-Livemint.com It has repeatedly failed to protect the domestic food security agenda The cabinet’s approval of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) on Wednesday is, on the face of it, a relatively innocuous development. As WTO deals go, this is low-hanging fruit. The agreement is to reduce administrative barriers at ports and customs, reducing transactional costs of international trade and consequently—according to various studies—increasing global gross domestic product...

-Business Standard Chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian discusses the Budget, goods and services tax, Centre-state relationship and larger issues facing the economy with Dilasha Seth, Arup Roychoudhury and Indivjal Dhasmana. Edited excerpts: * In the mid-year economic analysis, you talked of revisiting the fiscal numbers for 2016-17. Is it a view of the chief economic advisor (CEA) or that of the government? I see my role as a member of the government. I...

-The Hindu Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tables statement in Lok Sabha. Commerce Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, rejected charges by the opposition parties that the government was unable to protect India’s interests at the recently concluded Nairobi Ministerial Conference of the WTO. “India negotiated hard to ensure that the WTO continues to place the interests of developing countries and LDCs at the centre of its agenda,” according to a statement tabled by Ms. Sitharaman, who...

-The Economic Times NAIROBI: In a major setback to India, the first draft of the WTO's committee on agriculture is silent on the two issues that the country has been pitching for- a permanent solution for food security concerns and a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) to protect from sudden surges in imports.  The draft has dismissed the SSM issue in a few lines and linked it with the broader context of agricultural...

-Livemint.com Govt likely to appeal ruling that requires it to offer level playing field to domestic and foreign manufacturers Geneva/New Delhi: A World Trade Organization (WTO) panel has ruled against India in a dispute raised by the US over the country’s solar power programme, requiring the government to offer a level playing field to both foreign and domestic manufacturers of solar panels. India is likely to appeal against the dispute settlement panel’s ruling,...