Just half a victory for India: Yashwant Sinha

Media reports have suggested that the developing countries have reached an interim agreement on agricultural and food subsidies at the ninth ministerial conference (MC9) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Bali.

Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma has claimed this as a victory for the country. He has also claimed the interests of farmers had been safeguarded and legislations such as the Food Security Act were not to be affected. The agreement has been hailed as favourable to India.

The way I look at it is: It is just a half victory for the country and the developing nations. In reaching the agreement, India has signed on the final deal on the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). In doing so, it has ignored that, in future, if discussions around agricultural subsidies were not in India's favour, then what would the country bargain with? The TFA was the bargaining chip that we had. And now, it has gone.

It is unclear what impact this agreement will have on the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)'s Food Security Act. Whether the provisions of the Act will be called into question for violating the rules of the WTO is an open question and needs to be settled.

Like at other occasions, here too, the developed countries have scored a victory against the developing countries. The developed nations have gained by getting the developing countries to sign on the TFA, without themselves providing any concessions.

As India is a predominantly agricultural country, we need to protect all issues around agricultural subsidies. The outcome of this ministerial suggests that we have got a temporary agreement in exchange for a permanent concession to the developed world.

India should have bargained harder.

Yashwant Sinha is a former Finance Minister and is Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance. He belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party