Hyderabad, Sept.11: Minister for Finance T Harish Rao slammed the union government for imposing a ban on the export of broken rice and said that the Centre doesn’t have any agriculture policy to run the country. Speaking at a program after taking part in the swearing-in ceremony of the newly constituted Patancheru Market Committee in Sangareddy district on Saturday, Harish Rao said a few months ago, the union government asked the Telangana farmers not to cultivate paddy as the country has abundant stocks of rice which can be met the demand for the next four years.
All of sudden, it banned the exports of broken rice and imposed a 20 percent duty on exports of non-Basmati rice due to the decline of food grains. It clearly indicates that the union government doesn’t have any vision for the agriculture sector, Harish Rao alleged. The Minister said there was huge demand for rice across the globe due to various reasons and the union government was unable to utilise the opportunity due to poor vision towards the agriculture sector.
Harish Rao demanded that the Centre should give an explanation to people as to why the ban has been imposed on the export of broken rice and why the union ministers have pressurized the Telangana farmers not to cultivate the paddy. Stating that Telangana, which was once known for poverty and drought, has now emerged as the rice bowl of India, the Minister said the cultivation area of paddy has increased drastically and paddy is being cultivated on over 65 lakh acres in Telangana.
