The ministry of commerce and industry and the ministry of agriculture, government of India, have jointly brought out a booklet titled "WTO Agreement on Agriculture: India's Proposals". The booklet contains detailed information on trade in agriculture covering, inter-alia, the period from Uruguay Round and after; important issues in the WTO negotiations on agriculture including implication of Agreement on Agriculture for India and measures taken to safeguard Indian agriculture; and texts of India's proposals in the current negotiations under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture.

The booklet lists out the series of measures taken by the government to safeguard the interests of the farmers and Indian agriculture. Some of these measures listed in the booklet are as follows:

(i) Import duties on a number of agro and other items have been increased. For example, the duty on arecanut has been raised from 35 per cent to 100 per cent, on poultry products from 35 per cent to 100 per cent, on wheat from 0 per cent to 50 per cent, on skimmed milk powder from 0 per cent to 60 per cent for imports beyond the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) of 10,000 tonnes; on apple from 35 per cent to 50 per cent, on rice from 0 per cent to 70 per cent, on broken rice and paddy from 0 per cent to 80 per cent, and on sugar from 27.5 per cent to 60 per cent.

(ii) In the Budget 2001-2002, the customs duty on tea, coffee, copra and coconut as well as dessicated coconut has been increased from the present rate of 35 per cent to 70 per cent. The rate of duty on crude edible oils, except soyabean oil, which ranged from 35 per cent to 55 per cent, has been increased to a uniform rate of 75 per cent. Similarly, the duty on refined oils which ranged from 45 per cent to 65 per cent has also been hiked to 85 per cent. Customs duty has also been enhanced on import of crude palm oil by vanaspati manufacturers from 25 per cent to 75 per cent. However, sick vanaspati units would pay at the rate of 55 per cent. It needs to be mentioned in this connection that customs duty on edible oil has to harmonise the interests of both domestic producers and consumers.

It may be recalled that in the Budget speech for the year 2001-2002, the finance minister had categorically assured that the interest of farmers would be adequately safeguarded and the government would move swiftly whenever there is a perceptible threat on account of imports. It has also been announced in the Budget that countervailing duty equivalent to state excise duty would be levied on imported alcoholic beverages.

(iii) Import of all packaged commodities have been subjected to compliance of all the conditions of the standards as are applicable on the domestic packaged commodities in accordance with the Weights and Measures (Packaged commodity) Order 1977.

(iv) Import of 131 products has been made subject to compliance of the mandatory Indian quality standards as applicable to domestic goods. For compliance of this requirement, all manufacturers/exporters of these products to India are required to register themselves with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The list of 131 products includes various food preservatives and additives, milk powder, infant milk food etc.

(v) An Inter-ministerial Group headed by commerce secretary was constituted on 28th July, 2000, to assess the likely impact of the removal of QRs on imports and to suggest suitable corrective measures. Departments of Agriculture & Cooperation; Consumer Affairs; Small Scale Industries and Agro & Rural Industries; Chemicals & Petro-chemicals; Fertilisers; Petroleum and Natural Gas; Animal Husbandry & Dairying as well as the Ministries of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises and Information Technology have been represented in the Group.

It is worth mentioning here that, although maintenance of Quantitative Restrictions (QRs) on imports is not permitted as per Article XI of GATT, the government can, if the situation so warrants, utilise the mechanism of raising the applied tariffs within the bound rates, if such a gap exists and take measures such as anti-dumping action, safeguard actions and imposition of countervailing duties, which are permissible under certain specified circumstances under the WTO Agreements, in order to provide protection to the domestic producers. Imports are being closely monitored and the government are determined to ensure through the appropriate use of the above mechanisms that imports do not cause any serious injury to the domestic producers, the booklet states.

It is being claimed in the corridors of the ministry of commerce that the entire Export-Import (Exim) Policy 2001-2002 announced, is agro-centric with the salient thrust areas being the Agri Export Zones which would act as regional motors of India's exports and the Market Access. According to Murasoli Maran, "The Market Access Initiative could be operationalised within 60 days provided concrete proposals were received from trade and industry for availing the scheme."

The union minister for commerce has further commented while unveiling the Exim Policy, "The agro focus did not mean shifting of emphasis to export of primary agricultural commodities nor does it mean that we can ignore labour-intensive manufacturing sector. (for instance), diamonds and garments have been the post-Independence stars. We should impart more dynamism and more value-addition through technology and innovation."