Govt to block WTO's anti-Indian farmer moves: Jaitley

At BJP parliamentary meeting, Naidu blames Congress for UPSC exam row

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday met to hail Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “historic” Nepal visit. The meeting was also apprised of the government’s stand on the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations and the controversy over the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the BJP parliamentary party that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was “determined to resist and block all anti-Indian farmer moves by WTO and other agencies”.

Jaitley and Minister of State (Commerce and Finance) Nirmala Sitharaman briefed the party about the WTO negotiations, including India’s position on the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).

The finance minister, according to a statement issued by the party, said India was committed to the interests of India’s farmers and its poor, and any progress on trade facilitation was possible “only after categorical assurance on public stockholding of foodgrain, procurement of foodgrain and the public distribution system.”

Jaitley told the parliamentary party that the US and European countries provide $400 billion worth of subsidies to their farmers annually, while insisted "that we in India remove the minimum support price that we pay our farmers for agriculture produce". Jaitley suggested this was non-negotiable since removing this support could mean multifold increase in farmer suicides recorded in India every year.

Sitharaman said  India was committed to its pro-farmer stand, despite heavy pressure from developed nations. She said the WTO resolution at Bali Summit in 2013 was not a perfect agreement, as core principles were not incorporated in it. Sitharaman said NDA’s debut Budget has announced several measures for improved trade facilitation.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu informed the meeting that the government had taken the “best available solution” to the UPSC exam row by deciding that 20 marks for English will not be considered as part of the merit list. Naidu accused the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of having sown the seeds of this controversy in 2011 when it approved changes in the exam. He also said the Congress had championed the insurance Bill but was deliberately delaying it now, as it was apprehensive the credit of its passage would go to the Modi government.

Naidu also said the BJP National Council would meet on Saturday, at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here. The meeting will give its approval to appointment of Amit Shah as the national president of the BJP.

Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, senior party leaders L K Advani and other party MPs attended the meeting.

It unanimously passed a resolution congratulating the PM for his historic visit to Nepal. According to the press statement, “The resolution lauded the Prime Minister’s stance – ‘No Interference in Internal affairs of Nepal and only solicited Cooperation’— which was well received by one and all.” It said Modi’s support to Nepal formulating a democratic republican constitution “has helped in removing several misgivings".

The resolution stated that Modi during his Nepal visit “spoke in a new language of diplomacy and has matched high expectations of Nepal and has inaugurated a fresh start in bilateral relations. This trip is historical break from an unforgettable past.” It congratulated Modi for becoming the first PM to address Nepalese Parliament, to have initiated an era of meaningful friendship among Saarc nations and injected a new life in Indo-Nepal relations. "His speeches and body language shown is wonderful," the resolution stated.

“PM ne jeeta Nepali ka dil” (the PM won the hearts and minds of the Nepalese people), it concluded.