Decision on rabi MSP soon: The Cabinet is expected to take a decision on the MSP of rabi crops, including wheat, soon. Sharad Pawar said his ministry had already forwarded its recommendations on the basis of suggestions given by the CACP. “It (decision on MSP) is expected at the earliest,” he said. The government might increase wheat MSP from Rs 1,170 this year to Rs 1,350 per quintal for 2012-13. Nod likely to sugar exports The government is likely to allow fresh sugar exports, but in limited quantities at regular intervals. The Empowered Group of Ministers on Food is scheduled to meet on Thursday (October 20) to discuss exports policy and prices of food grains, Pawar said. New Delhi, October 19 The government is considering linking MGNREGA with activities that add to farm productivity besides promoting large-scale agricultural mechanisation in the next plan period. The target is to address labour issues that farmers have started facing during sowing and harvesting period after the implementation of the UPA’s flagship rural job guarantee scheme. Speaking at the Economics Editors’ conference here, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said there was pressure on the availability of farm labour because of MGNREGA and other anti-poverty programme. “We are attempting to utilise MGNREGA for augmenting activities that directly add to farm productivity. For compensating scarcity of labour, I am proposing a large programme for agricultural mechanisation during the 12th Plan,” he said. Alternative job opportunities under MGNREGA have hit the farm sector hard, spelling labour shortage, increased wage bills and delayed production deadlines. A FICCI survey on the impact of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act on industry and farm sector recently suggested that the scheme be implemented only during non-peak agricultural season, a demand that also finds favour with the farm sector in Punjab and Haryana - the states facing maximum labour problems following implementation of MGNREGA. Pawar had also written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh suggesting that the scheme be suspended during the peak agricultural season, a proposal that did not go down well either with the nodal Rural Development Ministry or social activists. Under the UPA’s Rs 40,000-crore scheme, a minimum of 100 days work is guaranteed under law at a daily rate fixed by individual states, but not less than Rs 60 per day. Pawar also said that the issue price of foodgrain under the proposed Food Bill must be revisited to reduce the subsidy burden and assess its repercussions on the country’s economy in the future. According to the draft Bill, up to 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of urban households would get monthly entitlement of 7 kg foodgrain per person, at Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Re 1 per kg for coarse grains. Quoting the example of “jowar”, a foodgrain selling in the open market at around Rs 30 a kg , Pawar said if the government provided it at the rate of Re 1 a kg, there was every chance of the foodgrain finding way back into the market.