Public Stockholding, Food Security, WTO and India
Trade Should be for the People and Not of the People...! Eleventh World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC11) is scheduled in Buenos Aires, Argentina during 10-13 th December, 2017 and is critically important from India's perspective as it is necessary to safeguard her interests in the field of agriculture, e-commerce and investment. This post discusses the hot issue of public stockholdings, food security and position of India here in Buenos Aires. Wide concerns are being raised about finding a permanent legal solution to India's purchasing and public distribution of food grains at reasonable prices and is a priority issue for the 11 th WTO Ministerial Conference. Public Stockholding is a kind of policy instrument used by a Government to procure, stock and distribute the food whenever the need arises. Minimum Support Price (MSP) is one of the instruments of Public Stockholding. Stockpiling and distributing food is permitted under WTO Rules,