WTO Talks + CLIMATE CHANGE & WSSD Chief + Distressed Tea Garden Workers

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NEWS Bulletin from Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture And Rural Development ************************************* 1. Climate change to cast a spell on agriculture, says WSSD chief On WTO Talks --- 2. India’s concerns addressed at Doha talks, says WTO DDG 3. Trade between developing nations important for India, says UNCTAD chief IMPORT LIBERALISATION----- 4. Govt considers removal of import duty on wheat flour 5. Jalpaiguri tea garden workers a distressed lot --------- Climate change to cast a spell on agriculture, says WSSD chief http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Climate-change-to-cast-a-spell-on-agri/210046/0 ASHOK B SHARMAPosted online: Sunday , August 12, 2007 at 2331 hrs IST Climate change is set to take a toll on Indian agriculture unless adaptive measures are put in place. There may be severe droughts at places and enhanced intensity of floods in other parts of the country, according to the secretary general of 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Nitin Desai. In the context of

emerging scenario in the near future Kutch and Saurashtra which occupies about one fourth of the area of Gujarat and 60% of Rajasthan may face acute water scarce conditions. River basins of Mahi, Pennar, Sabarmati and Tapti shall also face water shortage conditions. River basins belonging to Cauvery, Ganga, Narmada and Krishna shall experience seasonal or regular water-stressed conditions. River basins belonging to Godavari, Brahmani and Mahanadi shall not have water shortages but are predicted to face severe flood conditions. The periniel sources of surface water would dry as the Himalayan glaciers that feed seven great Asian rivers—Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and Huang Ho—were fast retreating, he cautioned. It has been marked that 67% of glaciers are retreating at a startling rate in the Himalayas and the major casual factor has been identified as climate change, he said. The Khumbu Glacier, a popular climbing route to the summit of Mt Everest, has retreated over 5 km from where Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay set out to conquer the world’s highest mountain in 1953. The rate of retreat of the Gangotri glacier in the past three decades is three times higher than the rate for the previous 200 years “Accelerated melting of glaciers will cause an increase in river levels over the next few decades, initially leading to higher incidence of flooding and land-slides. But, in the longer-term, as the volume of ice available for melting diminishes, rivers will have lesser and lesser water. In the Ganga, the loss of glacier meltwater would reduce July-September flows by two thirds, causing water shortages for 500 million people and 37% of India’s irrigated land,” said Desai. He said that India’s per capita emissions of carbon

dioxide has grown at 3.8% a year in the period 1980-2004 and energy forecasts says that it would quadruple by 2050 from 2004 level of 1.1 tonne per capita. The European Union has committed itself to cut its emissions by half by 2050. If this happens then Europe’s carbon emissions would fall to around 4 tonne per capita, the same as China in 2004 and what India would be before 2050, he said. Desai was in India at the inivitation of The Oceanic Group. Desai said that global emissions should start declining from 2015-2020, even if the goals are set for 2050. The US has indicated that it will not accept any commitment unless India and China are brought in. The growing consumer sensitivity about climate change could lead to market pressures akin to those that prevail on labour issues, he said. “Even if all emissions stopped tomorrow, the Earth will

warmer by a further 0.5 to one degree celsius over coming decades due to the considerable intertia in the climate system,” he said and added the World Bank has suggested an annual investment of $ 1,500 billion in developing countries to tackle the problems of climate change. ----- India’s concerns addressed at Doha talks, says WTO DDG http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Indias-concerns-addressed-at-Doha-talks/210225/0 ASHOK B SHARMAPosted online: Monday , August 13, 2007 at 2331 hrs IST India’s main areas of concern have been largely addressed at the ongoing Doha Round as trade negotiations enter

the last phase with reasonably good prospects for a successful conclusion, Harsha Vardhana Singh, deputy director-general, World Trade Organisation (WTO), said here on Monday. Addressing a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) meeting on WTO and Doha Negotiations: Closing the Gaps and the Way Forward, Singh said the results of the negotiations, to be resumed in early September, would be known by late September or early October. He expressed hopes that something positive would emerge from the discussions on non-agricultural market access (Nama) and agriculture drafts. “If the members feel that the situation was mature enough to convene a ministerial, we can do so either by the end of this year or in the next year. We usually have ministerial meeting after a gap of two years and it is due this year,” he added. Singh said the draft proposals, released in

