PM to chair panel on food security, prices

Last Updated: Saturday, February 06, 2010, 19:17

Tags: PM, Price rice, Panel

PM to chair panel on food security, prices

Zeebiz Bureau

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will chair a high-powered core group to examine some key issues concerning India's overall food security with members drawn not only from his cabinet but also chief ministers of 10 states.

The decision to set up the high-level committee was taken during a day-long conference of chief ministers convened by the Prime Minister here on Saturday that focussed on steps to rein in the country's food inflation and bring down prices of essential items, an official spokesperson said.

Presiding over the meeting, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: "While we did well to protect incomes of poor, we have been less successful on the food prices front."

Besides Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the committee will include Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

Earlier in the day, while addressing the conference, Manmohan Singh said the worst food inflation was over and the country’s farm output for the year would be “brighter” than the initial estimates and would dampen the food prices.

The food price index rose an annual 17.56 percent in late January, just ahead of the Reserve Bank setting the stage for rate hikes by raising banks' cash reserve requirements more than what markets had been expecting.

Singh also told the conference that state governments should improve data collection as gloomy forecasts after 2010 saw the worst monsoon in 37 years had raised inflationary expectations.

"This year the initial data made available by states showed much less production than what the states' latest estimates show," Singh said.

The government is expected to issue the latest crop estimates next week.

With agencies’ inputs

First Published: Saturday, February 06, 2010, 19:17

Comments

Prof P.Madhu Sudana Rao - Ethiopia
It is a wise decision to form a committee on food security,which will be responsible for providing food at reasonable prices through out the year.the composition of the committee is sensible to include CM`s of producing states,PM,food ministers and other dignitaries.The committee should be for long term and meet regularly for making decisions in the existing shortage periods but also should plan for future so that shortages and surpluses are effectively tackled and both producers and consumers are protected.It is a well known fact that much of the land has gone into the hands of realtor`s and farmers shifted to more remunerative commercial farm items.It is a natural phenomenon that they go in for more remunerative products.The committee should also guide other ministries to provide basic infrastructure items for improving and increasing the productivity of every essential farm product.In the present circumstances the only available alternative is to allow liberal imports , provision of tax exemptions , maintenance of buffer stocks,and strengthening of civil supplies department.

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A R Prabhakar - Delhi
How will the government control prices and ensure incease in production? There is no control over agricultural land being used for constructing factories, housing societies, places of worship and the list is endless. With limited availibility of land, how do people dream of another green revolution or increase in production? Houses can go vertically upwards and same for other constructions, but certainly not crops. If you want an extra yield, you will resort to excessive use of artificial manures like urea and the end product which people eat will be nothing short of poision. Is this where we are heading for? Some body give a thought please.