Sugarcane price raised

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 30. The Union Cabinet's Committee on Economic Affairs today decided to fix the statutory minimum price for sugarcane for the sugar season 2001-2 at Rs. 62.05 per quintal, linked to a basic recovery of 8.5 per cent, against Rs. 59.5 per quintal last year.

There would be a premium of 73 paise for every 0.1 per cent increase in the recovery above the level of 8.5 per cent, it is stated. Last year, the premium was fixed at 70 paise. The new SMP has been fixed on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices.

The CCEA also cleared a package of measures to strengthen the rural employment generation programme through development of khadi and village industries. The measures include provision of Rs. 60 crores over and above Rs. 120 crores provided for in the Union Budget for the current year, earmarking of five per cent of the margin money for creation of backward and forward linkages and preparation of a shelf of standard project profiles including new-generation technologies. The programme envisages generation of rural employment for 1.5 million people by the end of the Ninth Plan period and 2 million people by the end of the Tenth Plan.

The CCEA also cleared a 100 per cent Central sector Plan scheme to study the cost of cultivation of principal crops. The main objective of the scheme, which would cover 29 crops, is to ensure renumerative prices for farmers.

It also approved construction of a second rail bridge across the Ganga near Patna at a cost of Rs. 650.5 crores and a Rs. 350- crore project to raise the navigational depth in the shipping channel at the Haldia Dock Complex in Kolkata.

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