By giving cane farmers increasing prices every year, the government has made cane farming inefficient and uncompetitive
The government is exercised about the food grain situation. It faced criticism from the Supreme Court for letting food grains rot in the rains instead of feeding the poor.
Ajay Modi / New Delhi September 14, 2010, 0:13 IST
In what could lead to an overhaul of policy, the Union government is looking at a new sugar subsidy mechanism as part of its decontrol proposal. It plans to rope in state governments for the purchase and distribution of sugar to below-poverty-line (BPL) consumers at market prices.
On 16 August, the government gave the green signal to blend 5 per cent ethanol with petrol, even as it hiked the price of ethanol from Rs 21.50 to Rs 27 per litre. And while the Planning Commission is examining the issue of ethanol blending and pricing in detail before it submits its final report later this year, this interim measure has left all sides dissatisfied.
Maharashtra on Sunday banned the import of sugarcane from other states to tackle 30% surplus production of the crop. The decision was arrived at following a high-level meeting chaired by chief minister (CM) Ashok Chavan, which included deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal, Nabard chairman Umesh Sarangi, cooperation minister Harshvardhan Patil and agriculture minister Balabaheb Thorat.
IT WAS a big win, at least for now, for the powerful Maharashtra sugar lobby when the three ministers from the state on the ethanol GoM clinched the contentious price of Rs 27/litre for ethanol at the CCEA on Monday.
Under intense lobbying from ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh, Murli Deora and Sharad Pawar, the price of ethanol, although only an interim one at present, was pegged at the CCEA at
The Essential Commodities Act, 1955 was last amended in December, 2009 by the Essential Commodities (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2009 to remove the ambiguity as regards the factors that should be taken into consideration by the Central Government for the determination of the price of levy sugar and to validate actions taken under the principal Act.
LUCKNOW: For long-term sustainability, the sugar industry in Uttar Pradesh must consider of diversifying its product line. In a day-long seminar conducted on the sugar sector by the Confederation of Indian Industry, this was the popular opinion voiced by industry members as well as UP's infrastructure and industrial development commissioner, Anoop Mishra.
