India should not lift ban on the export of non-basmati rice, especially in view of the proposed Food Security Act, as demand under the public distribution system is set to rise, according to the Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFC).
"To meet the needs of the Food Security Act, the government will have to keep adequate quantities of wheat and rice reserves in its warehouses ... Therefore, India must not allow free export of rice and wheat," CEFC Director Parshuram Ray told PTI.
The government had banned the overseas shipment of non-basmati rice in April last year to contain surging inflation. It has only allowed restricted export of the foodgrain to countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and some African nations though diplomatic channels.
In her address to the joint sitting of Parliament on June 4, President Pratibha Patil had said the government would formulate the National Food Security Act whereby every family below the poverty line will get 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 a kg, a promise made by the Congress before the general elections this year.
CEFC says scrapping of ban, in such a scenario, would reduce domestic availability of rice and spike prices apart from providing a free run to hoarders and, thus, defeating the very purpose of food security in the country. CEFC has shrugged off industry's apprehension about a crunch of space to store fresh crops as warehouses are already full of foodgrains, terming it a "myth".
"Though there are huge stocks in the government reserves, one should not forget that during the last two months, about 60 lakh tonnes of stocks would have been absorbed through PDS," Ray said.
Moreover, Punjab and Haryana have promised to provide additional storage capacity of 40 lakh tonnes this year, he said.
Ray, however, added that the government needs to focus on building more storage capacity "so that during bad years the country does not face problems of food storage".
The government has procured 302.3 lakh tonnes of rice so far, compared with 255.9 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period. The country is estimated to produce 993.7 lakh tonnes of rice in 2008-09 against 963.9 lakh tonnes in 2007-08.
