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29 Dec, 2022 News Image FCI to sell 2 MT of wheat in open market in January.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) will undertake open market sale of 2 million tonne of wheat to  bulk buyers such as flour millers, next month to curb rising prices of the grain. Sources told FE the inter-ministerial group is likely to give the nod for the sales soon.
 
Following the government decision to discontinue the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana or free ration scheme from December 31, 2022, the FCI is likely to have 3 MT of surplus wheat stock by the end of the current fiscal against the buffer.
 
As per latest assessment, the wheat stocks held with FCI by April 1, 2023 would be a comfortable 11.3 MT against a buffer of 7.4 MT.
 
The corporation had earlier stopped sale of wheat in the open market from its stocks for the first time more than a decade in view of a sharp drop in procurement in 2022-23 rabi marketing season and additional allocations of the grain under the free ration scheme.
 
The FCI has fixed Rs 2250 a quintal (excluding transportation cost) as the OMSS price. The FCI’s open market sales stood at 7 MT in 2021-22 and 2.5 MT in 2020-21.
 
Wheat will be offered to small flour millers across all the depots in smaller quantities while in the previous years, when the grain used to be offered to large buyers from depots in Punjab. The FCI usually follows Minimum Support Price (MSP) and freight cost to the delivery points from Punjab as cost for OMSS.
 
'We would like to keep wheat prices under check, prior to commencement of procurement season which begins from April 1, 2023,' an official said. The MSP announced for wheat to be procured during 2023-24 marketing season (April-June) is Rs 2125/quintal.
 
Sources said that if mandi prices of wheat prevails far above MSP, it would adversely impact the government’s MSP procurement drive. According to the department of consumer affairs’ price monitoring cell data, the modal retail price of wheat and flour (atta) on Monday rose to Rs 28/kg and Rs 35/kg, respectively, from Rs 22/kg and Rs 28/kg six months ago.
 
Wheat retail inflation rose by 17.6% in November 2022 on year.

 Source:  financialexpress.com
28 Dec, 2022 News Image GCC is India s largest trading partner bloc: Indian ministry of commerce
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has emerged as India’s largest trading partner bloc in the financial year 2021-22 with bilateral trade valued at over US$154 billion, according to India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
 
India’s exports to GCC countries were valued at approximately US$44 billion and imports at around US$110 billion during the year. At the same time, bilateral trade in services between India and the GCC countries was valued at around US$14 billion. India’s exports in this category, amounted to US$5.5 billion, and imports were worth US$8.3 billion, the Ministry said.
 
GCC countries accounted for almost 35 percent of India’s oil imports during fiscal year 2021-22 and made up 70 percent of its gas imports. India’s overall crude oil imports from GCC countries during this period were worth about US$48 billion, while liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas imports in fiscal year 2021-22 amounted to US$21 billion.
 
Cumulative investments from the GCC in India are currently valued at over US$18 billion, according to the Ministry.
 
With such a high level of content to the economic relations between the GCC and India, Piyush Goyal, India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Dr. Nayef Falah M. Al-Hajraf, Secretary-General of the GCC, have decided to pursue negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the GCC countries, the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau said.
 
'Both sides agreed to expedite conclusion of the requisite legal and technical requirements for formal FTA negotiations. The FTA is envisaged to be a modern, comprehensive agreement with substantial coverage of goods and services,' Bureau said.
 
'Both sides also agreed to significantly expand and diversify the trade basket in line with the enormous potential that exists on account of the complementary business and economic ecosystems of India and the GCC,' it added.

 Source:  zawya.com
28 Dec, 2022 News Image Year-End Review -2022: Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
  1. Unprecedented enhancement in budget allocation

The Budget allocation for Ministry of Agriculture & FW has been increased to Rs. 1,24,000 crore in 2022-23.

  1. Record food grains and horticulture production

Food grain production has increased from 308.65 million tonnes in January 2022 to 315.72 million tonnes in December 2022 (as per 4th advance estimates) which is the highest ever food grain production. As per third advanced estimates, horticulture production during 2020-21 was 331.05 million MT which is increased to 342.33 million MT during 2021-22. It is the highest ever production for Indian horticulture.

