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The site of Swatantra Bharat Party, the liberal party of India.
The industry was looking forward to the implementation of Mahajan Committee recommendations.
The high-powered Mahajan Committee was appointed in March 1997, following an order passed by the Allahabad High Court in December 1996, to study the functioning of the sugar industry in the country and suggest the measures to improve its working.
The 1,500-page, two-volume report covers almost all aspects of the sugar production and trade. The committee had submitted its report to the former Union food minister S S Barnala in mid-April 1998.
The government on 20 August 1998 delicensed the sugar industry as part of its ongoing liberalisation measures and to ensure enhanced availability of this commodity.
The decision to delicense was taken at the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), agriculture minister Sompal told newsmen .
However, new mills would be subject to a condition that these would have to be located at least 15 km from any existing one for ensuring assured supply of sugar cane. The earlier locational condition of not allowing a new sugar mill in a radius of 25 km of the existing one has also been brought down to 15 km. The existing sugar mills have also been exempted from licensing for their expansion.
On 31 August 1998, the government formally announced its decision to remove the sugar industry from the list of industries requiring compulsory licensing under the provisions of the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act.
...delicensing is not decontrol.
...much more needs to be done; too many non-market forces are still in operation.
The Maharashtra Congress has reacted against the move. Incidentally, Maharashtra is the largest sugar producing state in the country, contributing an approximate one-third to the country's total sugar production and most of its sugar co-operatives are run by Congressmen.
Onion prices have skyrocketed because of a bad crop and the general inflationary condition.
Government has banned onion export.This will destroy the export markets. It will force farmers to forego exports and sell to domestic consumers at a price manipulated by the government.
The state is a loss making onion trader. State's civil supplies departments are procuring onions and selling them below market prices. This further destroys the domestic market.
The capacity and the incentive to grow onions in the next season is damaged. This will also curtail domestic supplies of onion in the coming season.
Estimated losses incurred by the farmers due to this decesion are expected to be around Rs 200 crores.
This has happened so often. Again and again.
Wheat, oilseeds, cotton, sugar, onion, milk powder imports in past have always been detrimental to agriculture and farmers, and to the consumers as well. .
Stop this.
The six issues are: Monopoly purchase of cotton in the state, sugarcane industry and Levy on sugar, creating alternatives for marketing agricultural produce, essential commodities act of 1955, encouraging novel methods of Jowar utilization and farmer promoted development companies as an alternative to land aquisition by Government.
The action suggested is:
On 15th of August 1998 concluded the celebrations of the 50th year of Indian independence. Throughout the year the celebrations were luke-warm, lack-lustre and mostly government managed.
An exercise to find out what went wrong with independence and why, in which people will be able to participate in large numbers is necessary. To make-up for this lacuna, people are being invited to attend an open parliament.
Independence came
to India 50 years back.
It's `tryst with
destiny' stands frustrated by now.
How come India is in trouble but those who lead the nation to disaster are all venerated figures?
Was independence limited only to the upper caste, urban, english speaking India? How come the lower caste predominantly agricultural Bharat continues to suffer from colonial exploitation?
How come Independent India's policies in administration, defence, economic development, health, education, transport and communication all brought bounty to India at the cost of Bharat?
Now that Nehru's socialist misadventure has clearly flopped, is there a way out? Or will India go back to mediaeval fundamentalist systems?
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