With elections in mind, the Cabinet Committee on WTO-related matters, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has apparently given the mandate to Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma to take a tough stand on India's strategy at the coming ninth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC9) in Bali, Indonesia.
Although it has decided to agree to an interim measure that will remove
the limit on food subsidies, it will seek "binding commitments" from
developed countries to continue with the adhoc agreement until a
permanent solution is fully achieved.
It seems on the much controversial peace clause (PC) or due restraint
clause under the chapter of Public Stockholding For Food Security
Purposes, the government had decided to take a position wherein it would
seek an interim measure until a permanent solution was achieved to
remove the cap on food subsidies for farm support, sources told Business
Standard.