Rice exporters require certification
of inspection to export to European Union
PTI | Nov 6, 2019, 13:56 IST
New
Delhi, Nov 6 () Indian rice exporters will now have to obtain a certification
of inspection from a government agency to ship both the basmati and non-basmati
varieties to countries of the European Union.
"Export
of rice (basmati and non-basmati) to European Union (EU) countries will require
certificate of inspection from Export Inspection Council/Export Inspection
Agency with immediate effect," directorate general of foreign trade has
said in a notification. Two aromatic basmati rice varieties -- PB1 and 1401 -- witness maximum export to the EU.
The European Commission had brought down in basmati rice the maximum residue limit (MRL) level for Tricyclazole, a fungicide used by farmers against a disease, to 0.01 mg per kg from 0.03 mg earlier. This was done for all countries.
India, the world's top rice exporter, exports about 3 lakh tonnes of basmati rice to the EU.
The Export Inspection Council (EIC) is the official export certification body of India which ensures quality and safety of products exported from India.
It was set up by the government of India under the Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act, 1963 to ensure sound development of export trade of India through quality control and inspection.
The assurance to quality and safety is provided through either a consignment wise inspection or a quality assurance/food safety management based certification through its field organisation.
The
Export Inspection Agencies (EIAs) under the council are located at Mumbai,
Kolkata, Kochi, Delhi and Chennai. RR ANS ANS
Unjust
trade policy subverts ILO’s decent work program
-
November 7, 2019
Trade is a powerful instrument to
promote commerce and growth of an economy. It is a key to the creation of more
and better jobs.
However, trade policy, poorly
formulated and haphazardly implemented, can cause economic havoc, perpetuate
economic backwardness and even cause massive displacement in the labor market.
This is why countries have been adamant in asserting their respective national
interests in trade negotiations.
Example of how trade rules
perpetuate backwardness: The Philippine experience under the American colonial
rule. In the 1900s, the United States enacted a US-Philippines “free trade” law
and imposed this law in a one-sided manner on its colony. This arrangement was
conceived to reinforce the complexion of the economy as a producer of primary
agricultural/mineral products and an importer of the more expensive industrial
goods. In short, the free-trade regime was used to keep the Philippines as a
“hewer of wood and carrier of water” for the metropolis. The US-Philippines
free-trade arrangement lasted until the 1940s. Thus, for five long decades, no
significant manufacturing industry was developed in the colony.
Example of poorly formulated and
haphazardly implemented trade rules: rice trade liberalization through the
abolition of the regulatory functions of the National Food Authority and
granting of full importation powers to the private sector. Immediately after
the passage of the law, over 2 million tons of imported rice entered the
market, precipitating a palay price crisis for 2.4 million Filipino palay
farmers. No transition and adjustment programs were crafted for the domestic
palay producers, millers and small traders. No protection measures instituted
against the predatory behavior of the big rice importers-distributors. The
defanged NFA could not even inspect rice warehouses because it no longer has
powers to monitor and inspect rice imports. And worse, the Philippines surpassed
in importation and trade liberality the big rice-producing countries, which
import 5 percent to 10 percent of their national requirements, such as China,
India, Indonesia and South Korea. These countries have maintained their
respective State-controlled grains trading agencies whose task is to stabilize
prices for producers and consumers alike, have set higher tariff rates and have
remained steadfast in sustaining the modernization of their rice
industry.
Examples of countries asserting
national interests in trade talks: many. The most recent is the withdrawal of
India from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement that was
finalized in Thailand in the just-concluded Asean Summit. India said it is not
prepared to expose its domestic industrial and agricultural producers to
competition with their Chinese counterparts under the RCEP discipline. And then
there is President Donald J. Trump, who has launched a trade war with China and
who has caused the withdrawal of the United States from the American-sponsored
Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump’s blunt explanation: America First.
There has also been a global
backlash against the global free-trade rules being pushed by the developed
countries through World Trade Organization, and various regional and bilateral
free-trade talks. In the WTO, the battle cry of the powerful countries is
“equal rules” for all. Member countries should open up their industrial,
agricultural and services markets, and should not discriminate against any
trade partner under the so-called principle of most-favored nation
treatment.
But equal rules for the
heavyweight and lightweight players naturally have predictable unequal
outcomes. This is the reason why developing countries have been asking: where
are the rules based on the principle of “special and differential treatment,” a
principle which gives a developing country space and flexibility in trade
(e.g., tariff adjustments and exemptions for certain products) so that it can
meet its development priorities in line with its existing level of
development.
