Day: December 12, 2012

Mail News Service
New Delhi, Dec 12: There is no proposal for deployment of defence forces for anti-naxal operations in the LWE theatre. However, the Indian Air Force has deployed some helicopters to provide logistic support to the Central Armed Police Forces/State Police, but do not directly take part in operations. Further, the Indian Army carries out some training procedures in the Narayanpur area of Chhattisgarh.
All measures in the LWE theatre are implemented after mutual discussions between the Central Government and the State Governments concerned.
The Central Government has a holistic two pronged approach to combat LWE. It supplements the efforts of State Governments through security related and development related interventions. In security related intervention, apart from directly deploying CAPFs the Government of India provides assistance for capacity building by the states through schemes like the security related expenditure scheme, special infrastructure scheme, construction / strengthening of fortified police stations scheme etc. In the development front, the central Government is implementing special scheme for LWE affected areas like the Integrated Action Plan (IAP), Road Requirement Plan-I etc. It is the belief of the Government of India that a combination of calibrated police action, focused development efforts and improvement in governance will yield the desired results against LWE.
This was stated by Shri R.P.N.Singh, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs in written reply to a question by Shri N.K. Singh and Dr. Janardhan Waghmare in the Rajya Sabha today.
The CPI (Maoist) is the largest Left Wing Extremist Organization operating in India. It is responsible for almost 80% of the total naxal violence reported during the current year. The CPI (Maoist) vision for its so called ‘protracted people’s war’ against the Indian State is elucidated in its strategy paper titled ‘Strategy and Tactics of the Indian Revolution’. Briefly stated, this document contains a comprehensive plan of action to capture political power and usher in a so called ‘New Democratic Revolution’ in India. The strategy for ‘New Democratic Revolution’ is a combination of military and political tactics involving the creation of ‘base areas’ (liberated areas) in the countryside and gradual encirclement and capture of the urban areas. This objective is sought to be achieved through armed warfare by the ‘People’s Liberation Guerilla Army’ cadres of the CPI (Maoist), political mobilization through its ‘front organizations’ and alliances with other insurgent outfits active in different parts of India, which in CPI (Maoist) parlance is called the ‘Strategic United Front’. The CPI(Maoist) seeks to organize a ‘joint front’ against the Indian State and in pursuance of this objective, it ideologically supports the secessionist movements in Jammu & Kashmir and the North-East. It has also developed close organizational ties with certain insurgent groups in the North-East for procurement of arms and ammunition.
There are stretches to the extent of 101 km of border length approximately in West Bengal along Indo-Bangladesh border, where fencing work is pending due to land acquisition issues. However, efforts are being made by MHA/BSF for early acquisition of land for erection of border fencing wherever feasible.
Due to porosity of border, there are instances of illegal migration and smuggling activities on Indo-Bangladesh border. However, all possible efforts are made to plug the gaps along Indo-Bangladesh Border, with the erection of fencing and installation of floodlights. As approved the above works were targeted to be completed by March, 2012. However, these works have spilled over.
This was stated by Shri Mullappally Ramachandran, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs in written reply to a question by Shri Ishwar Singh in the Rajya Sabha today.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/no-armed-forces-in-maoist-affected-areas-mos-home/

