TRIPS and other Agricultural Issues: A Study from Indian Farmers View Point

Agriculture employs more than half of the total labour force in developing countries and almost three quarters in lower-income developing countries. Most of the world's extreme poor depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. This paper analyses the implications of TRIPS, for Indian agriculture and suggest care that India should take in the future negotiations. The paper begins by looking at trips agreement associated with the implementation of WTO AOA, which came into effect on 1^st January 1995. It discusses the challenges thrown by WTO and how India reacted to the global liberalization in agriculture. This is followed by Indian perspective on main elements of AOA. The next section discusses the free trade agreements and their implication on Indian economy. The last section proposes the agenda that india should follow and push in the future negotiations The paper concludes that Agriculture does not mean only crop production. It integrates humans and animals with other biological organisms to constitute biodiversity, which is under threat from the introduction of GM crops. M S Swaminathan stood up against Bt brinjal on the ground that it threatens our biodiversity. The very objective of KIA is food processing and byproduct management, which includes quality controle, food safety, cold chain, standardization and secondary utilization of products as biofuels, reduction of post harvest losses, strengthening market information system, facilitation of agro-business investment. Do our peasants produce unsafe food now? All this hints at corporate entry into food crop delivery with an assured back-end supply chain. What do the peasants gain? Does WTO agreements really offer a helping hand to farming community consisting of 91% small farmers and 8% of medium farmers? are to be discussed and researched carefully.