Agriculture and WTO Opportunity for India

Contents: Preface. Introduction. 1. Background. 2. Events leading to the agreement on agriculture. 3. Uruguay round agreement on agriculture. 4. Agreement on agriculture. 5. Situation in India on agriculture. 6. SPS Agreement (sanitary and phytosanitary measures). 6-A. SPS Agreement—the legal tax. 6-B. India’s submissions. 6-C. Case laws. 7. Perspective of the developing countries. 8. Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). 8-A. Legal text to TBT Agreement. 9. Food security. 10. WTO negotiations on agriculture. 11. Global situation in agriculture. 12. The state of agriculture in some of the important developed countries. 13. Critical issues and concluding remarks. Annexures: 1. Indian proposal. 2. Submissions by Japan and Korea. 3. Submissions by the United States. 4. Submissions by the European Communities. 5. Submissions by Mauritius. 6. Submissions by Norway. 7. WTO agriculture negotiations. 8. Proposal by Cairns Group. 9. Proposal by Canada. 10. Extract on agriculture in Doha. 11. Decision on measures concerning the possible negative effect of the reform programme. 12. Extract from the Economic Survey, Govt. of India for 2002-2003. 13. Extract on agriculture from the budget speech for the year 2002-2003, Govt. of India. Bibliography. Index.

"Agriculture is one of the important areas which went out of GATT because of pressure from the developed countries. It remained outside the mainstream and it looked impossible to get it back. It is a matter of great satisfaction that agriculture has come back to the mainstream. It has laid down specifically obligation of various countries which have been accepted voluntarily and explained many critical issues.

It was the feeling of all concerned that a path breaking decision was arrived at after signing of the Agreement on Agriculture. However, subsequent events have proved out that these expectations have not materialized. This was because of the heavy subsidy imposed by the developed countries and the clever manoeuvre made by them to take advantage of the loopholes. The present negotiations in Geneva, therefore, assume considerable importance and India has taken the leadership of the developing countries. It is to be seen to what extent India succeeds and what corrective measures are brought out.

India has a great background in agriculture and a number of steps have been taken in various fields particularly research and development. It is a matter of satisfaction that a country which was depending on import is now self sufficient and we are also in a position to export certain quantities. India is also regarded as an important country because of its wealth of experience.

The book deals with these salient issues relevant for agriculture apart from dealing with the complex situation of agriculture in India. It also explains in detail the ongoing negotiations in Geneva and takes great care in summarizing the submission made by various countries. The book also makes a summary of the present stage of negotiations.

The book covers many important issues which are relevant for agriculture, both in the domestic and international fields. The treatise examines the positions in the developed countries and touches upon the global situation as well as the manner in which the global situation has evolved." (jacket)