O J’s Corner
Reflections

Abandon theatrics, go in for hard
bargaining at WTO rounds

I would advise India’s Commerce Minister Kamalnath to dispense with pious rhetorics, go in for hard bargaining and fleece a pound of flesh from the developed countries at the informal meeting being held again after the failed conclave at Geneva the other day.

Leftists in India might have a sense of déjà vu at Kamalnath’s walking out from the Geneva meet, frustrating an agreement. We have given a handle to world leaders to fix the blame on India. Developed nations would not be amused by theatrics, but they understand hard, intelligent bargaining.

So please get ready to hand over Plan I, II, III and the like when one scheme fails. Let them be muddled with choices. That is what the Jews do, and so they get away with a pound of flesh.

The Leftists in India did a monumental mistake by blatantly opposing our joining the World Trade Organisation, formed on January 1, 1995. Before and after our joining the world trade bandwagon, they blindly opposed it.

There was no harm in opposing unpalatable pacts. Arguments presented by them to win political plaudits from the proletariat and approval from the intellectual pariah had well-meaning points, though.

The beauty of functioning in a democracy, with the intention of helping the downtrodden, should have prompted the think-tank among them to simultaneously evolve ideas to deal with the beastly colonialists. All parties in India have failed to project proper line of thought to conquer the economic giants.

Mind you, the West had absorbed the ideas ingrained in the Vedas and Upanishads and Eastern philosophy to benefit from them in all possible spheres, including missile technology and possibly even digital dynamics. Sankaracharya had put into practice the idea of journeying at the speed of thought.

Where are our enlightened souls? Can’t they offer ways and means to provide succour to the farmers and small-traders by squeezing through the rigidities of the WTO pacts?

Now World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz has advised the powerful industrialised and developing countries to break the impasse at their proposed conclave at St Petersburg, Russia, on Monday.

The Group of eight developed countries (the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia) and the five developing countries (China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa) which are meeting there along with African Union and other organizations to sort out the issue by give and take.

Differences persist over trade in farm and industrial services and goods, and State measures to protect those sectors.

Richer countries should first open their agricultural markets before the developing nations opened their services industrial and services markets, according to their long-standing demand.

Another concern is that local industries would suffer irreversibly if fragile markets of the developing countries are opened up.

China had been going after the developed nations to admit it into the WTO from 1995, but they got the green signal only in 1999, after much of democratic processes, freedom of dissent and human rights have been conceded.

Our intelligentsia should devise extra-WTO ways to make the poor farmers wriggle out of the economic mess they are in. Bank loans can be liberally granted to them. When they are not able to pay up on account of poor crops or poor prices, repayments should be waived. Banks should be supported in various other indirect ways.

No one can say that loans should not be issued to farmers. Even the IMF and World Bank had waived fabulous loans issued to various countries when they were not able to pay up. So cheer up and be part of the pack of cards, if we cannot be the trump-card.