In the case of the contentious
issue of agriculture, the United States and the European Union have been
pressing developing countries to liberalize markets and remove government
assistance to the small farmers. And yet, the United States and the EU have not
budged on the demand of the latter to remove the huge price support subsidies
that the United States (under the US Farm Law) and the EU (under the Common
Agricultural Policy) have been giving their farmers, as much as $65 billion a
year for the EU farmers. This is one reason why the WTO has failed to conclude
its so-called Development Round, a trade negotiation round that started in
2000.
The backlash against the unjust
“equality” trade rules in the global market also applies to the neo-liberal
“Washington Consensus” free-trade thinking, which became the “in” thing among
the economic policy-makers after the collapse of the USSR. The International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which observe their 75th anniversary this
year, played a leading role in convincing the world, especially the debtor
countries, that the path to growth and development lies on the adoption of the
Washington Consensus dogma. Debtor countries were asked to embrace a program
called “structural adjustment program” or SAP, a comprehensive program which
entailed not only the wholesale or “unilateral” liberalization of a country’s
market but also the adoption of debt-oriented austerity programs.
And yet, the SAP outcomes in
Latin America and other developing countries were extremely bad. In the case of
the Philippines, studies of the Fair Trade Alliance, Focus on the Global South
and the Federation of Philippine Industry show that SAP was instrumental in
putting the economy on a slow-motion process, and, in stunting manufacturing,
desolating agriculture and squeezing the populace through a series of
belt-tightening measures such as the adoption (and gradual upgrading) of the
value-added tax system. The SAP decades of the 1980s-1990s-2000s were lost decades
for the Philippines. The Philippines, a middle-income country in the 1970s, got
stuck in a low level of development and was bypassed by its Asean/Asian
neighbors in the SAP decades. But thanks to the economic saviors—the overseas
Filipino workers and the ICT-enabled workers in the call center/BPO sector, the
country is now hailed as Asia’s next dragon.
So what is the impact of the
global backlash against neoliberal globalization? The WTO Ministerial in
Seattle in 1999 was shut down by the protest action of trade unions, farmers’
organizations and Church activists coming from developed and developing
countries. The WTO Secretariat tried to mollify those opposed to WTO’s
one-size-fits-all trade liberalization by promising a “development round.” As
to the World Bank, it came up with new versions of SAPs such as “SAP with
institutional reforms” (e.g., campaign against corruption) and lately, the WB
has been promoting programs on social protection such as conditional cash
transfer for those who have not benefited from SAP.
In the International Labor
Organization, there were also intense debates on how to tame runaway
globalization that rides roughshod on workers’ rights, as multinationals take
advantage of “borderless” global markets to drive wages down and prevent
unionism everywhere. Thus, in 1998, the ILO Secretariat in Geneva made extra
efforts to push for the “reaffirmation” of “international core labor rights”
through the adoption by the International Labor Conference of the landmark
“Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work” recognizing the workers’ basic
rights: freedom of association, collective bargaining, nondiscrimination,
prohibition against forced labor and elimination of extreme forms of child
labor. Subsequently, the ILO Secretariat, under DG Juan Somavia, organized its
various international development programs under the theme “Decent Work,”
defined as work obtained in conditions of freedom, dignity, equality and
security. ILO was back as the conscience of the UN family.
It is against the foregoing
background that one can appreciate the linkage between trade policy and the
ILO’s decent work advocacy. Bad and unjust trade policy leads to unemployment,
poverty and backwardness. A number of industrial relations scholars also trace
widespread labor precarity such as the “Endo” phenomenon to the neoliberal SAP
trade policy regime.
Now, recently, the ILO Manila
Office came up with a book report, The impact of trade on employment in the
Philippines: Country report. The book tried to summarize three
theoretical economic approaches in understanding the country’s economic
performance: neoclassical, political economy and new structural economics. The
problems of “jobless growth,” weak industry performance and agricultural
decline were also cited.
However, the book is strangely
hesitant in pinning the lack of decent jobs in the Philippines on SAP and
neoliberal trade policy. It is also silent on whether the Philippine trade
policy regime needs an overhaul given the country’s sad performance under SAP.
Without such an overhaul, can decent jobs, as envisioned by ILO, blossom?
