File photo of Union Minister Pralhad Joshi.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
On the National Consumer Day on December 24 (Tuesday), the Union Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry will launch Jago Grahak Jago App, Jagriti App and Jagriti Dashboard to protect consumers from the dark patterns on the Internet. About 13 e-commerce companies will sign a voluntary commitment for ensuring consumer safety on the day. Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi says the government’s efforts are to balance between the interests of both the consumers and the producers. In an interview to The Hindu, Mr. Joshi responded to a recent statement on enhancing minimum support price (MSP) from Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, and said interest of consumers is served when there is abundant availability of food commodities produced by the farmers. On the ban on export of certain agricultural commodities, the Minister says it will not be advisable for India to gamble on international trade when it comes to food security. The situation of the increase in the prices of tomatoes and onions has now normalised with good weather condition, Mr. Joshi claims, and adds that potato prices have been at elevated levels this year due to slightly lower production. Excerpts:
The consumer-producer balance has been a long-debated topic. Recently Vice-President Mr. Dhankhar opined that enhancing MSP will result in overall improvement of the society, benefiting consumers too. How do you respond to this?
There is no fundamental conflict between the interest of farmers and consumers, and the government is committed to protecting both farmers and consumers. The MSP has been increased year after year by the government. For example, if we look at the rate of increase in MSP during last 10 years: Gram/Chana from ₹3,100 per quintal in 2013-14 to ₹5,650 per quintal in 2024-25 (82%); Tur from ₹4,300 per quintal in 2013-14 to ₹7,550 per quintal in 2024-25 (76%); Masur from ₹2,950 per quintal in 2013-14 to ₹6,700 per quintal in 2024-25 (127%). The interest of consumers is served when there is abundant availability of food commodities produced by the farmers.
Increasing prices of tomato, potato and onions have remained a worry for consumers. How do you assess the steps taken to curb inflation in the last six months.
The onion buffer has played an important role in making onions available during lean months of September to November. Retail sale at ₹35 per kilogram in major consumption centres has provided the consumers at a highly affordable price. Bulk transportation of onions by rail wagons this year has been a game changer. Over 11,000 MT of onions have been transported by 14 trains to five cities, viz., Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati and Lucknow. The prices of onion and tomato have come down in recent weeks. Kharif onion sowing and production are reported to be normal. In case of tomato, prolonged monsoon rains have led to crop damage and high perishability, leading to high prices during October. The situation has now normalised with good weather condition. Potato prices have been at elevated levels this year due to slightly lower production. Now we are entering the harvest season for potato which will continue till March 2025. Sowing progress has so far been normal.
Export curbs are another issue. While one section favours export curbs to ensure domestic availability and reasonable domestic prices, another argument is that Indian farmers and traders should get the benefit of global trade disruptions due to Ukraine situation. How do you see this?
For a large country like India, it will not be advisable to gamble on international trade when it comes to food security. Therefore, domestic requirement has to be prioritised over trade gains. Restrictions imposed on exports in certain agricultural crops, in recent past, have not adversely impacted Indian farmers in real sense because of higher domestic prices and the procurement of these crops at the MSP.
The Centre is issuing a series of Quality Control Orders (QCOs) in several goods and services. How do you assess these QCOs impact on exports?
This has been beneficial in both imports and exports. We didn’t have a standard for many products. We brought standardisation for 769 products. QCOs are issued by various Ministries/Departments (Regulators) of the Central government under the provisions of the BIS Act, 2016. BIS acts as the certification and enforcement authority for implementing these QCOs. To minimise disruptions, sufficient time is provided by the regulators to manufacturers for smooth implementation of QCOs. If concerns arise regarding the impact of QCOs on production of certain products, such matters are dealt with by the respective regulators whenever industry raises their concerns and makes representations before the regulators concerned. The regulators are conducting stakeholder consultations in coordination with the BIS to address these issues and may take appropriate measures, including extensions or modifications to the implementation timeline, to prevent potential supply gaps and ensure a balanced approach. It may be mentioned here that timelines have been extended in most of the QCOs based on the request from stakeholders.
Published – December 23, 2024 08:52 pm IST