The historic hunger trend, spurt in food prices and the imbalance in food supply and demand has
raised no consternation among both international and the national policy makers. The situation
has remained precarious for the last six years and prices peaked in the year 2008.
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Recent Bt brinjal controversy has brought the issues of biotechnology, bio-safety and sustainable development to the forefront. On one hand it appears that each of these three concepts are mutually supportive and compatible, but a closer analysis reveals several areas of conflict and tension.
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Women engaged in unorganized activity in India constitute a large and significant section of our population. This basic fact has several dimensions. First, the unorganised sector is the primary source of employment for women.
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The Doha round of Development has rekindled the hope to the developing countries that development still remains high on the priority of the WTO and a deal could usher in gains over USD 300 billion per year. This comes at time when the global economies are at the lowest ebb and are reeling under the impact of recession.
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The recent draft on Global Climate Treaty presented on 8th June 2009 by Climate change experts at the ongoing Bonn Talks (June 1- 12, 2009) is a case in point. This draft is a significant move in that direction as it advocates for a legally binding agreement in order to save the planet earth and the humanity .
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ECORYS, Netherlands, conducted a study of the trade sustainability impact of the EU-India FTA on both the Indian and the EU economies. Cuts International and the Centre for Trade and Development (Centad) provided some case studies for this report.
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Some recent international events on generic drug seizures and anti-counterfeiting campaigns have taken India by surprise. In a recent address by India's Commerce Secretary Mr. G K. Pillai to their excellencies Ambassadors from African Countries, the Government's strong disapproval of high-handedness of developed countries on issues at the core of health care is appreciable.
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Production and sale of fake drugs and substantial medicines in India has become a critical issue that calls for some action. Legally, it is a crime to manufacture or sell fake drugs and every now and then we are hearing such cases. It is believed that total fake market business is around 6,500 crores per year. It is also said that 20-25% cases are reported from India.
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Center for Trade and Development (CENTAD) hosted a seminar in collaboration with the School of International Relations and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi University, and Indira Gandhi Open University to discuss on the issue of global recession that the world is facing and its implications on our country and the world at large. The global financial crisis has caused panic everywhere and made world leaders to think as to from where did the problem start and where does the solution lie.
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The Patent Act, 1970 (as amended by the 2005 Act), provides that where an application for a patent has been published by the patent office, but a patent has not been granted, any person may, in writing, represent by way of opposition to the Controller against the grant of the patent on the only grounds listed in Section 25(1) (a-k), and that the Controller shall, if requested by such person for being heard, hear him and dispose of such representation in such manner and within such period as may be prescribed.
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A well functioning telecommunication network is an essential component of economic infrastructure. The application of modern telecommunications technology can raise productivity and efficiency in all sectors, apart from contributing to improving the quality of life.
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The concluding part of COP14 saw discussions on a number of issues out of which the most critical issue was regarding putting levy on the revenues from two Kyoto Protocol mechanisms, Joint Implementation (JI) and Emissions Trading (ET) with the core objective of enabling and scaling up funding for adaptation.
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Center for Trade and Development (CENTAD) conducted an interview with Jonathan Hepburn, Agriculture Programme Officer
at ICTSD, Geneva.He shared his views with Centad on the food crisis and global food trade.
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An interview with Dr. Ramesh Chand, Professor in ICAR National and Theme Area Leader for markets and trade at NCAP, India. He speak to
Centad about the global food crisis and trade with special reference to South Asia.
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Centad: Given the fact that trade in industrial goods still constitutes an important component of global trade, in your view, will reduction in the tariff rates from the present level, result in better market access for the products of developing countries into the markets of developed countries?
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The divide between the North and the South surfaced once again at the start of the Climate change talks. On the issue of “shared vision” the developing countries called for an inclusive approach to the shared vision encompassing the issues of adaptation, transfer of technologies, and finance from the North to the South.
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United Nations economists have called for deep reforms of the global financial system including stronger regulation of the financial institutions, an overhaul of the international reserve system, adequate international liquidity provisioning and a more inclusive global economic governance to prevent the recurrence of the current global economic crisis.
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Notwithstanding the pressure of global financial crunch, India would demand from the developed countries to allocate greater funds towards climate change mitigation and adaptation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) schedule in the forthcoming meet to be held in Poznan, Poland next month.