Rice, oil and wheat top on Kenya’s
import bill
07 November
2019 - 04:00
Kenya Trade
Network Agency (KenTrade) shows rice was the most spent on commodity in the
year under review, where traders imported beans valued at a total Sh218.7
billion.
In Summary
•Beans imports however had the highest rise from Sh490.6 million
in 2017-18 to Sh10.8 billion.
•Expenditure on imports is however reported to have dropped by
Sh27.85 billion year-on-year to Sh871 billion in the first half of the year.
The vessel with 29,900 tonnes of maize from Mexico
when it was received at the port of Mombasa on Friday, May 12, 2017. /FILE
Food commodities, real estate and
construction related products were the highest imported in the financial year
2018-19, latest data shows, as traders continue to embrace automated cargo
clearance systems.
Latest data from the Kenya Trade
Network Agency (KenTrade) shows rice was the most spent on commodity in the
year under review, where traders brought in 1.6 billion kilogrammes valued at
Sh218.7 billion.
This was a 23 per cent increase
on volumes compared to 2017-18 when 1.3 billion kilogrammes valued at Sh119.7
billion was imported, mainly from Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand and India.
The second most spent on
commodities were palm and crude oil where a total of Sh113.8 billion went into
their importation, a 13 per cent increase from Sh100.9 billion spent the
previous year.
This was followed by wheat and
meslin which cost importers a total Sh90.3 billion up from Sh65.4 billion. Total volumes however dropped by 70 per cent to 1.7
billion kilogrammes compared to 5.9 kilos the previous year as traders gave
more focus on local production.
Cement clinker, a key component
in cement manufacturing was the fourth most spent on commodity as import
volumes grew 23 per cent to 2.5 billion kilogrammes.
Importers spent a total Sh13.7
billion on this raw material compared to Sh12.3 billion the previous year.
Coal importers on the other hand
spent Sh11.4 billion on imports making the fifth most cleared commodity under
KenTrade systems.
This was however a drop compared
to Sh17.1 billion spent the previous year as volumes imported dropped 24 per
cent to 768.2 million kilogrammes, compared to 1.01 billion kilos imported in
2017-18, when shisha sales were still high in the country.
KenTrade has noted increased
activities on its systems. The state agency under the National Treasury is
implementing the National Electronic Single Window System (Kenya TradeNet
System), as it pushed for enhanced cross border trade.
KenTrade CEO Amos Wangora
yesterday noted the World Bank Group-IFC survey shows that the implementation
of the system has resulted in streamlined import and export processes and
procedures (including payment of fees), transparency in the processes and
effective information sharing.
“The data on international trade
in Kenya is a pointer to the scope of the efficiency that has resulted with the
automation of the import and export processes,” Wangora said.
The Single Window System is
basically a trade facilitation tool that enables parties involved in
international trade to submit regulatory import and export related
documentation to lodge their documents through a single platform, hence the
name Single Window System.
The agency’s data shows beans, maize
(corn) sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), printed financial papers (bank notes,
stamps), printed matter (pictures) and iron or steel were other common imports
cleared under its systems.
During the year, imports on
printed financial papers were valued at Sh2.3 billion a drop from Sh2.7 billion
the previous year.
Beans imports had the highest
rise from Sh490.6 million to Sh10.8 billion worth of the produce imported last
year as local production went down on unfavourable weather conditions.
Expenditure on imports is however
reported to have dropped by Sh27.85 billion year-on-year to Sh 871 billion in
the first half of the year, according to the Kenya National Bureau of
Statistics (KNBS), as trade deficit reduced to Sh567.89 billion.
The drop has been recorded mainly in imported clothes and
furniture among other goods.
https://www.the-star.co.ke/business/kenya/2019-11-07-rice-oil-and-wheat-top-on-kenyas-import-bill/
Bangladesh Rice
Production and Area Rises During MY 2019/20
Bangladesh
Rice Production and Area Rises During MY 2019/20
November 7, 2019 8:05 IST | capital market
As per the latest update from United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA), Bangladesh rice production area and output
have been marginally increased to 11.8 million hectares (HA) and 35.8 million
metric tons (MMT), respectively. The increase is due to a reportedly strong
year for Aus rice (April-August) production and a forecasted good season for
Aman rice (July-December). Harvested Aus rice area is revised up to 1.1 million
HA and production up to 2.45 MMT, based on official data from the Government of
Bangladesh (GOB). Harvest of Aman rice will start in November. The planted Aman
rice area is revised at 5.8 million HA and production forecast is raised to 14
MMT as official sources and other contacts believe that continued favorable
weather will result in an above average Aman rice harvest.