  1. Fixing of MSP at one-and-a half times the cost of production
  • Government has increased the MSP for all mandated Kharif, Rabi and other commercial crops with a return of at least 50 per cent over all India weighted average cost of production from 2018-19. 
  • MSP for Paddy (common) has increased to Rs. 2040 per quintal in December, 2022 from Rs. 1940 per quintal in January, 2022.
  • MSP for Wheat increased from Rs. 2015 per quintal in January, 2022 to Rs. 2125 per quintal in December, 2022.
  1. Launch of the National Mission for Edible Oils – Oil Palm - NMEO has been approved with a total outlay of Rs 11,040 crore. This  will bring an additional area of 6.5 lakh ha under Oil Palm plantation with 3.28 lakh ha in the north-eastern states and 3.22 in the rest of India in the next 5 years. The major focus of the Mission is to provide Viability Prices of  fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) to the farmers linked with assured procurement by  industry with a simpler price fixing  formula. The Central Government will compensate farmers through a viability gap payment if price paid by industry is below the viability price upto October, 2037. 
  2. Increase in procurement from farmers

For the cropping year 2020-21, the Government through its Nodal Agencies procured 12,11,619.39 MT of Pulses and Oilseeds having MSP value of Rs.6,830.18 Crores benefitting 7,06,552 farmers whereas in the year 2021-22, a quantity of 31,08,941.96 MT of pulses, oilseeds and copra having MSP value of Rs. 17,093.13 crore benefiting 14,68,699 farmers has been done. Further, under procurement of Kharif 2021-22 season, a quantity of 2,24,282.01 MT of Pulses and Oilseeds having MSP vale of Rs. 1380.17 Crores benefiting 1,37,788 farmers was procured till January, 2022 whereas, under procurement of Kharif 2022-23 season, a quantity of 1,03,830.50 MT of pulses, oilseeds & copra having MSP Value of Rs. 915.79 crore benefiting 61,339 farmers has been procured till December, 2022.

  1. Income support to farmers through PM KISAN
  • PM-KISAN scheme was launched in 2019 which is an income support scheme to farmers providing Rs. 6000 per year in 3 equal installments.
  • In PM-KISAN scheme, Rs. 1.82 lakh crore was released to more than 11.74 crore farmers in January, 2022 whereas more than Rs. 2 lakh crore has been released so far to more than 11 crore eligible farmers till December, 2022.
  1. Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY)
  • PMFBY was launched in 2016 addressing problems of high premium rates for farmers and reduction in sum insured due to capping.
  • Since implementation, 29.39 crore applicant farmers were enrolled and over 9.01 crore (Provisional) applicant farmers have received claims of over Rs. 1,04,196 crore till January, 2022 which increased to 38 crore enrolled applicant farmers and over 12.24 crore (Provisional) farmer applicants have received claims of over Rs. 1,28,522 crore till December, 2022.
  • Upto January, 2022 nearly Rs. 21532 crore were paid by farmers as their share of premium against which claims of over Rs.104196 crore (Provisional) were paid to them, thus for every 100 rupees of premium paid by farmers, they received Rs. 484 as claims whereas till December, 2022 nearly Rs. 25,192 crore were paid by farmers as their share of premium against which claims of over Rs. 1,28,522 crore (Provisional) have been paid to them, thus for every 100 rupees of premium paid by farmers, they have received about Rs. 510 as claims.
  1. Institutional credit for agriculture sector
  • Institutional credit for agriculture sector was Rs. 16.5 lakh crore in January, 2022 which has been increased to Rs. 18.5 lakh crore in December, 2022.     
  • Benefit of concessional institutional credit through KCC at 4% interest per annum has also now been extended to Animal Husbandry and Fisheries farmers for meeting their short-term working capital needs.
  • A special drive has been undertaken since February 2020 to provide concessional institutional credit with focus on covering all PM-KISAN beneficiaries through Kisan Credit Cards (KCC). Upto January, 2022, 291.67 lakh new KCC applications were sanctioned with a sanctioned credit limit of Rs. 3,19,902 crore as part of the drive which increased to 376.97 lakh sanctioned KCC applications with a sanctioned credit limit of Rs. 4,33,426 crore in December, 2022.
  1. Providing Soil Health Cards to farmers

Soil Health Card Scheme was introduced in the year 2014-15 to optimize usage of nutrients. The following number of cards have been issued to farmers.

