Swadeshi Jagaran Manch convener calls the WTO and globalisation an “artificial” structure that cannot last
The popular perception about the WTO in India has been the subject of discussion in seminars and conferences. WTO scholars often express the view that the Indian public and civil society do not understand the WTO well. And, that therefore opposition to the WTO is often a result of such unfamiliarity and ignorance. I sometimes blog about perceptions about the WTO that different domestic Indian actors have. Here is yet another constituency in India that seems to view the WTO as unsustainable. But does the WTO really propagate homogeneity?
S Gurumurthy, who is convener of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch had this to say about globalisation and the WTO in a press interview:
Q. In one of your earlier interviews, you told rediff.com that globalisation was not sustainable.
Answer:
Who is talking about globalisation today? Today, it’s just not environmentally, ecologically and culturally sustainable. I have always maintained that it was not economically sustainable, because it is contrary to the very meaning and definition of economics which is associated with frugality.
It is an executive class economics different from the economy class which brings out the difference between economics and excessiveness.
Moreover, globalisation disregards the existence of countries; they talk about a global society, global rule, global citizens, global villages, etc. It was an absolutely idealistic idiosyncrasy. That is gone.
Who is talking about the WTO? I told you long ago that the WTO will not last. If you create an artificial structure, it will not stand. People in different parts of the world have their own models of living; you cannot homogenise them, make them wear the same dress, eat the same food, or see the same cinema or have the same goals. This is what West-centric globalisation attempted, and got the first taste of it in the last four, five years.
Mr Gurumurthy is a leading Chartered Accountant and is closely associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is a member of the taskforce created by the BJP to look into the issue of black money stashed away in secret foreign bank accounts.
The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch is an Indian political organisation that propagates the market philosophy of Swadeshi, which means self-reliance and favors preference for the neighbourhood or local over the foreign in economic governance and management. It is thus the ideological opposite of globalization. Here is what Wikipedia says about the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch:
The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch is an Indian political organisation committed to the promotion of Swadeshi (Indigenous) industries and culture. It is usually recognised as a part of the Sangh Parivar of Hindu nationalist organisations. SJM came into existence on November 22, 1991 at Nagpur. Representatives of five national level organisations including Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh(BMS), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad(ABVP), Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP) & Sahkar Bharati took this decision in the presence of Shri Dattopant Thengdi, founder of BMS. For proper execution of movement a Central Committee was formed and Dr. M.G. Bokare (Ex Vice Chancellor, Nagpur University) was given the responsibility of convenor. On 12 January 1992, Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, the first massive campaign against the economic policy of central government started. People from all walks of life with distinct ideologies came together on the SJM platform to fight against economic imperialism. Subsequently literature on Swadeshi, intellectual property rights. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and economic imperialism of multinationals was published and distributed to popularize the cause of SJM. Later on many other organisations joined the forces for Swadeshi like Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Vidya Bharati, Rashtra Sevika Samiti, Bharatiya Sikshan Mandal etc. Today SJM has become an all-encompassing movement with more than 15 organisations associated with it.
Indian animal rights NGO calls for inclusion of animal welfare standards in WTO agenda
The Statesman carries a report that an Indian NGO has welcomed statements from EU officials about including animal welfare as a non-trade concern in WTO agreements. The report:
Animal activists in India have welcomed a move by the European Union (EU) to push for inclusion of animal welfare in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) multilateral trade negotiations. They have said that they will pursue the goal of welfare of animals including stray animals that are subjected to untold sufferings.
Hailing the EU move as the right one, Citizens for Animal Rights (CFAR), New Delhi, said that the inclusion of animal welfare standards in WTO agenda is urgently needed to effectively enforce animal standards worldwide, and to improve the appalling condition of slaughter houses in many countries, including India. India should take the lead in promoting animal welfare as the land of Ahimsa, they said.
Animal welfare concerns are being increasingly recognised in food production around the world, but they must be formalised within the WTO trade agreements, according to several senior representatives of the EU who spoke at a recent Brussels conference on "Global Trade and Farm Animal Welfare". Czech agriculture minister Mr Petr Gandalovic, the new chair of the EU Farm Council, explained that the next six months will see a strong focus on European animal welfare standards, including new slaughter rules.
EU health commissioner Miss Androulla Vassiliou also highlighted the growing importance of animal welfare issues as live animals and animal produce are traded across the world, arguing for their inclusion as a "non-trade concern" in WTO agreements. She said: “Animal welfare is gaining rapid momentum, not only in the EU but worldwide”. The importance of animal welfare in ensuring the quality and safety of meat was also highlighted, as well as the goal of minimising animal suffering.
