Agri-business Management- ICAR JRF/SRF 2024

• WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) - Market Access Pillar:
• The Agreement on Agriculture (effective January 1, 1995 under the WTO) rests on three fundamental pillars: Market Access, Domestic Support, and Export Competition.
• Tariffication: A cornerstone rule under the Market Access pillar requiring all member countries to abolish non-tariff barriers (quantitative import quotas, discretionary import licensing, variable import levies, and voluntary export restraints) and convert them into equivalent transparent bound customs tariffs (tariff-rate quotas - TRQs).
• Distractors:
• Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS): Quantifies trade-distorting domestic support under the Amber Box.
• Export Subsidies: Direct financial assistance given to export goods, phased out under the Export Competition pillar.
• TRIPS: Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, an entirely separate WTO agreement.

Correct option: (1) Market access commitment

• Odd Man Out by Organizational Policy and Mandate:
• DMI (Directorate of Marketing and Inspection): An attached statutory government regulatory office under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (Government of India). Its mandate centers on enforcing agricultural marketing regulations, quality certification (AGMARK), grading standards under the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937, and market intelligence.
• Distractors:
• APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) and MPEDA (Marine Products Export Development Authority): Statutory autonomous export promotion and development authorities under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India): An apex multi-state cooperative marketing federation engaged in commercial procurement and price stabilization.

Correct option: (3) DMI

• Start of Globalization in the Indian Economy:
• India initiated comprehensive economic globalization in 1991 with the launch of the New Economic Policy (NEP), unveiled by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Union Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in July 1991.
• Sparked by the 1991 balance-of-payments crisis, the reforms dismantled the restrictive License-Permit-Quota Raj, dismantled quantitative import restrictions, reduced peak customs tariffs, opened sectors to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and pegged the rupee to market-determined exchange rates (LPG paradigm).
• Distractors: Years 1981, 1985, and 1995 represent unrelated milestones (1985 saw modest industrial de-licensing; 1995 marked India joining the WTO as a founding member).

Correct option: (3) 1991