New Delhi: Lambasting Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government over the ban on export of wheat, the Congress on Saturday said it is an “anti-farmer” measure as it deprives the farmers of reaping the benefits of higher export prices. “I presume that it is because the Central government has failed to procure enough wheat. It is not that wheat production has come down, it is more or less the same. In fact, it may be marginally more,” former union minister and Congress veteran P. Chidambaram said, PTI reported.
The senior Congress leader said it “deprives the farmer of reaping the benefits of higher export prices”.
“It is an anti-farmer measure and I am not surprised, this government has never been very friendly to the farmer,” he added responding to a poser about the government’s move to ban the export of wheat.
Chidambaram said that a Chhattisgarh minister had told him on Friday that the government there had procured 97 lakh tonnes of paddy.
“If procurement had taken place, there would not have been any need to ban the export of wheat,” he said at a press conference in Rajasthan’s Udaipur city on the second day of the Congress’ ongoing ‘Chintan Shivir’.
Chidambaram’s outburst came as the Central government banned wheat exports with immediate effect as part of measures to control the rising domestic prices.
“The export policy of wheat is prohibited with immediate effect,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification dated May 13.
The DGFT added, however, the export shipments for which irrevocable letters of credit (LoC) have been issued on or before the date of this notification will be allowed.