The MY 2019/20 rice import forecast is
lowered to 50,000 MT, which is 50 percent lower than MY 2018/19 imports. The
forecasted decrease in imports is the result of the increased import tariff to
on rice, from 28 percent to 55 percent.
According to the Ministry of Food, on
October 16, 2019, government rice stocks were 1.33 MMT, compared to 1.1 MMT at
the same time last year.
Powered by Commodity Insights
Border closure
as last battle against economic saboteurs
The Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) counts gains of land border closure to businesses and economy. The
closure of land borders is part of Federal Government’s plans to revive local
industries and tackle smuggling of rice and other commodities, writes COLLINS
NWEZE.
Nigeria’s economy is estimated at $450 billion based on World
Bank statistics. The economy could have been larger but for the porosity
of its land borders.
For years, goods, especially rice, from neighboring countries
come in and out of Nigeria without trace. The practice has led to not only
revenue loss and the closure of local industries, but aggravated Nigeria’s
security challenges. The biggest contraband route was between Cotonou, Benin’s
biggest city, and Lagos.
But all that changed in August 21, when the Federal Government
closed all Nigerian land borders to check smuggling and breath life into local
industries, especially rice milling and farming, the worst hit segments of the
economy.
Nigeria’s immediate neighbours Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon –
as well as Ghana and Togo have been hit by the border closure. The exercise
brought the bustling borders to a standstill, with goods rotting and queues of
lorries waiting at checkpoints in the hope they would be reopened soon. The
delay in opening the border has brought some relief to Nigerian businesses.
For instance, the Nigerian rice industry, which for years was
almost non-existent as over 80 per cent of rice consumed locally was imported,
is gradually regaining its lost glory.
The recovery seed was planted in 2015 when the Federal
Government and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched rice farming in Kebbi
State. That singular exercise triggered upsurge in the number of people across
the country going into rice farming.
The country also witnessed more people setting up integrated
mills across the country with funding and other support from the CBN but the
threat of smuggling crippled these businesses. Whatever efforts were made were
dwarfed by smugglers and economic saboteurs who brought contraband products
into the country.
The smugglers took advantage of the country’s porous land
borders to bring in substandard rice and other products until the land borders
were closed.
Aside the closure of the land borders, CBN Governor Godwin
Emefiele disclosed that the apex bank had blocked accounts of identified
smugglers, as well as commenced investigations to ascertain their culpability
in what he described as economic sabotage.
Emefiele, who made the disclosure at a consultative roundtable
tagged: “Going For Growth” in Lagos, said smugglers and dumpers have been the
major saboteurs of the economy.
The move may have kicked off the apex bank’s efforts to make
good its threat of going after smugglers, particularly of 43 items that can be
produced locally, which it slammed “Not Valid for Foreign Exchange.
He said: “In due course, we would come out with the names of
companies that have been identified, as we want to be sure and come out with
credible facts that are not deniable.
“We have already blocked accounts of some in the textile, rice
and palm oil industries. We are now investigating those accounts, and as
information becomes clearer and we see that they committed the offence, we
would go to the next round, which is forbidding all banks from banking with
them.”We have decided to deal with them, but in our own way. We would use the
instrumentality of being the regulator and head of banking system to get the
details of these smugglers, investigate their accounts and if culpable, we
would not only block the accounts, but close them, including those of their
promoters.”
Border closure not new
Nigeria banned the importation of rice from Benin in 2004 and
from all its neighbors in 2016, but that has not stopped the trade. Nigeria is
only allowing in foreign rice through its ports – where since 2013 it has
imposed a tax of 70 per cent. The move is intended not only to raise revenue
but also to encourage the local production of rice.
But smugglers have been taking advantage of the fact that it is
cheaper to import rice to Nigeria’s neighbors. In 2014, Benin lowered its
tariffs on rice imports from 35 per cent to seven per cent while Cameroon
erased it completely from 10 per cent.
The economic relationship between Benin and Nigeria , both
members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), is unequal,
with Nigeria exerting much more influence on Benin.
