Won’t compromise on farmers’ interest, says Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce minister New Delhi, August 6 The government today said there was no change in its stand at the WTO negotiations in Geneva, reiterating that it would make no compromise on protecting the interest of poor farmers with regard to food subsidy. “There is no change in our stand. We are reinforcing what was decided in Parliament...of course there is a course correction,” Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha while replying to questions raised by members on her statement in Parliament yesterday regarding the recent WTO meet. Responding to queries raised by Congress member and former Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, she said there was no retraction on the part of the government, which was fully committed to the implementation of the Bali Round of WTO talks. The minister said India took up the cause of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in a forceful manner at the Geneva meet which eventually led to the collapse of the Geneva talks. “They (LDCs) are probably unable to articulate their position...we took up their cause. If New Delhi had not taken the position it did, India’s credibility and stature would have reduced considerably.” Sitharaman said India did not wish to be an impediment in the successful conclusion of negotiations and hoped that efforts to reach a consensus by September would bear fruits. The minister said, “Food security is a humanitarian concern, especially in these times of uncertainty and volatility, and the issue of food security is critical to a vast swathe of humanity and cannot be sacrificed to mercantilist considerations." She said without a permanent solution, public stock-holding programmes in India and other developing countries would be hampered by the present ceiling on domestic support which is pegged at 10% of the value of production and is wrongly considered as trade-distorting subsidy to farmers under the existing WTO rules.