Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the Government committed to protecting interest of its farmers at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, she said that at the WTO, India has consistently pursued the objective of protecting the interests of its farmers both for implementation of current rules and negotiations of new ones.
“For example, under the relevant rules of WTO, if procurement for public stock-holding programmes for food security purposes is done at administered prices, rather than at market prices, then the subsidy element, if any, has to be kept within certain prescribed limits,” she said.