  1. Cycle-I (2015 to 2017) – 10.74 crore
  2. Cycle-II (2017 to 2019)- 11.97 crore
  3. Model Village Programme (2019-20)- 19.64 lakh

Regulations for promotion of biostimulants is issued. Nano urea is included under fertilizer control order.

  1. Promotion of organic farming in the country
  • Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) was initiated in 2015-16 to promote organic farming in the country. Upto January, 2022, 30934 clusters were formed and an area of 6.19 lakh ha was covered benefitting 15.47 lakh farmers which increased to 32384 clusters and an area of 6.53 lakh ha has been covered benefitting 16.19 lakh farmers in December, 2022. In addition, Under Namami Gange Programme 123620 ha area covered and under natural farming 4.09 lakh ha area covered. Farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand have taken-up organic farming on either side of the river Ganga to control river water pollution as well as to fetch additional income to farmers.
  • Government also proposes to promote sustainable natural farming systems through the scheme Bhartiya Prakratik Krishi Padhati (BPKP). The proposed scheme aims at cutting down cost of cultivation, enhancing farmer’s income and ensuring resource conservation and, safe and healthy soils, environment and food.
  • Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region (MOVCDNER) has been launched. Upto January, 2022, 170 Farmer Producer Companies have been formed comprising of 153116 farmers and covering 155495 ha area whereas till December, 2022, 379 Farmer Producer Companies have been formed comprising of 189039 farmers and covering 172966 ha area.
  • In addition, to facilitate organic certification at affordable cost and easy to adopt approaches, a New Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification was launched during 2015. This PGS system is unique in the world and is the largest participatory organic certification programme in the world. Upto January, 2022, 11 lakh small and marginal farmers were certified under PGS certification whereas till December, 2022, 13.98 lakh small and marginal farmers are certified under PGS certification. A Jaivikkheti portal has been initiated to assist the small and marginal famers in selling their organic products directly to consumers. Around 5.73 lakh farmers were registered on the portal upto January, 2022 whereas 6.09 lakh farmers have been registered on the portal till December, 2022.
  • In addition, quick certification of default organic areas such as islands, remote, hilly areas has been initiated under the Large Area Certification programme. This will enable small farmers to market certified products immediately without waiting for the normal certification period of 3 years. Around 14,445 ha in Car Nicobar Islands of the Andamans are now certified under the programme helping marginal farmers in the area for marketing certified products. Proposal of 5000 ha area has been received from Ladakh under LAC and fund Rs 11.475 lakh has been released Support for individual farmers for certification has also been introduced to encourage farmers to take up organic farming. The entire cultivable land of 2700 ha area of Lakshadweep has been certified as organic under LAC. Recently 60,000 ha area has also been supported for certification continuation in Sikkim and fund released Rs 96.39 lakh, which is the only 100% organic state in the world.
  1. Agri Infrastructure Fund
  • Since the inception of AIF, upto January, 2022 the scheme sanctioned Rs.11,891 Crore worth agriculture infrastructure in the country for more than 16000 projects whereas till December, 2022 sanctioned Rs. 13,681 Crore worth agriculture infrastructure in the country for more than 18133 projects.
  • With the support of the scheme, various agriculture infrastructures were created and some of the infrastructure is at the final stage of completion.
  • Upto January, 2022, 4748 warehouses, 591 custom hiring centers, 155 assaying units, 550 primary processing units, 306 sorting & grading units, 267 cold store projects and around 2420 other kinds of post-harvest management projects and community farming assets were established which increased in December, 2022 to 8076 warehouses, 2788 primary processing units, 1860 custom hiring centers, 937 sorting & grading units, 696 cold store projects, 163 assaying units and around 3613 other kinds of post-harvest management projects and community farming assets.
  1. Promotion of FPOs
  2. A new Central Sector Scheme for Formation & Promotion of new 10,000 FPOs launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister on 29th February, 2020 with budget outlay of Rs 6865 Crore till 2027-28.
  3. A total of 2110 no. of FPOs were registered upto January, 2022 which increased to 4016 no. of FPOs till December, 2022 under new FPO scheme.
  4. A National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) has been launched in 2020 as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. Rs. 500 crore for the period 2020-2021 to 2022-2023 has been allocated for beekeeping sector. Upto January, 2022, 70 projects for assistance of about Rs. 118.00 crores were approved/ sanctioned for funding under NBHM whereas till December, 2022, 114 projects for assistance of about Rs. 139.23 crores have been approved/ sanctioned for funding under NBHM.       
  5. Per Drop More Crop

Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) scheme launched during 2015-16 which aims to increase water use efficiency at the farm level through Micro Irrigation technologies i.e. drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. Upto January, 2022, an area of 60 lakh hectare has been covered which increased to 69.55 lakh hectare in December, 2022 under Micro irrigation through PDMC scheme.

  1. Micro Irrigation Fund

A Micro Irrigation Fund of initial corpus Rs 5000 crore has been created with NABARD. In the Budget Announcement for 2021-22, the corpus of the fund is to be increased to Rs.10000 crores. Upto January, 2022, projects worth Rs 3970.17 crore covering 12.83 lakh hectares were approved whereas till December, 2022 projects worth 4710.96 crore covering 17.09 lakh hectares have been approved.

  1. Agricultural Mechanization
  • Agricultural mechanization is extremely vital to modernize agriculture and reduce drudgery of farming operations. During the period from 2014-15 to March, 2022 an amount of Rs.5490.82 crore have been allocated for agricultural mechanization.
  • Numbers of machines and equipments provided to farmers on subsidy was 13,78,755 till January, 2022 which has increased to 13,88,314 in December, 2022.  
  • 18,824 custom hiring centers, 403 high-tech hubs and 16,791 farm machinery banks are functioning in December, 2022 while 16,007 custom hiring centers, 378 high-tech hubs and 16309 farm machinery banks were available till January, 2022 to make available agricultural machines and equipments to the farmers on rental basis.
  • During the current year 2022-23, so far an amount of Rs. 504.43 Crores have been released for distribution of around 65302 machines on subsidy, establishment of 2804 CHCs, 12 Hi-tech hubs and 1260 Village Level Farm Machinery Banks.
  • In order to support the efforts of the Government of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi to address air pollution due to crop residue burning, funds amounting to Rs.2440.07 crores have been released to these States during the period from 2018-19 to 2021-22, for crop residue management through mechanization interventions. 38422 Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) of crop residue management machines have been established and more than 2.07 lakh machines have been supplied to these CHCs and individual farmers of these four States. During the current year, an amount
     Source:  pib.gov.in
28 Dec, 2022 News Image Dhaka gets positive response from Delhi on quota for rice, wheat: Tipu Munshi
'Bangladesh sent a proposal earlier to import these daily commodities in fixed amount from India annually. However, India said that Bangladesh does not import the quantity of products from India as mentioned in the proposal,' Tipu Munshi said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
 
The minister said both countries will discuss and finalise the matter within the next couple of months.
 
 
'India has been requested not to maintain the anti-dumping duty imposed in 2017 on jute products exported from Bangladesh.
 
'Besides, the objectives of the proposed Bangladesh-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) were discussed in the meeting,' said Tipu.
 
'There was a discussion regarding whether or not India and Bangladesh could do a currency swap in import and export,' the minister said, adding that the matter is still in the initial stage because the benefits Bangladesh will reap will have to be considered first.
 
Tipu Munshi said India's commerce minister has assured to positively consider the issues presented by Bangladesh.
 
The Ministry of Commerce asked for a quota of 45 lakh tonnes of wheat, 20 lakh tonnes of rice, 7 lakh tonnes of onions, 15 lakh tonnes of sugar, 1.25 lakh tonnes of ginger, 30,000 tonnes of lentils and 10,000 tonnes of garlic, ministry officials said.
 
In its national budget in March, India had announced the export quotas for various consumer goods to Nepal and Bhutan.
 
Dhaka expects that it would add the same quota privileges for Bangladesh in the next financial year.

