MECHANISM FOR MONITORING IMPORTS
OF SENSITIVE ITEMS
The Government has
put in place a suitable mechanism for monitoring the imports of
sensitive items to ensure that Indian farmers are not put to any
hardship. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha
today, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Shri Hukumdeo Narayan
Yadav said that the Government is committed to providing adequate
protection to Indian farmers through various measures including
appropriate calibrations of applied tariffs within bound levels,
recourse to trade remedies and Government support consistent with
the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The continued high level of
domestic support and export subsidies given to farmers in the
developed countries denies meaningful market access to the developing
countries and depresses international prices of subsidized products.
During the on-going
negotiations on WTO Agreement on agriculture, India has periodically
submitted negotiating proposals and co-sponsored proposals with
like minded members of the WTO. In these negotiating proposals,
India has sought, among others , substantial reduction in all
forms of domestic support by the developed countries. India has
also proposed that food and livelihood security concerns of the
developing countries should be safeguarded and substantial improvements
in market access in products of export interest to developing
countries should be agreed to. The negotiations are scheduled
to be concluded by 1st January 2005.
