<b>Editorial:</b> Creating a wheat scarcity

This situation has been precipitated by the government deterring private trade and the wheat-based industry from buying the grain, by imposing various kinds of curbs under the Essential Commodities Act. It resorted even to banning the movement of private parties' wheat in rail wagons. The result is that neither the trade nor roller flour mills nor other large wheat consumers have the wheat stocks needed to run their plants and maintain supplies over the year. This could have been avoided if the government had eased up on further procurement, once the 15 million tonne target had been met. Since the government missed out on that opportunity, what it should do now is to begin phased off-loading wheat through open market sales. Otherwise, the wheat economy could be in disarray.