mid-July, offer greater sops for poor countries. According to him, the aid for trade initiative, which focuses on transparency, building up supply side capacities, along with possibilities of enhanced aid, would be a blessing for the poor nations. On agriculture, Singh said India’s concerns had been largely met, and the draft on agriculture shows sensitivity on the aspects of flexibility. On Nama, the WTO official said the position was very comfortable for India. “We are very near the landing zone, which is not very far from the negotiating paper,” he said. Harsh Pati Singhania, chairman, Ficci Manufacturing Committee, and managing director, JK Paper Ltd, noted that the Nama draft in its present form was not acceptable to Indian industry as it did not reflect the concerns of developing countries and, in several ways, was not consistent with the Doha mandate. However, the Nama Chair suggested a set of coefficients with a much narrower difference. “If we take the Swiss coefficient of 20 for developing and 8 for developed countries, then Nama-11 developing countries would have to undertake nearly 60% tariff cut on an average; developed countries, on the other hand, would be required to reduce their tariff by 28%,” Singhania said. This would be tantamount to the interests of developing countries, which can end up undertaking a relatively sharper tariff reduction compared with developed members, and as a Nama-11 statement puts it, “turning the concept of ‘less than full reciprocity’ on its head.” Singhania said an important area was the cursory treatment of non-tariff barriers ( NTBs) in the Draft. Clear direction and timelines are necessary because any meaningful negotiation on market access could not concentrate on tariffs alone, he pointed

out. Singhania also expressed Indian industry’s concern at the attempts being made by Turkey to have a reverse sectoral for textiles and clothing to keep this outside the scope of full tariff reduction. --------- Trade between developing nations important for India, says UNCTAD chief http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Trade-between-developing-nations-important-for-India/209533/ ASHOK B SHARMA(Economy Bureau)Posted online: Thursday , August 09, 2007 at 2348 hrs IST New Delhi, Aug 9 United Nations Conference on Trade

and Development (UNCTAD) has estimated that a 50% tariff reduction among global system of trade preferences (GSTP) members, comprising developing countries, would result in a trade gain of $15-$18 billion. The successful conclusion of the GSTP negotiations, launched at the UNCTAD XI Conference in Sao Paolo in 2005, could save India the effort of negotiating and implementing a multitude of bilateral and regional trade agreements, said Lakshmi Puri, director (division of trade in goods, services and commodities), UNCTAD, Geneva on Thursday at a workshop organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here. She added that GSTP would provide the Indian business with enhanced access to developing country markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. The official said trade between developing countries (South-South trade) was important

for India as 53 % of its merchandise exports are currently bound to other developing countries. While India’s total merchandise trade with the developed countries has grown at an annually averaged rate of 12 % between 1995 and 2005, its South-South trade has grown faster, at 17 %. India’s foreign trade has risen by over 270 % from 1995 to 2005. While trade with developed countries has grown by 176 % over this period, growth in trade with the South has gone up almost twice as fast at 323 %, Puri said. Further, South-South trade allows India to diversify away from a reliance on saturated developed country markets for its exports. It also provides new and additional markets with a demographic dividend, growth in demand and increased purchasing power. Puri launched a software tool to identify products with ‘inverted duty structure’. The software tool would enable the business

community to articulate their concerns on inverted duty more effectively as it would now have a quantitative back-up. It would benefit trade negotiators too as they would be able to prepare themselves better for FTA negotiations through a quick analyses of the range of tariff rates, which may result in inverted duty structure for a particular product. GSTP could address the front-stage trade liberalisation and facilitation issue of non-tariff barriers. It could also deal with services liberalisation in which India would have a major interest, Puri pointed out. ----- Govt considers removal of import duty on wheat flour http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Govt-considers-removal-of-import-duty-on-wheat-flour/210037/ ASHOK B SHARMAPosted online: Sunday , August 12, 2007 at 2315 hrs IST New Delhi, Aug 12 The government is planning to allow import of wheat flour by reducing the effective duty from 36.4% to zero. The committee of secretaries (CoS) presided over by KM Chandrasekhar last week after reviewing the wheat import situation has recommended that the government facilitate import of wheat flour by reducing the effective duty to zero. The note for allowing wheat flour import at zero duty was moved by the ministry of food and consumer affairs. Earlier, the Union agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar had said that the government would import 5 million tonne wheat this year against zero duty and

