Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Aug 13, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Aug 13, 2004 |
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Industry & Economy
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Foods & Food Processing GoM may meet next week to decide on drafting food law Our Bureau
New Delhi , Aug. 12 THE reconstituted Group of Ministers (GoM), to be headed by the Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, is expected to hold its first meeting soon. Other members of the GoM include the Ministers of Health, Law, Commerce and the Minister of State for Food Processing, Mr Subodh Kant Sahai. However, before the crucial GoM meeting, secretaries in these Ministries are scheduled to meet here on August 16, to thrash out differences on the drafting of this comprehensive law. Several Ministries involved in the matter had questioned the need for drafting a law that deals with all aspects of food and proposed an independent regulator for the sector, Mr Sahai said here on Thursday. "The new GoM has been constituted and is expected to meet early next week," he said after addressing a seminar here organised by the Indo American Chamber of Commerce. At present as many as 15 different Ministries and departments are involved in various aspects of food, granting licences and regulating the sector. The Integrated Food Law proposes to set up an independent regulator and establish a single-window mechanism for all proposals pertaining to the sector, any quality issues as well as licensing. Mr Sahai said at present, while his Ministry had the power to grant licences, the power to renew or cancel them vested with another Ministry and this kind of dichotomy should be eliminated after the proposed law is ready. He also reiterated his commitment to set up national level and state level task forces to thrash out all issues impeding the growth of the food processing industry. Exhorting entrepreneurs to come forward with proposals which need investment in setting up food processing plants, the Minister said 704 proposals seeking subsidy from the Government were pending for over three years but these will be cleared over the next three months.
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