New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to address the issue of crisis in managing the foodgrain stock in a meeting with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Food Minister KV Thomas, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Wednesday at 6.30 pm.
While the original agenda of the meeting was to resolve what Sharad Pawar termed as UPA's ambivalent' policy on export of agricultural commodities, the focus of the Wednesday's meeting is likely to be on how to best manage the huge stock of foodgrain, estimated to peak at nearly 750 lakh metric tonnes on 1st of June this year.
The Food Corporation of India has already said that it will be faced with an unprecedented problem of shortage of storage capacity which might result in large stocks lying in the open or, on unscientific plinths. On the cards is an additional allocation of 8 million tonnes of foodgrain to people below the poverty line, 6.5 million tonnes of for the APL category and even subsidizing foodgrain exports.
Food Minister KV Thomas pointed out that these issues have been discussed within the Empowered Group of Ministers on Food but decisions have not been taken due to the quantum of subsidy involved in each case. C Rangarajan, Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, will also attend the meeting. The big question is - will the Prime Minister be able to take tough decisions that will free up storage space and prevent foodgrain from rotting this year too?
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