Given Nigeria’s over 200 million population, economy, and
natural resource wealth, Benin has adopted a strategy centered on serving as a
trading hub, importing goods and re-exporting them legally but most often
illegally (through smugglers) to Nigeria, thereby profiting from distortions in
Nigeria’s economy until the ongoing border closure commenced.
CBN moves against smugglers
Emefiele said the bank accounts of all identified smugglers
would be frozen soon. He expressed satisfaction that the decision to
close all land borders had not only created more jobs but also boosted rice and
poultry productions in the country.
“You will all recall that we have been embarking on a programme
where we are saying if you are involved in the business of smuggling or dumping
of rice in the country, we close your account in the banking industry. Although
that is coming very effectively,” the CBN governor said.
Continuing, he said: “You will all recall that in November
2015, President Muhammadu Buhari, the Central Bank and some state governors
went to Kebbi State to launch the Wet Season Rice Farming. Since then, we have
seen an astronomical growth in the number of farmers who have been going into
rice farming and our paddy production has gone up also quite exponentially.
“Between 2015 and also now, we have also seen an astronomical
rise in the number of companies, corporate and individuals that are setting up
mills, integrated mills and even small mills in the various areas. And the
central bank and the federal ministry of agriculture and rural development have
been the centre of not just only encouraging the production of rice in Nigeria
but also funding these farmers by given them loans to buy seedlings,
fertilizers or some of the herbicides that they need for their rice production”.
Border closure gains by CBN
Emefiele disclosed that before the border closure, Rice
Processors Association disclosed that all the rice millers and processors were
carrying in their warehouses over 25,000 metric tons of milled rice, which were
unsold due to smuggling and dumping of rice through Republic of Benin and other
border posts.
Continuing, he said: “We also have members of the Poultry
Association of Nigeria who also complained that they have thousands of crates
of eggs that they could not sell together with even some of the processed
chickens that they could not sell also arising from problem of smuggling and
dumping of poultry products into Nigeria.”
“A week after the borders were closed, the same rice millers
association called to tell us that all the rice that they had in their
warehouses have all been sold. Indeed, a lot of people have been depositing
money in their accounts and they have even been telling them ‘please hold on
don’t even pay money yet until we finished processing your rice.’
“The Poultry Associations have also come to say that they have
sold all their eggs, they have sold all their processed chickens and that
demand is rising. So, when you asked, what is the benefit, the benefit of the
border closure on the economy of Nigeria, I just used two products – poultry
and rice.
Emefiele added that the benefit is that it has helped to create
jobs for our people, it has helped to bring our integrated rice milling that we
have in the country back into business again and they are making money. Our
rural communities are bubbling because there are activities because rice
farmers are able to sell their paddy.
“The poultry business is also doing well, and also maize farmers
who produce maize from which feeds are produced are also doing business. These
are the benefits. “We are not saying that the borders should be closed in
perpetuity, but that before the borders be reopened, there must be concrete
engagements with countries that are involved in using their ports and countries
as landing ports for bringing in goods that are smuggling into Nigeria.’
Also speaking, an entrepreneur, Emeka Eneanya, has commended the
Federal Government and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for the decision
to partially close the land borders as a way of checking insecurity and massive
smuggling activities especially of rice taking place along the border routes.
He said that border closure will promote economic growth.
Speaking to traders during a visit to Onitsha Main Market,
Anambra State, Eneanya , said the initiative by the NCS has
demonstrated government’s desire to protect agricultural sector and
tother investments which have been adversely affected by smuggling.
Ghana plans rice import ban too
Like Nigeria, the Republic of Ghana has put plans in place to
ban the importation of rice and poultry in three years’ time.
This information was made public by the Minister of Agriculture
for the West African nation, Owusu Afriyie-Akoto.
According to him, Ghana wants to divert its attention into
boosting local production and shun heavy reliance on rice and poultry
importation, hence the three years’ timeline.
It was pointed out that 82 per cent of the bulk of Ghana’s
imports is for rice alone.
This accounts for over $1 billion, a calculation that translates
into almost two per cent of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to
Ghana Deputy Trades Minister, Robert Ahomka Lindsay.
Ghana Agric Minister wants to combat this importation struggle
through a flagship programme known as Planting for Food and Jobs in
order to boost local capacity to meet high demand as well as simulate
trade between merchants and local farmers.
Afriyie-Akoto said the Planting for Foods and Jobs initiative
could be operational in three years and enough to combat rice and poultry importation
during that same period. He was confident his ideas would work because the law
backs his decisions and he noted that the initiative did not violate World
Trade Organisation (WTO) rules neither was it overambitious.
