New Delhi: A parliamentary panel on Tuesday suggested that futures trading should be banned in case of wheat, rice, sugar and some pulses till the country becomes self sufficient in these food items.
The Estimates Committee asked the government to bring a
new legislation to control the retail prices of essential
commodities like rice, wheat, pulses, edible oils, sugar, milk
and vegetables. The prices of these items are "very high"
putting the common man in severe hardship, it noted.
On futures trading, the report said: "Since food security
of the country is at the stake, the Committee recommends that
futures trading in wheat, rice, tur dal, urad dal and sugar
should be banned till the country achieves self-sufficiency in
the production of these items on a continuous basis".
The committee, under the Chairmanship of MP Francisco
Sardinha, presented its report to the Lok Sabha on 'Drought
management, food grain production and price situation'.
Since futures trading gives the advance information of
the likely price situation of a particular commodity, there
are possibilities that future trading "may spawn excessive
speculation and cause artificial price rise", the report said.
The Centre had banned futures trading in rice, urad and
tur in 2007, while sugar was suspended on May 27, 2009 till
December this year. Ban on wheat was revoked on May 14, 2009.
On the new legislation to control prices, the committee
suggested that there should be a limitation of profit margins
of wholesellers, retailers and others in supply chain.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 23:07