The debate over agricultural subsideies has been thrust to the forefront of discussions on India's economic reforms with the signing of the Uruguay Round Agreement, now devolving on the WTO. This book examines the issue from various angles in order to move the reform process forward. It provides a detailed discussion of:

• the constituents of agricultural subsidies
• India's stand regarding support to agriculture
• the magnitude of product specific and non-product specific support
• temporal behaviour and spatial spread of input subsidies
• the relative importance of fertilizer, power, and canal subsidies
• the real beneficiaries and those who would actually bear the burden of adjustment
• consequences of phasing out subsidies, and
• price and institutional reforms and lessons for India

The authors suggest policy measures to ensure efficiency in the use of resources, equity in the distribution of gains, and environmental sustainability in agricultural operations.

The book will be immensely valuable to policy-makers, planners, researchers, and analysts in organizations such as the WTO and the World Bank.

Ashok Gulati is Director, Markets and Structural Studies Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington DC, USA. He has been a Member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council in India.

Sudha Narayanan is a researcher in the same Division at IFPRI.