From Marrakesh to Seattle - Indian agriculture in a globalising world

The Agreement on Agriculture (AOA), one of the major agreements signed in M arrakesh under the Uruguay Round in April 1994, has three basic clauses; ma rket access (tariffication), domestic support and export competition. The a uthors review India's status with regard to each one of these and also try to compare it with what is happening in the rest of the world, especially h ow the developed :countries are adjusting their agricultural policies to ma ke them compatible with the provisions of the AOA. In the Eight of this ana lysis, they delineate the broad contours of an agenda for Indian negotiator s in the Seattle round with respect to these three clauses, keeping India's interests in mind, Section II of the paper concentrates on the issue of market access, Section III on domestic support and Section IV on export competition. Section V pr esents some concluding remarks and also refers to some other important issu es that too need to be taken care of in the Seattle; round.