KTR blames Centre’s ‘irrational’ policy decisions for looming food crisis

TRS working president and Minister for IT and Industries K.T. Rama Rao has observed that the “irrational policy decisions of the Centre” and “lack of foresightedness” were leading the country towards shortage of food grains. Reacting to the Centre’s decision to increase the export duty on rice and impose a ban on the export of broken rice, he said here on Saturday that the Centre’s “discriminatory attitude” in the procurement of foodgrains, particularly paddy, during the two previous crop seasons in Telangana, had led to the situation and demanded that the Centre bring a “one nation-one procurement” policy at least now, to overcome the threat to food security by extensive procurement of foodgrains. Mr. Rama Rao reasoned a sharp decline in buffer stocks of wheat, rice and broken rice in FCI godowns and other warehouses for the Centre’s decision. Recollecting Mr. Goyal’s “insulting remarks” made to a team of Ministers from the State that called on him requesting for higher procurement of paddy from Telangana, to make people learn consuming broken rice to overcome the problem of excess parboiled rice production, KTR said: “By banning export of broken rice, perhaps he may cultivate the habit of consuming it”.