Ghana’s Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said the
country’s traders had incurred huge losses because their goods had been
detained for weeks at the Nigeria-Benin border. She advised the Nigerian
government to “find ways of isolating the issues and the countries that it has
problems with, so that Ghana’s exports can enter Nigeria’s market without being
lumped up with all these issues that have emerged”.
But Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed said the
decision to close Nigeria’s land borders was not meant to be vindictive. She
said that since Nigeria was committed to the African Continental Free
Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), there was need to ensure that rules are obeyed
otherwise local industries will be greatly affected. “Businesses have been
suffering due to the activities of smugglers but with the more opening up
following our commitment to the AfCFTA, this will get worse unless we make sure
now that everybody comes back to obey the rules as agreed,” she said.
The minister said: “ The border closure was not permanent adding
that there are lots of discussions going on at the technical level and at some
point, it will be at the level of Presidents and then real commitments will be
made and hopefully, everybody will comply to own side of the agreement”.
Moist
paddy leaves farmers high and dry
Nov
7, 2019, 6:59 AM; last updated: Nov 7, 2019, 6:59 AM (IST)
Distress sale, tardy
procurement add to their woes
|
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|
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service
Moga, November 6
Tribune News Service
Moga, November 6
Paddy farmers in the state are caught between
quality standards for procurement set by the Food Corporation of India (FCI)
and state procurement agencies. Hundreds of tonnes of foodgrain are lying in
grain markets across the state, while more than 15 per cent is yet to be
harvested owing to change in climatic conditions resulting into high-moisture
content in grains.
The procurement agencies are unwilling to
purchase paddy beyond the level of 17 per cent moisture content in grains. The
farmers complained that the moisture content had increased due to the sudden
dip in mercury and lack of proper sunlight, which had been reduced by
prevailing smog in the region.
“Nobody
looks at why farmers are facing the hardships? We are suffering a decline in
the paddy yield by about 15 quintals per hectare, facing hardships in purchase
of the food grains by procurement agencies, distress sale in the hands private
purchasers (rice millers), the ire of the state government over burning of
paddy stubble and above all delay in sowing of wheat and other crops,” said
Ranjit Singh, a farmer of Moga.
After talking to a cross-section of the
farmers, it came to light that farmers were facing a lot of hardships during
the current paddy procurement season.
At
the ground level, there have been reports of distress sales made in the course
of this ongoing procurement season by farmers to private dealers, particularly
rice millers. Such sales are rarely registered with the mandi authorities.
In Moga, private dealers/rice millers are
duping farmers on the pretext of high moisture content by paying lesser rates
below the MSP announced by the Union Government. They are also evading market
fee and rural development fund.
An arhtiya in Baghapurana town of the district
purchased more than 35,000 bags of paddy without paying the market fee and RDF
and transferred these foodgrains to his rice mill located on the Lande-Bhaloor
road. On a tip-off, a team of Pungrain raided the rice mill and found the
unaccounted stock of paddy. The rice mill was sealed for the time being and
internal investigations were in progress by the procurement agency. However, no
criminal case has been registered against the tax evaders.
The sudden dip in mercury by the third quarter
of October increased the moisture content in grains. The FCI and state
procurement agencies insisted on the strict enforcement of quality control
regulations. By the end of October, the stocks of paddy were building up and
the reports of distress sales began to come in from many parts of the state.
“No one seems willing to make the decisions
needed to address the real problem of farmers. In larger sense, one has to
understand the basic problems of farmers and frame policies accordingly, which
benefit farmers as well as the nation,” said Sukhdev Singh Kokri, general
secretary, BKU (Ekta).
.