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Compulsory licensing system is the key component of the patents system. As per this system, the Government has the authority to use or grant the right to the third party to use the patented product with or without the authority of the patent holder for reasons of public policy especially in the health care sector. TRIPS Agreement, Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health and Paris Convention have stipulated appropriate guidelines in this regard. B.K. Keayla has brought forth several possibilities to ensure smooth working of the patents through compulsory licensing by the concerned government authorities.
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Past few months have been witnessing downs and downs in the bourses across the world. The wave of downturn, which initially hit the US, soon began to impact economies of other countries. Governments worldwide called for a concerted action and this call was put into action in a historically short timeframe. Other issues crying for attention from the very Governments for decades are hunger and poverty. Isn't it the time to introduce ‘AAA’ in the food system, asks Raghavan Sampath.
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Given the background that India is emerging as a new R&D hub for pharmaceutical sector, the current report raises concerns about the US' Bayh-Dole Act like Public Funded R&D Projects (Protection of Intellectual Property) Bill, which is soon going to be tabled in Parliament.
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If trade is fair and pro-poor, it has the potential to lift millions of people out of poverty. However, in India, it seems, opportunities to poor people have been denied. The case in point is the Handloom Weavers Community of Banaras, known for their exclusive Banarasi silk sarees woven with brocade zari work across the globe, has been living in miserable conditions.
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India’s food import bill got bigger from about US $2.6 billion in 2000 to over $4.9 billion in 2007. This won't be a concern for policymakers, farmers and consumers, but now as the nation is grappling with high food inflation, it is a serious issue. The report analyses the impact of increased imports of food items on India's terms of trade and solutions as to what could be done to save the interests of local producers and consumers.
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The new texts on agricultural negotiations and NAMA negotiations do not add much to the previous drafts released two months ago. Many brackets are still to be negotiated in agricultural negotiations. There is a meet of the WTO members by this month-end and even though the revised text is said to be a blueprint for the final agreement, developing countries should not accede to a deal unless all development issues are comprehensively addressed.
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A lot was expected of the negotiations at the IGWG on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property. But, those who saw an opportunity to make a difference in a starkly iniquitous situation, where medicines required the most for the world's poorest and vulnerable populations are rarely researched or made accessible and affordable, were awestruck, as the conclusion won't make any dent in the present scenario.
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On account of speculative trading and impact of prices of essential commodities, futures trading in wheat, rice and pulses has been suspended by the Forward Markets Commission as it caused market manipulation, leading to a rise in prices. But, a future trading is still being carried out in a number of agricultural commodities, says Krishan Bir Chaudhary.
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The global agricultural market has been witnessing structural change for the past two years wherein international prices of agricultural commodities have been seeing an upward trend. These changes are primarily driven by a combination of demand and supply factors.
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The report focuses on a number of steps that need to be taken to give a much-needed boost to the export sector to maintain the growth of the Indian economy. It also says that the adverse impact of exchange rate instability is high on the export sector.
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A noted environmental activist from South Asia and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change representing Bangladesh, Dr Atiq Rahman and his senior colleague Mr Khandaker Mainuddin share with Centad the inputs from the COP 13, Bali, December 2007.
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The report highlights the problems that agro-export items have been facing in the 27-member block EU for the past decade. It concentrates on the issues like food, and health safety requirements, which have become the hurdle in the EU-India FTA negotiations.
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The report critically examines the provisions -- constructed normal value, zeroing, causation, de minimis dumping margin and the lesser duty rule -- of the anti-dumping agreement which act as barriers to international trade.
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Though the Agriculture text tries to tackle all the development issues in developing countries, but questions like how the Doha Round will face different challenges, still remain unanswered, says Linu Mathew Philip
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NAMA negotiations text not only ignores concerns of developing countries, it also fails to take care of mandatory provisions of Article 16 listed in the Doha Ministerial Declaration, argues Kasturi Das
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The report concentrates on the export performance of Indian machine tools during the period of liberalisation. It also attempts to analyse the export competitiveness of machine tools during the period.
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What lay behind the Madras High Court ruling against Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis’ challenge of the Indian Patents Act? A detailed analysis of the celebrated case and its implications for access to affordable medicines.
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An answer to Novartis’ claim that the judgment of the Madras High Court in the Indian patents case will discourage investments in innovation that would have resulted in better medicines.
