NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on Friday took the rare step of postponing a question on wheat imports, and asked the MPs to file a notice for a full-fledged discussion in view of the importance of the subject.

Speaking in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Priyaranjan Dasmunsi assured the House that the Government would make provision for a discussion during the current session.

Mr. Shekhawat announced the decision to postpone the question after the Left parties charged the Government with changing the quality specifications for imported wheat. Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and some National Democratic Alliance constituents walked out of the House, charging the Government with ignoring the interests of farmers in north India.

Phytosanitory conditions

The first salvo came from the BJP benches with Murli Manohar Joshi accusing the Government of importing wheat instead of buying it from farmers in Punjab and Haryana, while Yashwant Sinha said no attention was being paid to the suicides by farmers. Dr. Joshi raised concerns about the phytosanitory conditions, and said the imported wheat contained harmful weeds and seeds. Sushma Swaraj claimed that the imported wheat contained pesticides many times higher than the safe limit.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) member Brinda Karat, supported by her colleagues, said the imports reflected "the awry food policy." The procurement of wheat during the rabi season had been done improperly, with the Government relying more on private traders. "This [the low procurement] has been a big setback," she observed.

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