No chance of food riots in India: Pawar
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18/04/2008
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Asian Age (New Delhi)
Union agriculture, food and consumer affairs minister Sharad Pawar said on Thursday that the stock position of food grains in the country is comfortable and there is no chance for "food riots" in the country. He appealed to political parties not to spread false message of food scarcity on this count. Intervening in a short duration discussion on price rise in Rajya Sabha, Mr Pawar said the states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have contributed very less to the Central kitty of food grains and this is one of the reasons for rise in food prices. Allaying fears that the worse food price situation at the international level will affect the Indian market, Mr Pawar said the rise in foodgrain prices in India when compared to global prices is quite moderate. "In Pakistan, the price of rice rose from $280 per tonne to $580 per tonne in a year. In Vietnam, an exporter of rice, the price rose by 120 per cent and in Thailand by 131 per cent. In wheat also, the same situation prevails in the global market with the US wheat prices rising from $172 per tonne to $344 per tonne," Mr Pawar said. Significantly, Mr Pawar also expressed unhappiness over the delay in submission of a report by Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen on forward trading. "The report was to be submitted in a matter of 3 months but nothing happened even after passage of a year. I will wait for 10 more days and I will take a decision on the exclusion of agricultural commodities from futures market, after calling a meeting of all stake-holders and interested persons," he said.