Its interesting to see another example of an Indian NGO engaging with WTO issues. However, I am not sure (from the above report) as to whether the Indian NGO really understands this issue. They seem to be talking about welfare of animals in all circumstances including stray animals and their concerns are more appropriately addressed by domestic regulation on domestic treatment of animals. The EU officials on the other hand want to make this a WTO issue and bring in a WTO rule that allows countries to prevent imports on the ground of animal welfare. The issue is whether such a new emphasis on animal welfare is needed in the WTO treaties. Isn’t GATT article XX sufficient to allow for measures on the ground of animal welfare, in as much as it would be necessary to protect public morals or to protect animal life or health? The SPS agreement also allows for measures for the protection of animal life or health. Such measures can include regulation of processes and production methods. The SPS agreement would also arguably allow for otherwise trade-restrictive domestic regulation necessary for humane animal welfare standards.
And with the Doha round floundering and increasing trade protectionism all-round, measures based on animal welfare might be the subject of new battles over non-tariff barriers in the livestock farm sector. The EU’s proposed ban on seal products on animal welfare grounds is already causing friction with Norway and Canada. See a report.
Making Indian trade policy: Indian NGOs demand access to India’s FTA negotiations
The sixth round of India-EU FTA negotiations in New Delhi has Indian NGOs demanding access to “secret” FTA negotiating texts. The Times of India reports that protestors were detained outside the office of the European Commission in New Delhi. A body called the Forum on FTAs (described elsewhere as an umbrella group of 75 organizations) is spearheading these Indian civil society protests. An entity called FTA Watch-India has sprung up recently.
While I cannot comment specifically on the demands of this group in the EU-India FTA context, a discussion on how India makes its trade policy and whether it adequately consults with domestic stakeholders in formulating negotiating positions is much needed. Domestic stakeholders who ought to be consulted include not only NGOs, but also parliament, business, labor unions, farmers groups and consumers. Not much literature is available on the Indian trade policy-making process. There is however an interesting paper by Biswajit Dhar on this in a publication by IISD available here. See Biswajit Dhar and Murali Kallummal, “Trade policy off the hook: The making of Indian trade policy since the Uruguay Round”, in Halle and Wolfe (eds.) Process Matters: Sustainable Development and Domestic Trade Transparency, IISD 2007.
I had earlier posted on a news report on the low appetite in India these days for new FTA commitments given imminent elections and the domestic impact of the global economic downturn. An Economic Times story shows that the concerns about the EU-India negotiations are not limited to civil society, but also emanate from business and agricultural economic interests.
Speaking to ET last week, a commerce ministry official sought to allay the growing concerns in domestic circles over the proposed India-EU economic agreement. “There are strong complementarities between the EU and India. After all, we have not yet reached the stage of making the trade-offs and so the fears being expressed now are unfounded,” said the official, who was busy preparing for the sixth round of India-EU bilateral talks beginning Tuesday.
This, however, could be an over-simplistic view. There is clearly a need for greater involvement of all stakeholders in the negotiation process. The high-level trade group which had drawn the broad contours of the agreement was not representative enough.
The EU is India’s largest trading partner, accounting for a fifth of India’s total trade and also one of the largest sources of foreign investment in India. As opposed to this, India currently accounts for less than 2% of the EU’s total trade.
Clearly, as things stand now, India has much to lose (or gain) from the agreement as compared to the EU. Note that the agreement would cover a gamut of areas—trade in goods and services, IPRs, cross-border investments, competition policy, government procurement etc. So India’s policymakers ought to be more chary of the proposed pact than their European counterparts. There is a need for more transparency as well as greater involvement of all stakeholders in the negotiations.
Going by the high-level group’s report, India might need to go WTO-plus in the area of trade in goods, with no commensurate reciprocal gestures from the EU side. The agreement would, as things stand now, allow India to keep just 10% of the tariff lines—which include both agricultural and industrial goods—outside its scope.
It may be noted that India has been resisting the multilateral (WTO) trade liberalisation deal even as it did not have to cut tariffs on 5%f agricultural tariff lines and only make less-than-average reductions in another 7%, and looked close to getting the freedom to keep 5% of industrial tariff lines outside tariff reduction formula. Besides, India has already got preferential (zero) access to EU in case of several tariff lines under the GSP system, which reduces the scope for India to gain in terms of reduction in tariff barriers by the EU.
Indian government to educate citizens on Doha Development Round through White Paper
With national elections looming, the Indian government will issue a White Paper in October to explain to ordinary Indians and stakeholders what the Doha negotiations are all about, what is at stake and what is India’s negotiating position based upon.
