Dear Editor,
India is not against the “Trade Facilitation Agreement”; rather, it is seeking a permanent solution to public food stockholding (“For a WTO stand with PDS in hand,” Sept.4). The country faces the mammoth task of feeding its 1.2-billion-strong population. Therefore, food security comes first, before facilitating trade and creating jobs elsewhere in the world.
We have every right to ensure our food security by means of subsidising the PDS, ensuring minimum support prices and maintaining buffer stocks. The WTO must take into consideration the subsidies worth billions of dollars being given by developed countries to farmers. It all boils down to one question: what is the purpose behind the subsidies? If the answer is food security, every country has a right to do so.
Jasmit Singh
R S Pura, Jammu
