Sunday, February 10,2002
The Times of India
Jaipur: The Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), a Jaipur based civil society think-tank, has hailed the government’s decision to relax restrictions on trade in several essential agricultural commodities.
Terming the decision as a step in the right direction, Bipul Chatterjee, associate director of CUTS said that the policy of decontrol is required for removing distortions in the market, thus creating pockets of surplus and storage.
The proposed regime would result in a win-win situation for the producers and consumers, as it improves the marketability of crops and easier access to goods.
However, this could be the ideal situation and much depends on implementation of the new policy, he said.
Freeing farm trade within the country will not only provide a fillip to value addition in agriculture, but will also attract more investment in food processing.
Such domestic reforms are the need of the day if the country is to realise its potentiality in agriculture, not only in the domestic context but also in this era of international trade under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), he said.