The Financial Express in a report quoting a senior commerce ministry official discloses:
India would give another shot at taking forward the talks next month if the US gives positive signals and then the Centre would come out with the ‘white paper’ by October-end , a senior government official told FE. The ‘white paper’, devoid of all the jargon, would contain the nitty-gritty of the multilateral trade negotiations, India’s stance on all the issues on the table alongwith the positions of other countries as well as the reasons for the failure or success, the official added.
Once again, this proposal shows how trade policy making processes in India have evolved since the Uruguay Round. This move is commendable for promoting transparency about the WTO system at the domestic level. However, the government should encourage transparency in international trade negotiations through similar iniatiatives throughout the WTO negotiation rounds and not just before an election.
Should there be an Indian Trade Organization?
The Hindu carried a report a few days ago on comments by eminent Indian agricultural scientist Dr. M. S. Swaminathan at a conference. He called for an “Indian Trade Organization” as a “national counterpart to the WTO”. The article does not say more about his ideas and what such an organization would look like or do. India does need trade policy making domestic institutional reform but its structure, functions and organization need to be carefully designed. And the Government has no such revamping plans at the moment. What would be the role of Parliament in such a set-up? Also, would there be a place for a more formalised public-private partnership in trade policy making and in market access enforcement?
For a profile of Dr. M S Swaminathan see here
Also see the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation
Linkages between trade and peace
A few years ago, the international economic law interest group of the American Society of International Law organized its annual conference on the theme of trade as the guarantor of peace, liberty and security. I was reminded of this linkage upon reading this recent news item. In an academic conference on trade, in a university in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, the unanimous advice to the government was to resolve border disputes with Pakistan in order to create new trade routes connecting the central Asian countries with Jammu and Kashmir.
“Seminar on exports underway at BGSB Varsity
GK NEWS NETWORK
Rajouri, Oct 20: In a path-breaking academic initiative, a brainstorming two day national seminar on India’s exports with particular reference to changing world scenario got underway at the Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University Rajouri, a spokesman of the university said.
Vice Chancellor Masud A Chaudhary threw open the deliberations with his inaugural address this morning. Scores of economists and experts in foreign trade are attending the seminar which is first such academic discussion in Jammu and Kashmir on the issue immense significance.
While the speakers and participants of the seminar discussed the technical and legal aspects of the world trade regime and new emerging business paradigms, there was unanimity in making Jammu and Kashmir as a launching pad for India’s trade relations with the Central Asian countries. The participants stressed that Governments of India and Pakistan must hammer out the hitches to launch cross-LoC trade between two parts of Jammu and Kashmir and then reach out to the central Asian countries.”
For the full story, read here http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=21_10_2007&ItemID=24&Cat=5
Two other aspects of this story are of interest. First, this is the first ever conference on trade in Jammu and Kashmir. This only shows how the intitative on trade policy discourse is spreading to new regions and stakeholders within India. Also, the opening of new land routes for trade through what used to be hostile borders, is creating new opportunities for development and growth in regions of India which have historically stagnated due to their geographical location. Another example of this phenomenon is the recent opening of the Nathula pass that connects the Indian state of Sikkim with Tibet in China. This is expected to boost Indo-China trade and create growth and development opportunities for the entire North-East region of India.
Indian NGOs at Hong Kong Ministerial
This is a list of the 26 NGOs from India that attended the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.
I will be updating this post with more information and analysis about civil society participation in India’s engagement with the World Trade Organization.
All India Organization of Employers
Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthidarula Union http://apvvu.org/index.html
Automotive Components Manufacturers Association India http://acmainfo.com/
Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants Society http://www.cecoedecon.org/
Centre for Trade and Development http://www.centad.org/
Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group http://www.cag.org.in/home.php
Confederation of Indian Food Trade and Industry
Confederation of Indian Industry http://www.ciionline.org/
Consumer Unity and Trust Society http://www.cuts-international.org/
Consumer Unity and Trust Society, Calcutta Resource Centre http://www.cuts-international.org/cuts-crc.htm
Consumers’ Guidance Society http://www.cgsiindia.org/
CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics and Environment http://www.cuts-international.org/CITEE.htm
Diverse Women for Diversity http://www.navdanya.org/dwd/index.htm
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry http://www.ficci.com/
Indian National Trade Union Congress http://members.rediff.com/intuc/
Institute of Intellectual Property Development
Liberty Institute http://www.libertyindia.org/
National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Limited http://www.coopsugar.org/
Network of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development http://www.indianeed.org/
Research and Information System for Developing Countries http://www.ris.org.in/
Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology http://www.navdanya.org/
Shram Seva Nyas
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers http://www.siamindia.com/
Swadeshi Jagran Foundation
Tractor Manufacturers Association
Voluntary Action Network India http://www.vaniindia.org/
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