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No senior Agriculture Ministry official for Cancun

By Gargi Parsai

New Delhi Sept. 5. For India, the negotiations on agriculture is the key issue at the WTO talks in Cancun, Mexico, yet the Government delegation does not include any senior official from the Agriculture Ministry. A director-level additional statistical adviser will represent the Ministry.

Asked about it, the Union Agriculture Minister, Rajnath Singh, said: "One officer is going. For the rest, ask the Commerce Ministry."

Earlier this week, when the Commerce Ministry had sought names of persons who would represent the Ministry, Mr. Singh had recommended that the Agriculture Secretary, R.C.A. Jain, represent his Ministry. However, the Commerce Ministry did not respond to the suggestion.

An experienced hand, Mr. Jain had represented the Ministry at the WTO negotiations in Seattle and Doha.

The Ministry has stressed the need to protect the food and livelihood security of over 100 million farmers by resisting pressure to reduce tariff on over 690 agriculture commodities.

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