Govt to formulate grain policy soon -- Shanta Kumar

Govt to formulate grain policy soon -- Shanta Kumar
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Shimla, Oct 2: The Government would soon formulate its new Foodgrains Policy to address the problem of surplus stocks, replacing the present one tailored to tackle the problem of shortages, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs Shanta Kumar said here today.

He told reporters that an expert committee would be set up to give recommendations regarding the new policy which would be free from `undue controls and restrictions'.

Laws like Essential Commodities Act, Price Control Act and those to check hoarding and profiteering were enforced to ensure there was no black marketing and hoarding of foodgrains in `scarcity conditions', he said.

But there was no relevance to these restrictive measureswhen the government was facing the problem of plenty and storage of surplus foodgrains had become a big problem, he added.

Kumar said proposals like a Common Foodgrain Zone for the entire country and completely exempting foodgrains from taxes would also be considered by the expert committee.

He said the government had decided to go in for export of foodgrains to grapple with the problem of surplus stock and a cell had been created in his ministry to identify the countries where foodgrains could be exported.

While 40,000 tonnes of foodgrains had already beenexported, export orders of three to 3.50 lakh tonnes were in pipeline and a target of exporting 10 lakh tonnes of foodgrains had been fixed, he said.