Food Minister Shanta Kumar who has been fulminating about this, and now wants to control these imports, will have a tough time, thanks to a decision taken by former commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde.

Last year, in October, the Commerce Ministry decided to liberalise the procedure for canalising imports of wheat. It decided, through a notification issued on October 5, that roller flour mills would be allowed to import wheat for their own use either directly, or through the three government agencies, under the Commerce Ministry -- State Trading Corporation (STC), Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC) and Projects Equipment Corporation (PEC).

To keep an eye on the situation it was notified that all import details would be notified to APEDA (AgricultureProducts Export Development Authority). The idea was to warn the government of any excess imports.

What has happened is quite the opposite. The country has imported around 25 lakh tonnes of wheat in the last one year at a cost of around Rs 1,300 crore, and the APEDA has no clue about it. Not even one importer has given details of the imports to APEDA. As a result, as reported in The Indian Express

on November 25, FCI today has a buffer stock of 204 lakh tonnes against the mandatory 116 lakh tonnes as on October 1.

In fact, the excess wheat situation in FCI granaries is so bad that against a mandatory buffer stock requirement of 40 lakh tonnes on April 1, actual stocks are projected to be 162 lakh tonnes on that date - implying there would be no need to procure wheat in the next season commencing from April.

These imports were allowed on the logic of price stability. The cost of imported wheat has been in the region of $ 100 to $ 120 (FOB) (Rs 430 to Rs 516 per quintal), which is much lower thanthe minimum support price. However, the price benefit has not yet been passed on to the consumers as the prices of wheat and wheat products have not come down so far.

The government follows a procurement policy to provide price support to farmers and help them keep the area under cultivation. The wheat so procured by the FCI at the minimum support price is then rationed through the public distribution system.