The government on Friday admitted that market prices of pulses are higher than the import rates and said it would soon launch a scheme of supplying them at subsidised rates to people through ration shops.
Sonia made the announcement while addressing a press conference at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence at 7, Race Course Road.
The government would not extend export freight assistance to sugar mills beyond September, Union Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar said on Friday. On August 29, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said the government must end assistance to sugar exporters since enough sugar had been exported out of the country.
The Cabinet's reluctance to approve the food and consumer affairs ministry's proposal to decontrol sugar is hard to understand -- especially when supplies are comfortable and set to improve further because of the dismantling of the sugar buffer of 5 million tonnes. Besides, the fresh crushing season is beginning next month. Yet, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, has put on hold the move to do away with the 10 per cent sugar levy and the monthly release mechanism.
The Mumbai Cricket Association requested the Maharashtra government to allot it a plot of land for building a bigger stadium in the southern part of the metropolis.
The government should not play any role in acquisition of farm land for industrial projects and let private companies directly deal with farmers, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday.
The National Democratic Alliance and the Left Front have agreed to discuss the Nandigram issue in Parliament. The discussion will be held under rule 193 that does not entail voting.
According to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, the revival in the agriculture sector has been due to the record production of 216 million tonnes of foodgrains, 22.7 million bales of cotton and 345 million tonnes of sugarcane in 2006-07. He said this revival was a result of the amendments made in the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Acts by the various state governments with the guidelines of the centre.
The government estimates the food subsidy bill to be Rs 490-500 billion this year from Rs 190 billion earlier, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told Rajya Sabha during Question Hour. The Centre issues rice at Rs 5.65 a kg and wheat at Rs 4.15 per kg to the states for supply through ration shops to families covered under the BPL category. Pawar, however, was non-committal on increasing the coverage of subsidised foodgrains to include more people.
Sugar prices, which surged to nearly Rs 50 a kg in January, have declined by 17 per cent in Delhi in the last one and half months due to several steps taken by the government, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Friday.
Supriya Sule talks about her politics and friendships
Pawar said the UPA-Left committee constituted to iron out the differences had already held four rounds of "good discussions and we hope both sides would amicably and with full responsibility settle the issue in our future meetings".
The proposed commodity transaction tax of Rs 17 per lakh was part of the Union Budget 2008-09 that was approved by the Parliament in the last session and is yet to be notified. Asked about timeframe of notification, Pawar said, 'first you allow us to discuss and take a final view.'
He wanted changes in certain criteria for the project.
The Indian Sugar Mills' Association, the industry lobby group, will take the proposal to Food & Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar soon, sources close to the development said.
The Maharashtra government can do little beyond using its good offices to pursue the Bajaj Auto management to revive production at its mother plant in Akurdi, near Pune.
"We are not in a position to take new responsibilities till the present commitments (Rs 60,000 crore farm loan waiver package) are implemented," Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said replying to supplementaries in the Lok Sabha. "Let us first implement the farm loan waiver scheme presented in the Budget and see the results," Pawar said noting that more than 81 per cent farmers fall in the small and medium categories which were covered under the package.
India and the US on Wednesday expressed the hope for an early resumption of the Doha round of negotiations and agreed to make all efforts to achieve an ambitious, balanced, and pro-development outcome.
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation on Wednesday said global commodity prices were far from easing in the short term owing to tight supply-demand situation and warned of flare ups over food shortage.The UN FAO director general said the world has 4-5 million tonnes (MT) of cereals stocks that can feed the global population for only 8-12 weeks.
The NCP's flag was handed over by Praful Patel to K Muraleedharan, DIC-K president, signifying the merger.
The NCP national leadership would take an appropriate decision on NCP state leadership posts after the merger.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit recently met Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar urging him to ban onion export from Maharashtra and re-direct the vegetable to New Delhi to keep the prices steady.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday favoured a compensation policy that ensures adequate return to farmers for giving up land holding rights in favour of any upcoming special economic zone project.
Pawar stated that there was no need to take any congnizance of what a criminal has said.
No one from Pravin's family was present at the wedding.
Though no decision was taken by the EGOM as it was the first meeting of the EGOM, environmental groups and those in possession of the land have raised their ante against such a plan.
When the Boeing-737 reached the height of about 5,000 metres after taking off at 1725 hours, the cabin crew on the rear of the plane informed the pilot that they could hear 'a hissing sound and see the sky through one corner of the door'. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suspended at least two cabin crew members of the Delhi-Mumbai flight (9W362), official sources said in New Delhi on Saturday.
Roadblocks in the way of ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement appear to have been removed following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention on the crucial issue of sensitive farm products like pepper, rubber, palm oil, coffee and tea.
India on Wednesday ruled out the need to import wheat this year, as it appears poised to surpass the 15 million tons procurement target. Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar said that the govt is confident of procuring 16-17 million tons of wheat this year. As per govt estimate wheat production was pegged at 76.78 million tons for 2007-08 crop year ending May this year. He noted that wheat price is stable due to ample availability backed by a bumper production.
A group of ministers (GoM) headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is scheduled to meet on April 30 to finalise its recommendations for a policy that would attempt to balance the interests of the common man and the industry. The GoM is also expected to give recommendations on the regulation of trade margins on all medicines, public procurement of drugs, price negotiation of patented drugs and medical devices, in addition to the legislation of new Acts.
In New Delhi, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said the Centre is likely announce two packages -- one for the farmers in West Bengal and the other for poultry industry -- in the next 8-10 days.
Supriya Sule, daughter of Nationalist Congress Party chief and Union Minister Sharad Pawar, was on Monday formally declared elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Telgi has said in a letter read out by his lawyers that he is disturbed by the reports.
Rao has called off his strike after a request from the Lok Sabha Speaker.
Riding on a surplus production, India is getting ready to export at least two million tones of sugar to foreign countries.
Supriya Sule, daughter of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, on Monday plunged into active politics by joining Nationalist Congress Party founded by her father.
BCCI president-elect Ranbir Singh Mahendra the recent elections were held 'in accordance with the rules of the BCCI constitution'.
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