 Source:  tbsnews.net
28 Dec, 2022 News Image Under Brand JK, Govt to increase Agri exports from 190 Cr to 3000 Cr
Under the theme Brand JK, the government  has started exploring options to increase the Agricultural export from J&K to Rs 3000 Crore.
 
In this regard, a Union Territory Level Apex Committee (UTLAC) has been framed for a comprehensive Agriculture Policy for holistic development of Agriculture and Allied Sectors.
 
According to the Government order issued today by the General Administration Department, Dr. M. Angamuthu, IAS, Chairman, APEDA, New Delhi shall also be the Member of the Union Territory Level Apex Committee.
 
The Committee will recommend a suitable policy regime for promotion of export oriented agricultural commodities from the Union territory of Jammu & Kashmir.
 
Apart from increasing agricultural exports, the Committee will set Goals & Targets for next five years.
 
The diversification of the export base and increase high value and value added agricultural exports, Promote BrandJK for its uniqueness and quality,  promote novel Ethnic, Traditional, Organic and Non-Traditional agricultural products and enable and empower farmers for export opportunities are among the key targets, as per the official details.

 Source:  risingkashmir.com
28 Dec, 2022 News Image Govt brings in transparent methodology on monthly sugar quota
The notional stock of the preceding month and sugar diverted for ethanol will be taken into account for allocation of the maximum quantity of white/refined sugar to be sold by each factory.
 
With the aim of ensuring that the monthly domestic sugar release quota is evenly distributed among mills across the country, the Food Ministry has said that the notional stock of the preceding month and sugar diverted for ethanol will be taken into account for allocation of the maximum quantity of white/refined sugar to be sold by each factory from January 2023.
 
In a letter addressed to all sugar mills, the Food Ministry said, 'The stock holding limit for a month will be worked out on the basis of giving 100 per cent weightage to the month-end notional stock of the preceding month. The notional month-end stock for a month would be calculated on the basis of the previous month-end’s actual stock as reported, further adding the sugar lifted from mills since November 1, 2022 and subtracting actual release of the preceding month of the month for which stock holding limit is being issued.'
 
‘Uniformity ensured’
 
For the first time, complete uniformity has been maintained and the new methodology will be more effective once the data get compiled through automated software, said an official. The Food Ministry is planning to launch a pilot next month on the data generation at mill-gate through a software which will be eventually shifted to an API module connecting the factory’s software so that real-time data are compiled from across the country, sources said. As of now, the plan is to make the mill enter the data manually within a prescribed deadline.
 
The Ministry also said that mills will also get benefits in the release of monthly quota for domestic market on the basis of how much their export figures.Besides, incentives in lieu of sugar sacrificed for producing ethanol would also be given to mills.
 
'Incentive for diversion of sugar towards ethanol production will be calculated as 1 tonne for 1 kilo-litre of ethanol produced from B-Heavy molasses and 1.67 tonne for 1 kilo-litre of ethanol from sugarcane juice and syrup,' the official said. The formula will not be applicable for calculation of sugar recovery, he added.

 Source:  thehindubusinessline.com
28 Dec, 2022 News Image 'India set to become foodgrain bowl': Union Minister Parshottam Rupala
Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala says India is all set to become the world’s ‘foodgrain bowl’ as the country quickly moves towards organic and climate-friendly farming. In an interview with Rajesh Kumar Thakur, he said the repealed farm laws were in the larger interests of the country’s farmers and that the demand for such laws has started coming in from farmers.
 
Excerpts:
 
How is the government working for the development of agriculture and the allied fields?
Ours is a dedicated government that works for the farmers under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. India has taken a series of initiatives to explore agriculture and promote farmers’ welfare ever since Modiji took over as ‘Pradhan Sevak’. The government has linked agricultural production with the income of farmers. The agriculture department is working towards increasing the farmers’ income along with the agriculture production by strengthening the risk-reducing management. The farmers are now getting the maximum price of their produce. For the first time, soil health cards have been issued. The ‘Krishi Mahotsava’ has become a platform to promote agriculture by introducing new technologies. Over 10.5 crore farmers directly get over Rs 2.16 lakh crore as part of the initiative to facilitate direct benefits to them. 
 
