Negotiating Food Security and Trade Liberalisation: India’s Agricultural Policy in the Global Arena

Abstract

This paper examines the prolonged conflict between India’s Public Stockholding (PSH) program and Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanisms for food security, and the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). It argues that this is not a mere technical dispute over subsidy calculations but a fundamental clash between two paradigms, the sovereign right of a nation to ensure food security for its population and a trade liberalisation framework that reflects the historical power asymmetries of the global economic order. The paper traces India's agricultural policy, beginning with the Green Revolution, which necessitated the creation of a domestic support mechanism, including the Public Distribution System (PDS) and the Minimum Support Price (MSP). This domestic framework, designed to achieve national self-sufficiency, now stands in direct opposition to the AoA's rules on domestic support. The paper deconstructs the technical core of the conflict, the WTO's Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS) methodology and its outdated reference prices, and analyses the political stalemate at the WTO over a permanent solution for public stockholding (PSH). Ultimately, it contends that India's steadfast position is a defense of its foundational food security policies and a broader challenge to international trade regime that has historically failed to accommodate the development imperatives of the Global South.