If India has to save its agriculture; if India has to protect the livelihood security its 600 million farmers, it cannot allow to trade hunger at the altar of international trade and development. The Peace Clause being offered to India (for a period of 4-years) at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is simply a temporary reprieve. It only defers for 4-years the dangerous fallout from an unjust and inequitable trade agreement.
India cannot behave like a pigeon which is known to close its eyes when it sees a cat thinking that the danger will go away. India too cannot close its eyes to a lurking danger ahead. Peace Clause will only postpone the harm by another 4-years. The cat is not going to go away.
In this video blog of mine, I have explained in detail what the food security issue would mean for India. I have also explained the double standards of the rich industrialised countries, which do not consider their own agricultural subsidies as trade distorting, but spare no chance at pointing fingers at the developing countries. Let us not be cowed down by the threat they try to convey. If the WTO has to be buried, let us not be afraid. It has already lapsed into irrelevance, and by accepting the Peace Clause India will only be trying to infuse some oxygen into an otherwise dying animal.
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