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Professor Prabhu Pingali, Director, Agricultural Economics Division, Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome, explains how small farmers can benefit from the commercialisation of agriculture.
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Agribusiness and development expert Alexandra Spieldoch explains how big agribusinesses corporations work against the interests of farmers.
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The Draft Modalities Text put forward by the chair of the WTO’s Non-agricultural Market Access (NAMA) negotiations, on July 17, 2007 fails to take into account the concerns and views of most of the developing countries.
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Poor market support, rising production costs and incoherent government policies have pushed Indian cotton farmers into deep crisis.
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Dr Saman Kelegama, Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies, Sri Lanka, explains how South Asian countries can benefit from trade in services.
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Professor Yash Tandon, Executive Director of South Centre, Geneva, on the implications of GATS negotiations for developing countries.
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Organic farming, mainly for the export market, has made significant progress in many parts of India. However, this form of agriculture faces a number of obstacles. Institutional support by the government is essential to overcome the hurdles and promote faster growth in this sector, argues Kasturi Das.
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Hardly any developing country, including India, has made full use of stipulations related to compulsory licensing. To remedy this situation, the author suggests and discusses necessary amendments in the Indian Patents Act.
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The government has not thought out all the implications of the Special Economic Zones it wants to promote all over the country.
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In an interview with Centad, Miguel Rodriguez Mendoza, Senior Fellow, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) emphasised that country ownership is very strongly underlined in the aid-for-trade initiative, in the identification of needs and development priorities.
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Former lead economist and chief, Trade Policy Research Group, World Bank, J Michael Finger discusses the aid-for-trade provision in an interview with Centad.
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The August 2004 Framework on NAMA, supplemented by the Hong Kong Declaration, is heavily tilted against developing countries. The new system that is being created will reduce development flexibilities in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and accelerate de-industrialisation, argues Martin Khor.
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Talks on several issues related to Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) that have to be sorted out in the Doha Work Programme have not made much headway.
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From a development perspective, negotiations on agriculture before the suspension of talks in the Doha Work Programm (DWP) were lacking both in process and in substance. Hence, the suspension of negotiations should lead to a review, rethinking and revision of the frameworks of the DWP, instead of a resumption of talks along the same lines, argues Martin Khor.
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The Mashelkar Committee report has not fulfilled its mandate of determining whether the granting of patents for pharmaceutical substances under TRIPS should be limited to new chemical entities or to new medical entities involving one or more inventive steps.
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Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT), an important area for developed and least developed countries in the WTO negotiations, needs to be made more responsive to the needs of these countries, argues Chandrakant Patel of the Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI), Switzerland.
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Eminent legal scholar Professor B S Chimni discusses ways in which the dispute settlement system of the WTO can be more responsive to the needs of developing countries.
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Professor John H Jackson compares the WTO dispute settlement body with other multilateral juridical bodies and finds it holds up well.
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The authors examine three questions that dominate the postmortem of the failure of the recent WTO talks: What caused the failure? Does it mean the end of the Doha Development Agenda? Will bilateralism and regionalism become even more dominant?
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Regional and bilateral trade agreements need to be scrutinised more closely, says Jo Leadbeater, head of advocacy at Oxfam GB.
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Economist Jayati Ghosh talks to Centad about the proliferation of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs).
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With patent protection in place in India, MNCs, big pharma companies and agro-chemical majors in the country are unjustified in demanding exclusive rights over clinical and field trial data, argues K M Gopakumar
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Developing countries including India have proposed an amendment to the TRIPS Agreement, to make additional disclosure obligations mandatory when patent applications relate to use of biological resources or related traditional knowledge.
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Renewed pressures applied on developing countries for further dilution of protective safeguards in agriculture does not augur well for poor and marginal farmers in countries like India, argues Linu Mathew Philip.
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Sensitive products are a tool of protection, whereas the special products are a tool of development, points out Samar Verma.
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If NAMA negotiations are now going in a direction detrimental to developing countries, a good part of the blame lies in the easy give-ins and compromises.
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The suicide of cotton farmers in India’s cotton-growing districts has set off alarm bells in the sector. A national workshop organised by the Hyderabad-based Centre for Good Governance on February 27-28, 2006 highlighted several of the problems plaguing cotton cultivation.
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