Let India Make Cheap Drugs
Last month, the United States and India announced an important breakthrough concerning India’s “right-to-food” program. The Indian government subsidizes food for its poorest citizens through a system of price supports and public stockpiling. The program is critical to India’s future: According to Unicef, one in three of the world’s malnourished children lives in India.
But as India’s policy has expanded, it has come into conflict with World Trade Organization rules on agriculture. The conflict heated up last summer when India demanded an explicit assurance at the W.T.O. that it could maintain its right-to-food program. The United States resisted, and the standoff derailed the first new global trade agreement at the W.T.O.… Seguir leyendo »