International trade must become a political priority for BJP's third term

India's failure to become a major trading nation has made it treat international negotiations as an irritant

There have been some scathing articles in the western financial media ridiculing India’s stand at the recently concluded WTO meeting. It is painful when your country is made fun of like this.

But truth be told it’s all well deserved derision because the government in India, since 1960, has not had any clue what international trade is.

I started following Indian trade policy — or what has been mistaken for it in 1980 when I was asked to by the editor of the now defunct periodical I worked for then.

In 1987, ICRIER asked me to write a research paper on the inclusion