Amendment to EC Act not something impossible to achieve: Paswan

Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday said bringing an amendment to the six-and-a-half-decades old Essential Commodities Act (ECA) to deregulate six types of agri-produce is not something impossible to achieve but one needs to see the practicality.

"There is nothing impossible. What is to be seen -- whether it is practical or not. We are examining this issue. It is a Cabinet-level decision," Paswan told reporters in a video conference.

As part of the third tranche of the economic package to help farmers during the COVID-19 crisis, the government on Friday announced amendment to the Essential Commodities Act to deregulate sale of food items, including cereals, edible oils, oilseeds, pulses, onion, and potato as well as and imposition of stock limit only under very exceptional circumstances like national calamities and famine when there is a surge in prices among others.