Govt okays remunerative sugarcane price, bonus for paddy farmers

The government today approved a remunerative price of Rs 129.84 for a quintal of sugarcane during the 2009-10 season, beginning this month. It also approved a bonus of Rs 50 per quintal for paddy farmers during the 2009-10 marketing season (October-September).

The sugarcane price will be uniformly applicable to all the states and will replace the statutory minimum price of Rs 107.76 a quintal, declared in June this year. The change has been done through an amendment to Section 3 (C) of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. This new price will be linked to a 9.5 per cent recovery and mills are required to pay Rs 1.37 for every 0.1 per cent increase in recovery beyond 9.5 per cent.

The paddy bonus will facilitate higher procurement of rice in the central pool in the background of a 16-million-tonne loss in rice production due to drought and keep open market prices stable. The bonus will mean a financial outgo of Rs 1,885 crore at a projected procurement of 25 million tonnes rice. As on October 28, the government has procured 7.69 million tonnes of rice.

OVL investment:
The government today allowed ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), to invest up to $173.85 million in two gas blocks off Myanmar. The investment will be made pending finalisation of the Field Development Plan and a government approval for a comprehensive investment proposal.

Road projects cleared:
The Cabinet Committe on Infrastructure cleared three projects under the third phase of the National Highway Development Project. It included four laning of Barasat-Krishnanagar (31 km to 115 km) section of NH-34 in West Bengal, four laning of the Moradabad-Bareilly section of NH-24 in Uttar Pradesh, and four laning of the Rohtak-Bawal section of NH-71 in Haryana.

Amendment to Cooperative Act:
The Cabinet also gave its approval to the proposal of the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation to introduce the Constitution (One Hundred and Tenth Amendment ) Bill, 2009, in the ensuing winter session of Parliament for incorporation of special provisions relating to Cooperative Societies in the Constitution.