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VIEWPOINT: KAUTILYA
Maran's Harangues
The commerce minister has not done himself or India
good by his outburst
By Jairam Ramesh
What a depressing
spectacle! Here are the Chinese all set to join the wto after 15 years
of tortuous negotiations and on vastly tougher terms than the price India
had to pay for membership. Here are the Russians and the Iranians wanting
their entry to be expedited. Here is the 21-country Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum meeting in Shanghai and declaring its support
for a new round of global trade negotiations. And what does India do?
Our Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran declares that the WTO is a "necessary
evil". And to compound Maran's fulminations, another NDA ally, Punjab
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, moves the Supreme Court against the
WTO agreements.
 Obviously,
a beleaguered Badal has the forthcoming state elections in mind. But it
is ironic that Maran, among the most well-read, competent and reforms-friendly
of politicians, should be talking like this. Maran should be asked: if
the WTO is an evil, how has India managed to win some trade disputes against
the US and Europe even as it has lost some others? If the WTO is an ogre,
how is it that the Brazilians have used their patent laws to successfully
challenge American drug companies to supply anti-aids drugs cheaply? If
the WTO is merely a cabal of the powerful, what about disputes between
the US and Japan and between the US and Europe?
Maran should be educating and preparing India
for the WTO. He should be building a consensus for increasing India's
engagement with the world economy. Instead, he is orchestrating a collective
hara-kiri. What explains his attack? It is possible that he is doing so
because of domestic political imperatives. Indian politicians never like
to do anything proactively but they will accept something as an international
obligation or compulsion. Thus, Maran could be telling his compatriots
across the political spectrum-look, I tried to uphold India's national
interest but what could I do, the world is stacked against us and we have
no option but to go along.
India has a very strong case when it says that
the developed countries have not fulfilled the commitments they made to
the WTO to cut their agricultural subsidies, remove barriers to agricultural
imports and to liberalise entry of skilled manpower from the developing
countries. The WTO itself is saying so. Other organisations like the Paris-based
club of rich countries, the OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation
and Development), are also saying so. There are no doubts about the correctness
of India's position that implementation of liberalisation commitments
already made by the advanced nations should be given top priority in any
further liberalisation of global trade. The question is how best our objective
is achieved. The reality is that it can be achieved only through a new
round of negotiations. India just does not have the economic muscle to
change this reality. And it lacks this muscle entirely on account of its
own policies.
The issue is also of negotiating style, of keeping
bilateral channels of communications and negotiations open and active
particularly with the US even as we marshal support for our arguments.
The issue is not of "developing country versus developed country"
as Maran makes it out to be. After all, two developing countries, South
Africa and India, are engaged in a bitter dispute over anti-dumping duties
imposed by the former on imports of pharmaceuticals. The issue is one
of India seeing where its interests lie. In this new round, paradoxical
as it may appear, India's interests and those of developed countries like
the US and Australia converge.
India does command influence disproportionate
to its share of global trade. But the problem is that other developing
countries want us to lead the charge and keep fighting even as they quietly
strike deals with the US and other developed countries. This happened
during the Uruguay Round of negotiations on patent laws and this is happening
even today. Recently, Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan have broken ranks
with India and are supporting a new round of global trade negotiations.
There is nothing wrong with this. These countries have decided that it
is in their national interest to change their position. If only we could
also be pragmatic and realistic and not be hung-up on assuming the leadership
of the poor nations with such alacrity.
Going into the crucial WTO meeting in Qatar
between November 9-13, India stands isolated. However, that should not
come as a surprise. Maran and his senior bureaucrats have worked hard
to ensure this outcome. Now damage control is of the essence. We can either
obstruct a consensus at Doha-something we could safely be expected to
do. Or we can change our approach so as to be able to influence the agenda
and conduct of the new round of global trade negotiations-and move forward
to prepare ourselves better for the inevitable.
(The author is with the Congress party. These
are his personal views.)
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