India exports about 3 lakh tonnes of basmati rice to the European
Union
Indian rice exporters will now have to obtain a certification of
inspection from a government agency to ship both the basmati and non-basmati
varieties to countries of the European Union (EU). “Export of rice (basmati and
non-basmati) to European Union (EU) countries will require certificate of
inspection from Export Inspection Council/Export Inspection Agency with
immediate effect,” directorate general of foreign trade has said in a
notification. Two aromatic basmati rice varieties -- PB1 and 1401 -- witness
maximum export to the EU. The European Commission had brought down in
basmati rice the maximum residue limit (MRL) level for Tricyclazole, a
fungicide used by farmers against a disease, to 0.01 mg per kg from 0.03 mg
earlier. This was done for all countries. India, the world’s top rice exporter,
exports about 3 lakh tonnes of basmati rice to the EU. The Export Inspection
Council (EIC) is the official export certification body of India which ensures
quality and safety of products exported from India. It was set up by the
government of India under the Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act, 1963
to ensure sound development of export trade of India through quality control
and inspection. The assurance to quality and safety is provided through either
a consignment wise inspection or a quality assurance/food safety management
based certification through its field organisation. The Export Inspection
Agencies (EIAs) under the council are located at Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, Delhi
and Chennai
Bihar Govt: Officials accepted
‘inadequate’ securities from millers
The Bihar government had, last week, informed
the SC that as per the agreement between state and rice millers, the latter
were to furnish bank guarantees or pledge unencumbered immovable properties in
lieu of paddy procurement.
By
, ET Bureau|
Nov 07, 2019, 07.52 AM IST
0Comments
BCCL
NEW
DELHI: The investigation into the Rs 1,500-crore paddy scam has taken a
curious turn with the Bihar government conceding that its own officials
colluded with mill owners by accepting “incomplete and inadequate” securities
furnished in lieu of the paddy procured from the state.
Admonishing the Nitish Kumar government for trying to save its own officials instead of taking action against them, the Supreme Court has asked the state to “put its house in order and proceed accordingly”. It has also sought the details of 300 FIRs registered by the Bihar police to issue notices to the accused.
Faulty guarantees
The Bihar government had, last week, informed the SC that as per the agreement between state and rice millers, the latter were to furnish bank guarantees or pledge unencumbered immovable properties in lieu of paddy procurement. “The deed of pledge so furnished by millers were in gross violation of clause 3 of the agreement which provided that the immovable property subject matter of pledge must be in the name of the millers. However, it has been found that in most cases, the property mentioned in the deed of pledge was not in the name of the millers but in the name of some other person,” the Bihar government has stated in its affidavit. “Therefore, such a deed of pledge cannot be used to secure the interest of the corporation in view of the fact that in case of default, such property which is not in the name of millers cannot be put to auction,” it added.
The state has told the SC that in most cases the “deed of pledge was not even registered” and in most cases, millers, in collusion with the officers, provided inflated value of the property in the deed of the pledge. Last August, the apex court had directed all the accused to furnish bank guarantees of the defalcated amount or submit pledge of deeds of the unencumbered properties. The Bihar government, last week, sought to modify the apex court’s order as the pledged securities “would not subserve public interest” as they are found to be “inadequate” or have been furnished in connection with “more than one contractual obligation and/or the securities by themselves are encumbered or the concerned properties are jointly held”. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bihar-govt-officials-accepted-inadequate-securities-from-millers/articleshow/71947816.cms
Admonishing the Nitish Kumar government for trying to save its own officials instead of taking action against them, the Supreme Court has asked the state to “put its house in order and proceed accordingly”. It has also sought the details of 300 FIRs registered by the Bihar police to issue notices to the accused.
Faulty guarantees
The Bihar government had, last week, informed the SC that as per the agreement between state and rice millers, the latter were to furnish bank guarantees or pledge unencumbered immovable properties in lieu of paddy procurement. “The deed of pledge so furnished by millers were in gross violation of clause 3 of the agreement which provided that the immovable property subject matter of pledge must be in the name of the millers. However, it has been found that in most cases, the property mentioned in the deed of pledge was not in the name of the millers but in the name of some other person,” the Bihar government has stated in its affidavit. “Therefore, such a deed of pledge cannot be used to secure the interest of the corporation in view of the fact that in case of default, such property which is not in the name of millers cannot be put to auction,” it added.
The state has told the SC that in most cases the “deed of pledge was not even registered” and in most cases, millers, in collusion with the officers, provided inflated value of the property in the deed of the pledge. Last August, the apex court had directed all the accused to furnish bank guarantees of the defalcated amount or submit pledge of deeds of the unencumbered properties. The Bihar government, last week, sought to modify the apex court’s order as the pledged securities “would not subserve public interest” as they are found to be “inadequate” or have been furnished in connection with “more than one contractual obligation and/or the securities by themselves are encumbered or the concerned properties are jointly held”. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bihar-govt-officials-accepted-inadequate-securities-from-millers/articleshow/71947816.cms
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