Book Review: Sachin Kumar Sharma and Seema Bathla (eds), Indian Agriculture under Multilateral and Regional Trade Agreements: Competitiveness and Food Security
| DOI | 10.1177/0015732518797182 |
| Author | Debashis Chakraborty |
| Date | 01 November 2018 |
| Published date | 01 November 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Foreign Trade Review
53(4) 283–286
©2018 Indian Institute of
Foreign Trade
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0015732518797182
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ftr
Sachin Kumar Sharma and Seema Bathla (eds), Indian Agriculture
under Multilateral and Regional Trade Agreements: Competitiveness and
Food Security, New Delhi: Bookwell and Centre for WTO Studies,
2017, `795, 259 pp., ISBN 978-93-86578-05-1.
During Uruguay Round negotiations of General Agreement in Tariffs and Trade
(GATT), the member countries agreed to include agriculture and services in the
forum expecting a positive impact for their national interests. More than two
decades have passed since the inception of the World Trade Organization (WTO),
the successor of GATT, in 1995. However, sectors involving trade and domestic
reforms in both agriculture and services sector continue to overshadow the multi-
lateral discussions. The concerns are particularly high in case of agriculture,
which is politically sensitive for many WTO members, given the associated
income and livelihood concerns. An agreement on food security was reached at
the Bali Ministerial Meeting of WTO (2013), and subsequent clarifications followed
in Nairobi (2015) and Buenos Aires (2017) ministerial meetings. However, the
dynamics over tariff and subsidy reductions (or the lack of it), trade through recent
free trade agreements (FTAs), etc. continue to pose diverse challenges for countries.
The volume edited by Sharma and Bathla, an attempt to understand the implica-
tions of multilateral and regional trade provisions on Indian agriculture, is a timely
contribution to this ongoing debate.
The introductory chapter by Bathla and Sharma provides an overview of
Indian agriculture in the global context. Since the 1980s, India’s global trade in
agriculture has increased, with an improvement in trade balance. While India’s
share in global agri-exports has increased from 1.2 per cent in 1995 to 2.5 per cent
in 2015, the corresponding shares of...
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