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SAD chief Sukhbir Badal urges Centre to rethink curbs on rice export
Asserting that farmers had been dealt a double whammy by being forced to sell their paddy crop at a lower MSP compared to world prices, Badal said: “Now when they stand to benefit due to the high export price of rice, export of this commodity has been banned”
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday urged the union government to review its decision to ban the export of rice.
According to SAD chief every time the farmers stand to profit from an increase in global rice prices, the Centre bans its export.
This is discriminatory. The ban needs to be revoked, he demanded.
The SAD president was reacting to the ban imposed on the export of basmati rice valued at less than $1,200 per tonne which the government claims is aimed at stopping the export of non-basmati rice by reclassifying the same. “This will have an impact on the export of basmati rice,” he added.
Stating that this was another anti-farmer decision on the heels of the ban on the export of non-basmati rice and levy of 20% duty on the export of par-boiled rice, Sukhbir Badal said: “Instead of such bans, the union government should hike the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy to aid the food security needs of the country”.
Asserting that farmers had been dealt a double whammy by being forced to sell their paddy crop at a lower MSP compared to world prices, Badal said: “Now when they stand to benefit due to the high export price of rice, export of this commodity has been banned”.
Sukbir said earlier farmers had been denied the benefits of an increase in wheat prices globally with the central government banning wheat export last year. “Farmers desperately need higher prices to offset the loss due to flooding, which has forced many of them to go in for re-transplantation of paddy when the first crop was destroyed,” he added.
The SAD president also asserted that contrary to projections, rice prices only accounted for a slight increase in the consumer price index and should not be decreased forcibly.
