-Live Mint The national food security law is in trouble from an unlikely source The outcome of the World Trade Organization (WTO) summit at Bali has been projected as a great victory for the Indian government by its spokespersons. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In exchange for a temporary reprieve on its food support programme, India has bartered away the bargaining chip of trade facilitation, which Western negotiators demanded. The...

-The Indian Express India faces no risk of violating its commitments under WTO The Indian delegation, led by commerce minister Anand Sharma, is approaching the WTO Ministerial in Bali with a ‘begging bowl'. The government has agreed to the so-called ‘peace clause'-a euphemism for not taking any penal action for violating commitments under Agreement on Agriculture (AoA)-proposed by WTO Director General but with the caveat that this will remain in place until...

-Live Mint Anand Sharma urges updating of rules under agriculture deal to fix ‘inherent flaws', help developing countries New Delhi: India on Monday rejected the World Trade Organization's (WTO) offer on food security rules in its present form ahead of the biannual ministerial conference of the multilateral trade body beginning Tuesday in Bali, further hardening India's position on the issue. The present draft text prepared in Geneva provides developing countries temporary relief...

-Live Mint Our food procurement policies may be lopsided but there is no link between the food security law and free trade The upcoming World Trade Organization (WTO) summit in Bali has attracted considerable attention in India because of its repercussions on our food policy. It is feared that the recently passed food security law will breach the negotiated limits on the aggregate measure of support (AMS) to farmers. AMS is...

-The Indian Express Barely days ahead of WTO's ministerial meeting at Bali next week, the BJP on Wednesday red flagged government's likely move to agree to a 'peace clause' to shield food guarantee law from the restrictions under the WTO at least for a period of four years. "The peace clause in its current form is not in our interest," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday....