Former Union Minister and Congress Rajya Sabha member, Eduardo Faleiro said twenty members of parliament, have sent a letter to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee seeking his intervention to arrest the falling prices of agricultural commodities. Releasing the copy of the letter here, he said the tried and tested policy of minimum support and operation of the public distribution system was under threat and urgent steps were required to tackle the situation.

The members of parliament, in their letter, pointed out that the prices of a number of oilseeds, including copra, soyabean, mustard and sunflower fell below the minimum support price last year and were likely to do so this year also as a result of the high imports of edible oils.

Pointing out that the public stocks of foodgrains are mounting because of no offtake from PDS by households above poverty line, due to high prices charged for them, they said the government decision to export wheat at below poverty line prices could not not be justified as it was not not extending a similar concession to domestic consumers.

Besides, such subsidised exports are inconsistent with the WTO obligations and this may affect the future of our price support system also, the letter said, adding that the Centre should give an assurance that it has no intention of diluting the effective operations of either the minimum support price system or the public distribution system. Elaborating on the issue of wheat export, Mr Faleiro said Indian wheat would be sold at around 90 rpt $90 dollars per quintal as against the current global price of $110 - 130 dollars.