Why were the new farm laws repealed? Were those laws not in the interest of farmers?
The farm laws were 100% in the interests of the country’s farmers. I can discuss this in detail. I will give you examples of benefits of the laws too. We can debate over it as a special subject.
 
Does India still need such farm laws?
The country needs such laws. Farmers have now started demanding such measures.
 
Has the soil card scheme been implemented across the country?
Yes, in more than four rounds, on a priority. At present, the country’s 22 crore farmers have been given soil health cards. Around 10,000 soil-testing units are functional where farmers get the soil of their fields tested and are informed which fertilisers should be used for high-yield crops. Farmers now carry bottles of Nano urea to their fields in place of urea sacks. The government is working to reduce the cost agricultural cost through a slew of facilities. The government is also determined to increase the coverage of irrigated farming. 
 
How has India’s dairy sector performed?
India is the largest milk-producing country contributing 23% of the global milk production. One of the ways we have improved the dairy sector is by encouraging the indigenous cow conservation and protection through the Rashtriya Gokul Mission. The breeding capacity of the bovine cattle, including cows, is being increased and we are working to increase milking capacity of the cow on the individual level. The country’s livestock is being vaccinated against diseases. To date, a fund of Rs 13,000 crore has been allotted and with the help of state governments, a drive is being conducted to vaccinate the livestock.
 
Is India becoming ‘aatmanirbhar’ in agriculture and allied sectors?
India is becoming the foodgrain bowl, besides being self-reliant in allied sectors such as dairying and fisheries. This is happening especially in the organic food production because India has vast natural resources. We have indigenous cows. 

 Source:  newindianexpress.com
28 Dec, 2022 News Image India's rabi crops sowing rises 4.4 pc led by wheat
During the same period last year, the total acreage was 594.62 lakh hectares.
 
The increase in crop area is across all crops with the highest in wheat. Out of the 25.99 lakh hectares increase in all rabi crops, the increase in wheat area is 9.65 lakh hectares from 302.61 to 312.26 lakh hectares.
 
Though the sowing of rabi crops is still under progress, the area brought under wheat this year (312.26) till 23-12-2022 is more than the normal rabi sown area (304.47) and the total sown area of last year (304.70).
 
The agriculture ministry said the rise in the wheat area is assuring in the background of the crisis faced by the world for wheat availability due to the Russia-Ukraine war and for India's own food security. Record production of wheat is also expected this year.
 
In the oilseeds group, rapeseed and mustard contributed the maximum in increasing the oilseed area during this Rabi season.
 
Mustard area increased by 7.32 lakh hectares from 85.35 lakh hectares in 2021-22 to 92.67 lakh hectares in 2022-23. Out of 8.20 lakh hectares increase in area under oilseeds, rapeseed and mustard alone accounted for 7.32 lakh hectares.
 
"Implementation of Special Mustard Mission for last 2 years is mainly responsible for the renewed interest of farmers in the cultivation of mustard," the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said in a statement on Friday.
 
The ministry said timely supply of quality seeds, among others, are a few of such interventions taken to increase agricultural production and productivity and these interventions have contributed to the large increase in area under rabi crops this year. (ANI)

 Source:  aninews.in
28 Dec, 2022 News Image India-Australia FTA to come into force from tomorrow. 10 points
The India and Australia free trade agreement (FTA) will come into force from 29 December which is likely to double the bilateral commerce to $45-50 billion in around five years.
 
The India-Australia FTA, which was signed on April 2, would provide duty-free access to Indian exporters of over 6,000 broad sectors, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewellery, and machinery in the Australian market.
 
Labour-intensive sectors which would gain immensely include textiles and apparel, a few agricultural and fish products, leather, footwear, furniture, sports goods, jewellery, machinery, and electrical goods.
 