MNS:- Base price has not been fixed for selling tea in Assam. Tea being a perennial crop, green leaf is harvested in Assam for nearly 9 months in a year from March-December. During this period, because of the seasonal variations, quality of the green leaf would vary from month to month. Keeping this variation in view, a Price Sharing Formula (PSF) has been notified by the Tea Board as per the provisions of the Tea (Marketing) Control Order, 2003 for ensuring equitable sharing of sale price of made tea between the suppliers of green leaf and the manufacturers. This formula takes into account the cost of production of Green Tea leaf by the small growers, cost of manufacturing made tea by the bought leaf factories, and the out-turn percentage (i.e. the ratio of conversion of ‘Green Tea leaf’ into ‘made tea’). Thus the green leaf price payable to the growers would be depending upon the market situation and the quality of the end produce and would vary from month to month. As per the notified formula for Assam, the net sale proceeds need to be shared in the ratio of 65: 35 between the growers and the factories when the price fetched by the individual factory remains either at par or lower than the state average. When the price fetched by the individual factory exceeds the state average, the differential is to be shared in the ratio of 50:50. This scientific formula is more helpful for the growers in realizing remunerative price for the green leaf in lieu of fixed base price.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Dr. D. Purandeswari in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
Un-remunerative Coffee prices, severe drought conditions, heavy rainfall and white stem borer infestation affected the Coffee sector during the early part of last decade which led to decrease in production, productivity and inability of Coffee growers to service their debts and make proper investments in their farms in the first half of the decade. However, due to favourable weather conditions and remunerative prices in the recent years and implementation of various development schemes by the Coffee Board, the Coffee production has increased from 2.71 lakh MT in 2003-04 to 3.14 lakh MT in 2011-12.
With a view to providing relief to Coffee growers during the distress period, relief measures have been extended by the Govt. of India from time to time, viz., Special Coffee Term Loan (SCTL) in April, 2002 and the Special Relief Package in June, 2005. Further, in order to help the coffee growers to deal with the accumulated debt burden of coffee crisis period of 2000-01 to 2005-06, the Coffee Debt Relief Package-2010 was sanctioned for the debt ridden small coffee growers and Rs. 241.00 crore was released to the Coffee Board for settling the claims. The waiver benefit was restricted to the small coffee growers (upto 10 hec.) and the medium and large growers were extended the benefit of rescheduling their loan. The entire amount had been utilized for the purpose. As additional claims from the banks were still pending, on the request made by the Coffee Board, additional fund of Rs. 58.00 Crores was released to the Coffee Board under CDRP-2010 for settling the pending/supplementary claims. About Rs. 52.20 crores of this amount has also been utilized. So far, 1,35,260 coffee growers have already benefited and the scheme has helped the growers to reduce their loan liability and reschedule their balance outstanding loans.
Representations were made by some Members of Parliament, the Karnataka Growers’ Federation etc. requesting for waiver of interest on the loans taken by the medium and large coffee growers. The matter was examined in consultation with the Ministry of Finance. However, the request was not found feasible on the ground that such a waiver would have financial implications for banks and result in similar kind of demands from other sectors

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/fixing-of-base-price-for-tea-in-assam/

MNS:- President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has said that food safety ensuring clean and nutrition food should be a key priority of the government policies as it is vital for physical and mental health of people .He said that India has made significant strides over the past decades in food production and globalization of the world economy has given a significant boost to food trade. But at the same time, it has created a new set of challenges to food safety. The Indian Standards on basic requirements for street food vendors is an important step- especially in the context of the significant growth in the street food sector. It has important economic and nutritional implications for our urban populations as street foods are an accessible and affordable option for a sizeable percentage of our working population, he asserted. Shri Pranab Mukherjee further said that but we should be conscious that a substantial majority of our food businesses are small and cottage scale units hence implementation should not be too complex.
. Releasing BIS Indian Standard on Food Safety requirements for street food vendors during the occasion, Prof Thomas Minister Of Consumer Affairs, Food And Public Distribution said that these standards will focus on providing minimal check points for ensuring safety of street foods by assuring food security for a large number of rural, urban and migrant populations in terms of hygiene and quality. These will also act as a bridge between the street food vendors and the consumer of street food, and assure that the street food conforms to specified standards and hence are safe.
The Minister said that with the expectations of the people regarding safety of food rising by the day, Indian standardization system must, at all costs, step in to safeguard public health, and thus promote consumer confidence. It is in this direction that the BIS has already released “Indian standards on Good Hygienic Practices, Good Manufacturing Practices and Food Retail Management.”
Underling the importance of awareness among all stake holders regarding these food safety standards, the Minister said that BIS had recently organized a series of seminars at major State capitals. Now, this National Seminar being organised today is mainly to discuss the recommendations arrived in the past, and to draw up a road map for future course of action in this important area.
Prof. Thomas said that the Government is fully conscious that the food industry, being a good earner of foreign exchange, , deserves all our support, and must not be tied down of its potential to grow by perceived limitations as viewed from safety angle. “We only want that standards should be contributory to a sound regulatory foundation for domestic and international trade in food, taking into account the interests of consumers, the industry and a very strict regime of international quality norms” he said.
.Addressing the Seminar Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, the renowned Agriculture scientist said that food safety literacy movement should be taken up in a big way through information and communication technology, community food managers from local elected bodies should also be involved in this campaign. Expressing concern over pesticides residue in food products he said that strict safety standards should be adopted to safeguard common man from this.
‘Indian standards on street food vendors- food safety requirements’ released on the occasion provide detailed guidelines regarding quality of inputs and ingredients, transport, reception and storage of inputs, utensils and cutting tools: material of construction, cleaning and storage, hygienic practices, personal hygiene and habits, food preparation cooking and handling.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/bis-standards-on-food-safety-released/