Brinda Karat

TIRUCHI: Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Sunday criticised Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's justification of wheat imports and said it was "symbolic of food mismanagement."

"We contest and dispute the defence made by Mr. Sharad Pawar on the issue of import of wheat," Polit Bureau member and MP Brinda Karat told presspersons here.

Ms. Karat said a country proud of its self-sufficiency was now being led into the "food insecurity trap." With wheat production at around 70 million tonnes for the last several years, there was no shortage in the country. The problem was deliberate low procurement for the public distribution system. "At best you can call it mismanagement and at worst this has been a step which has directly helped the big traders," she said.

Ms. Karat said the allocation of wheat for the Above Poverty Line (APL) was slashed from around 14 lakh tonnes to 1.9 lakh tonnes, while for the Below Poverty Line, it had been slashed by about one lakh tonnes.

She charged the Government with not showing enough sensitivity to the negative impact of the weakening food security system in the country.

Although it had said that the import of wheat was to maintain supply to the southern States, the foodgrain was not available in the ration shops.

The changes made in the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act had allowed big private traders to go to the remote villages and procure wheat from the farmers. This was never allowed earlier. A "self-imposed restriction" prevented the Food Corporation of India (FCI) from similar procurement.

The farming community would prefer to sell its produce at its doorstep, instead of transporting it to the licensed markets. The FCI should be given the same facility given to the private traders, she said.

Criticising the meagre increase in rice procurement, she demanded adequate increase in the procurement price.

She feared that if the traders were allowed to have access to the market at a time when the price of rice was low, there would be hoarding leading to "artificially created shortages."

U.S. sanctions

Referring to the sanctions imposed by the U.S. on two Indian companies, Ms. Karat said India should lodge a protest. The sanctions reflected Washington's bid for hegemony over other countries.

On the Women's Reservation Bill, she said the Centre had given an assurance that it was working towards bringing it in the current session of the Parliament.

On the `mole' controversy triggered by senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh, she said the whole country wanted to know from the BJP why it had kept secret important information regarding the breach of security by the U.S. for 11 long years.

The CPI (M) did not support the amendments to the Right to Information Act. They would only weaken the Act, she said.

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