UP govt puts 'sugarcane mafia' on its radar before 2019-20 sugar season

Yogi govt has announced it will invoke the NSA against the sugarcane mafia

With less than two months for the 2019-20 crushing season to begin, the Yogi Adityanath government has put the 'sugarcane mafia' on its radar for weeding it out from the cane supply chain in Uttar Pradesh. 

According to rough estimates, the sugarcane mafia causes an annual economic loss of almost Rs 4,000 crore to the state sugarcane sector on account of dried-out crop, under-weighing and consequent sub-optimum sugar recovery.

Essentially, the sugarcane mafia refers to unscrupulous middlemen who permeate the cane matrix by deviously enrolling as bona fide farmers with cane societies. During the crushing season, they procure sugarcane from