Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | A setback, say civil society groups-Gargi Parsai

A setback, say civil society groups-Gargi Parsai

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Dec 10, 2013   modified Modified on Dec 10, 2013
-The Hindu

 

 

India wilted under pressure from US: Right to Food Campaign

Civil society groups are "extremely disappointed" about India accepting a peace clause with conditionality on its food and farm subsidies at the Bali World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial with no assured mechanism for finding a permanent solution.

They are unhappy that India has opened up its farm and food domestic policies, programmes and mechanisms to international scrutiny with large data and reporting mechanisms to be put into place thus losing sovereign control over decision-making on foodgrains stocks and procurement.

Expressing "deep disappointment" with the hype over "India's win", the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture said "India lost a historical opportunity" of correcting deep-seated problems with the WTO on trade and agriculture rules that were tilted against the developing countries.

"India has wilted under pressure from the U.S. and agreed to accept conditionality to the Peace Clause that were not part of the G-33 proposal," said the Right to Food Campaign.

Questioning the media hype, Director of Gene Campaign and activist Suman Sahai pointed out that India fell into the trap of discussing subsidy limits and ‘de minimis' (minimum) support in agriculture when it should have argued on the basis of hunger and malnutrition in India and that any attempt by the Indian government to act on it cannot possibly be placed under the purview of WTO sanctions. "Ceding trade facilitation means that post-Bali we should expect an influx of heavily subsidised agri produce from outside," she said.

According to Vandana Shiva of Navdanya, India should have insisted that an audit of free trade be done, instead of accepting further trade liberalisation, and giving in to the "peace clause" - which postpones putting food security and food sovereignty at the centre of trade in agriculture.

"Avoiding a total meltdown of the WTO is being touted as a breakthrough, which just shows how de-legitimate the corporate-led model of trade liberalisation, embodied by the WTO, has become," was how Our World Is Not For Sale (OWINFS), a global network of NGOs reacted to the developments.

Asked by The Hindu to respond, former union secretary E.A.S. Sarma said the civil society's view seemed to have driven the government into adopting a pro-people stance at the WTO, though "worrisome facts" remain such as negotiating a Parliament-enacted law in an external forum and not taking the States' views on board in a federal system.


The Hindu, 7 December, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/a-setback-say-civil-society-groups/article5434067.ece?ref=relatedNews


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close