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TDP wants hike in agri subsidies, debate on WTO

Syed Amin Jafri in Visakhapatnam

Calling for an increase in agricultural subsidies and import duties, the TDP on Monday urged the Centre to 'correct the past mistakes' and renegotiate WTO provisions detrimental to farmers' interests at the forthcoming round of WTO negotiations at Doha in November this year.

The Telugu Desam Party, which is holding its three-day Mahanadu (biennial convention) in Visakhapatnam, adopted a resolution on Monday, urging the Indian government to take the lead to protect the Indian economy from the adverse impact of the WTO agreements.

The TDP, a key ally of the National Democratic Alliance government, lays the blame on the previous Congress government for signing the WTO agreements.

TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu squarely blamed the Congress for not negotiating effectively before signing the agreement in 1994.

He said that that the then Congress government did not take state governments into confidence though agriculture was a state subject.

The unilateral decision of the previous Congress government, he alleged, has resulted in hardships to the farmers.

Citing instances of how India was ill equipped to handle the post-WTO scenario, he said the developed nations had been able to derive better bargains by putting in place high subsidy regimes before signing the WTO agreements.

The TDP alleged that USA and Europe were not adhering to the provisions of WTO agreements which provide for rationalising the subsidy regimes among the member countries. The party urged Indian government to take up intense negotiations at Doha meet so that the subsidy agreement violations by the developed countries could be checked. "We need to fight against this violations by the developed counties", the TDP said in the resolution.

The TDP chief asked India to highlight the fact that several developed countries including the United States and European nations were extending heavy subsidies of billions of dollars to their agricultural sectors, thereby bringing down the international market prices of the farm produce.

Replying to the debate on the resolution, Chandrababu Naidu rejected the suggestion that India should quit WTO. He said that this was an impractical proposition and it would not benefit the country in any way.

However, he warned that if the country did not adopt a multi-pronged strategy to prepare the farmers for the challenges and the opportunities thrown up by WTO, it would have dangerous consequences for the farming community in the country.

The resolution pointed out that the developing countries, under the WTO agreement, should bring down agricultural subsidies to 13 per cent by 2004 but in contravention of this, they were extending very heavy subsidies.

On the other hand, India was giving a subsidy of only three per cent of its gross agricultural product and called for increasing it to 10 per cent, as stipulated in the WTO agreement.

The TDP also lashed out at the developed countries for violating imposing very heavy import duties on the agricultural imports and said that it was leading to sharp decline in the exports of agricultural products from developing countries to the developed countries.

"Presently agricultural exports from developing countries to the developed world have dwindled to 14 per cent from 19 per cent earlier," the resolution pointed out.

Citing instances of how the developed countries were imposing very high import duties, the resolution pointed out that the member-countries of OECD had increased the agricultural subsidies from $308 billion in 1986-88 to $361 billion in 1995-96.

In sharp contrast, however, the Indian subsidy for the agricultural sector is only Rs 198.69 billion, which accounts for a mere 3 per cent of the total gross agricultural income.

The TDP pointed out that the developed countries had abnormally increased import duties on agricultural imports.

"For instance, a 244 per cent import duty has been imposed on sugar and 174 per cent on groundnut in the US. Europe has an import duty of 213 per cent on meat and 168 per cent on wheat. Japan has a 1000 per cent import duty on rice to protect its farmers against imports," the resolution explained.

Chandrababu Naidu said that the TDP would take a lead role in organising a nation-wide debate on WTO's implications.

He pointed out that the central government had responded positively to several proposals made by him. He also called for closer co-ordination between the central and the state governments for creating awareness among the farmers on the implications of WTO.

He called for increasing the subsidy to farmers, improving farm productivity, bringing down input costs and improving the infrastructure besides providing research facilities.

"The farmers hold the key to the success of domestic sector in the post-WTO scenario," he asserted.

The TDP denied reports that cheap Chinese rice and other agricultural products had flooded the Indian market. "India is having 45 million tonnes of buffer stocks of foodgrains. We are already surplus in foodgrains and no imports are taking place," he pointed out.

Former Union minister Ummareddy Venkateswarlu and other TDP functionaries spoke on the resolution on WTO.

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