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Our Bureau

New Delhi , Aug. 18

A Parliamentary standing committee has pulled up the Ministry of Food Processing Industries for the delay in submitting a draft of the integrated Food Law, asking the Ministry to present the draft in Parliament "at the earliest".

Expressing its displeasure at the delay in finalising the draft food laws, which envisage integration of the existing multifarious laws regulating the food processing industries, the Standing Committee on Agriculture on Demands and Grants (2004-05) of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, asked the Ministry to ``expedite the matter without any further delay and present the integrated draft Food Laws to the Parliament at the earliest so that the food processing sectors move from regulatory regime to the promotional and developmental regime.''

The panel has also recommended that the budgetary allocation for the ministry for the remaining two years of the 10th Plan may be "substantially increased". For this fiscal, the allocation is only Rs 110 crore, which accounts for a mere 0.7 per cent of the total plan outlay.

Against the projected requirement of Rs 2,800 crore for the 10th Plan, the Food Processing Industries Ministry has been allocated only Rs 650 crore, the panel noted while reiterating that the allocation for this Ministry should be increased.

Among the other major recommendations of this committee are setting up a separate ministry or department exclusively dealing with food processing industries in States where such provisions do not exist, the ministry supplying fruits to schools as part of the mid-day meal scheme and patenting of Indian vegetarian food items.

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