relaxed quarantine norms. Subsequently the State Trading Corporation of India (STC) floated two successive tenders inviting global bidders to supply one million tonne wheat. After canceling the first tender, government decided to import 5,11,000 tonne of wheat at prices ranging from $318 to $329 a tonne. As the global prices of wheat are seen appreciating, the government is faced with the problem of justifying imports at high prices. However, Pawar had said that imports were being done not due to scarcity of wheat in country but with a view to replenish the buffer stock. “The government is planning to allow import of wheat flour against zero duty as this will help the processing industry,” said a senior official in the Union ministry for food and consumer affairs. However, it is not clear at this stage whether the government will import wheat flour on its own account or allow imports by the private

sector. “It is just a decision taken by CoS. This has to be approved by the Cabinet Committee on Prices or the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs,” said the official However a section of the industry, particularly, the roller flour miller are opposed to the proposed move for import of wheat flour against zero duty. They have demanded that the government reduced VAT on wheat and flour from 4% to zero. Farmers’ organizations have also criticized the government for importing wheat against zero when the crop output has been about 75 million tonne against an estimated demand of only 60 million tonne. ---- Jalpaiguri tea garden workers a distressed lot http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Jalpaiguri-tea-garden-workers-a-distressed-lot/210099/ ASHOK B SHARMAPosted online: Monday , August 13, 2007 at 0017 hrs IST New Delhi When the tea sector is in crisis, the government thinks of only the industry, not tea garden workers, says a study on the distress of tea garden workers in West Bengal. The study, by Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury and her team, has brought to the fore starvation deaths, cases of workers being mauled by wild animals, trafficking of abandoned widows and children, increasing suicides and smuggling of contraband and burglary. Welfare schemes, the public distribution system and basic amenities, like safe drinking water, healthcare, primary education and electricity are practically non-existent in the remote areas, says the report.

Chaudhury, who is also national convenor of ‘Save the Garden, Save Workers Initiative for Plantation Workers’, says, “We hear that the Union commerce ministry has planned a Rs 4,600-crore package for revival of sick and closed tea gardens. We want to ask how much of this corpus would be for the workers?" According to a recent report submitted by the Jalpaiguri district magistrate, 14 tea gardens, namely, Raipur, Shikarpur-Bhandarpur, Kathalguri, Chamurchi, Red Bank, Surendra Nagar, Samsing, Bamandanga & Tandu, Ramjhora, Dheklapara, Chinchula, Raimatang, Kalchini and Bhamobari have been closed. The land lease order for Kathalguri, Ramjhora and Chamurchi have been cancelled and for others the release order has not been renewed. The closure has left the workers in the lurch as "there is no alternative source for employment and food security. In the last 15 months, 572 deaths

have been recorded in Ramjhora and Kathalguri in Jalpaiguri district and 280 young girls were missing", says the report. The situation in Darjeeling district tea gardens is slightly better. Here the Gorkha Council leader, Subhas Ghising, has said that gardens should be kept operating and workers should not agitate. "Of course, there are cases of under-payment and delayed payment of wages," says Chaudhury. The study, entitled The Tragedy of Tea: Starvation Deaths and Disasters Stalk Lives of Tea Garden Workers in West Bengal, was carried out by a team that included member of Parliament, Krishna Tirath, former chairperson of National Commission for Women, V Mohini Giri, member of Planning Commission, Sayeda Hameed, chairperson of Centre for Law and Governance in Jawarharlal Nehru University, Amita Singh, member of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, chairperson of Women's Resource and Advocacy

Centre, Ram Rajput, president, Rashtriya Shramik Congress, Sukhbir Singh and eminent journalist, Usha Rai. The team conducted several public hearings in Jalpaiguri district. --

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