important but there cannot be undue haste.
“The Bali outcomes were negotiated as a package and must be concluded
as such,” it said. “This is important so that the millions of farmers
and the poor families who depend on domestic food stocks do not have
to live in constant fear. To jeopardise the food security of millions
at the altar of a mere anomaly in the rules is unacceptable.” At the
same time, India said it was fully committed to the decisions taken at
Bali.
“Having signed on to the ministerial decisions in Bali, let there be
no doubt about India’s commitment to those decisions including the
Trade Facilitation Agreement. All we are asking is that the public
stockholding issue as well as other decisions of Bali be taken forward
in the same time frame as trade facilitation,” India said.
An Indian commerce department official justified India’s stand saying
that any accord should not ignore the interests of the poor. “We can
defer the time. Timelines are important, but they are not sacrosanct
at the cost of the interest of a large (amount of) humanity which
lives below the poverty line. We are not saying that we want to
postpone it to eternity, no, not at all,” the person said.
India sought immediate establishment of an institutional mechanism
such as a dedicated Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture to
find a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security.
Global Trade Deal At Risk
India firm on food subsidies at WTO
Jul 26 2014 The Times of India (Ahmedabad)
New Delhi
The government on Friday refused to yield to pressure from developed
countries to accept easier customs rules without its food subsidy
concerns being addressed, putting at risk a likely deal at the World
Trade Organization (WTO).
Developing countries have stepped up the pressure on India saying
failure to strike a deal on trade facilitation would stall global
trade reforms and deal a massive blow to the WTO by undoing the work
done by trade ministers at Bali.
“To jeopardize the food security of millions at the altar of a mere
anomaly in the rules is unacceptable… In order to fully understand
and address the concerns of members on the trade facilitation
agreement (TFA), my delegation is of the view that the adoption of the
TF protocol be postponed till a permanent solution on public stock
holding for food security is found,” Anjali Prasad, India’s ambassador
to the WTO, said at a specially convened meeting to clear the TFA,
which promises to ease clearances at ports and airports across the 160
member countries.
India’s stand leads to threats, barbs
At a meeting of G-20 trade ministers last week, a minister ‘advised’
India to ignore some of the issues mentioned in the Bali declaration,
before launching an attack on a recent MoU between India and China on
industrial parks. There have also been some fears that the US could
initiate action, including trade sanctions, against India. Reports
said US ambassador Michael Punke warned that efforts by some countries
to derail the talks could undermine global trade reform. “Today, we
are extremely discouraged that a small handful of members in this
organization are ready to walk away from their commitments at Bali, to
kill the Bali agreement, to kill the power of that good faith and
goodwill we all shared, to flip the lights in this building back to
dark,” Punke was quoted as saying.
India is demanding that the new agreement, which is to be implemented
a year later, should be finalized only after WTO members accept the
demand from several developing countries, led by India, to change the
rules on government food subsidies. Currently, the government has to
cap food subsidy at 10% of the value of the production but the value
is based on prices prevalent in 1986-88, which have increased up to
six times since then. A breach of the cap will limit the ability of
developing countries to maintain public stockholding of food grains,
which not just benefits farmers but also helps in combating price
fluctuations. TNN
