Centre rules out tender violation in wheat import

There is no violation of Codex norms in the proposed wheat import, said Sharad Pawar, agriculture minister. He also said there were no plans to ban futures trading in agricultural commodities in the country.

Codex is an international food standard accepted by 146 countries, but is not legally binding. Pawar was speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of a laboratory set up by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board in Vashi.

The country has invited tenders to import 2.2 million tonne of wheat and eight companies have evinced interest in supplying the commodity.

"We will not violate the Codex norms for import of wheat," said Pawar while replying to query on possible dilution of import norms.

Asked whether the government will ban futures trading in wheat, Pawar said, "India will not backtrack on futures trading in agricultural commodities."

"The concept of futures trading has been accepted globally and we have no plans to stop it," Pawar said.

However, we are considering formulating a policy to check misuse of futures trading facility, he said.

Pawar also said that they will come out with a permanent solution to regulate the artificial movement in commodity prices. He said, the act would be passed in the next session (July-August) of parliament to decide norms on the permissible limits of pesticides in water and soft-drinks.

Recently, there was a committee formed under his chairmanship to study the high level of pesticides found in water and soft drinks.