WTO AND FOOD SECURITY BILL World trade organization is the only international organization dealing with the

rules of trade between nations. Members 153 nations. Principles of WTO 1. Most favoured nation (MFN) to treat all nations equally. 2. National Treatment (NT) - treat imported goods and service on par with the domestic goods and service. Structure of WTO Main components of WTO includes 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Ministerial Conference General Council Goods council Service council TRIPS council

Ministerial Conference The top level decision making body. It meets in once in two years. Members of this council includes trade or commerce ministers of the member countries. General Council Functions under the Ministerial Conference. Members includes ambassadors or representatives from the member countries. Acts as Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) helps the member countries in solving their disputes arising out of trade. and Trade Policy Review Body the trade policies of the member countries reviewed to check the compatibility of those policies with WTOs agreements and to detect the impact of those policies on international trade. Goods council Also known as council for trade in goods. It looks after the working of GATT agreement. Service council Also known as council for trade in services. It involves in monitoring the General Agreement on Trades in Service (GATS).

TRIPS council Looks after issues related with Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement implementation. Agreements in WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), Trade Related Aspects of Investment Measures (TRIMS), General Agreement on Trades in Service (GATS). Now our concern is Agreement on Agriculture. Agreement on Agriculture Free agricultural trade based on Special and Differential Agreement means less commitment for less developed countries when compared to the developed countries. Components: Market Access, domestic subsidy and Export subsidy. It calls for reducing the domestic subsidy in member countries to establish a fair trade. Special Safeguard mechanism under AoA safeguard to member countries to impose additional duties on imports in case of a surge in imports or when products are imported at a lower price. Food Security Bill, 2013 Salient features Subsidized food grains to nearly two third of population. 75 percent of rural population and 50 percent urban population to get 5kg foodgrains per month at Rs 3, Rs 2, Re 1 per kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains, respectively. Eligible households to be decided by states.

To fulfill the objectives of the Food Security Bill, Government of India has to procure large quantity of food grains from Indian farmers. Then the food grains are distributed to the state governments, which in turn supply the subsidized food grains to the targeted public through Public Distribution System. Conflict with AoA India under WTOs Agreement on Agriculture agreed to offer the local farmers a procurement price below the then notified import price fixed in rupee terms in 1988, To achieve the goals of ambitious Food Security Bill, India has to violate above agreement.

Developed Countries Concern Developed countries are worried about the subsidized food grains from India being routed to the international market. This may affect the fair trade in the international market. WTOs concern WTO is pressurizing Indian government to ensure the transparent mechanism in the procurement and distribution of the food grains to the public. WTO also asked Government of India to prevent the smuggling of the subsidized food grains to international market. Indias stand Indian government is not ready to take any back step in the issue. It took all necessary steps to negotiate for a solution. Accordingly Article 13 of AoA came to rescue India. Article 13 of the AoA is referred as Peace clause subsidies given under this cannot be challenged in any other agreement in WTO. Present Status Developed countries offered temporary waiver or peace clause for a period of 3 years. Indias consent to the temporary waiver to allow developing countries to go beyond the permitted food subsidy limits is being negotiated at WTO. Reference INDIAN ECONOMY by SHANKARGANESH. www.wto.org THE HINDU Name : VIKRANTH RAJA A