India Will Reiterate Its Stand On Food Security At WTO Meet

A day before the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s trade negotiations committee meeting, India has said that it would stick to its stand on food security.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “Our position remains intact…we will underline the fact that India has a sovereign duty to protect its poor. India has a sovereign right to hold food grain for that purpose. Therefore, our negotiations with WTO will be on reiterating this position.”

In July this year, India had said that it wouldn’t ratify a trade facilitation agreement if its concern on the issue of food security is not addressed. It had asked WTO to amend the norms for calculating agriculture subsidy so that it can continue to purchase food grain from farmers at minimum support price and sell these to the poor at cheaper rates.

WTO norms limit the value of food subsidies at 10% of the value of overall food grain production. India is demanding a change in the base year (1986-88) for calculating food subsidies.