Farmers protest ‘peace clause’ in food subsidy

TIMESNEWSNETWORK 

New Delhi: Even as commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma sought to push an interim solution or a “peace clause” that will prevent WTO members from seeking penalties from countries such as India for breach of subsidy cap, opposition parties and farmer groups have asked the government to reject the solution, arguing that it is not in the country’s interests. 
    At next week’s Bali ministerial, WTO members arelooking to let developing countries provide food subsidy by procuring grains atthe minimum support price andselling it atsubsidized rates through the public distribution system. Under the Agreement On Agriculture, such support cannot exceed 10% of the valueof goods,while India is close to hitting the ceiling.The peaceclauseis an interim solution thatwill allowcountries to go past the limit, without fearing any penalties, for four years.


Source:::: The Times of India, 25-11-2013, p.12,   http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/11/25&PageLabel=12&EntityId=Ar01210&ViewMode=HTML