Here are key things about this bilateral FTA:
 
  • Under the pact, Australia is offering zero-duty access to India for about 96.4% of exports (by value) from day one.
  • Tariffs on 85% of Australia's exports to India will be eliminated and high tariffs on a further 5% of goods will be phased down.
  • The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) will save Australian exporters around $2 billion a year in tariffs, while consumers and businesses will save around $500 million in tariffs on imports of finished goods, and inputs to "our manufacturing sector.
  • The tariff commitments provided by India in the agreement will open up access for Australia's exporters of products including critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, lentils, seafood, sheepmeat, horticulture, and wine, it said.??
  • Australian service suppliers will reportedly benefit from full or partial access across more than 85 Indian services sectors and subsectors.
  • ECTA will also support tourism and workforce needs in regional Australia by making 1,000 work and holiday programme places available to young Indians
  • The pact maintains opportunities for Indian students graduating in Australia to undertake post-study work, with a bonus year of stay for high-performing STEM (science, technology, engineering, or mathematics) graduates.
  • Customs duty advantage under the India-Australia free trade agreement will help Indian apparel exporters get greater market access in that country as compared to their competitors
  • India's ready-made garment exports to Australia have seen a growth of an average of 11.84% over the last 5 years. Going by this growth trend and with the agreement coming into play, AEPC believes that exports to Australia would grow three times by 2025
  • India's goods exports to Australia stood at $8.3 billion and imports from the country aggregated to $16.75 billion in 2021-22.

 Source:  livemint.com
28 Dec, 2022 News Image International Year of Millets 2023: India leading the way
The government of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi spearheaded the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution for declaring the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets and the proposal of India was supported by 72 countries.
 
UNGA declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets in March 2021.
 
India pushed for recognising the importance of millet and creating a domestic and global demand along with providing nutritious food to the community.
 
Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare on Monday put out a detailed explainer about millets, its benefits, history, and India’s policy intervention and initiatives to promote such nutrition-rich cereals.
 
What are millets?
 
Millet is a common term for categorising small-seeded grasses that are often called Nutri-cereals. Some of them are sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi), little millet (kutki), foxtail millet (kakun), proso millet (cheena), barnyard millet (sawa), and kodo millet (kodon).
 
An essential staple cereal crop for millions of smallholder dryland farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, millets offer nutrition, resilience, income and livelihood for farmers, and have multiple uses such as food, feed, fodder, biofuels and brewing.
 
Significance and benefits of millets:
 
Millets are nutritionally superior to wheat and rice owing to their higher protein levels and a more balanced amino acid profile. Millets also contain various phytochemicals which exert therapeutic properties owing to their anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties.
 
Further, besides being climate resilient, millet grains are rich sources of nutrients like carbohydrates, protein, dietary fibre, and good-quality fat; minerals like calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc and B complex vitamins.
 
Most importantly, millet production is not dependent on the use of chemical fertilizers.
 
Background of millets in India:
 
Millets were traditionally consumed, but due to the push given to food security through Green Revolution in the 1960s, millets were less consumed and almost forgotten.
 
Before the Green Revolution, millets made up around 40 per cent of all cultivated grains, which has dropped to around 20 per cent over the years.
 
Not only has the consumption of millets declined, but the area under production has been replaced with commercial crops, oilseeds, pulses and maize. These commercial crops are profitable, and their production is supported by several policies through subsidised inputs, incentivised procurement and inclusion in the Public Distribution System. This has resulted in changes in dietary patterns with preferential consumption towards fine-calorie-rich cereals.
 
India produces more than 170 lakh tonnes of millet, which is 80 per cent of Asia’s and 20 per cent of global production.
 
India produces all the nine commonly known millets and is the largest producer and fifth-largest exporter of millets in the world.8 Most of the states in India grow one or more millet crop species. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana are the major millets producing states.
 
India’s millet trade:
 
India exported millets products worth of USD 34.32 million during 2021-22. In 2020- 21, India exported millets worth USD 26.97 million against USD 28.5 million in 2019-20.
 
India’s major millet exporting countries are UAE, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Oman, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, the UK and the US.
 
The major millet-importing countries in the world are Indonesia, Belgium, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Italy, the US, the UK, Brazil, and the Netherlands.
 
A look at the trend of MSP:
 
The Minimum Support Price for jowar, bajra, and ragi increased 73 per cent, 65 per cent, and 88 per cent to Rs 2,990, Rs 2,350, and Rs 3,578, respectively, data showed. (ANI)
 
This report is auto-generated from ANI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.

 Source:  theprint.in