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Rice Agri-Biz & Commodities - Exports & Imports Government - Agricultural Policy Commerce Ministry plans to take over basmati certification
Commerce Ministry’s proposed move to pander to traders’ interests and torpedo the Seed Act of 1966 as not important in its proposed notification have alarmed agronomists and geneticists.
G. Srinivasan New Delhi, July 6 Stung by the refusal of the Agriculture Ministry to recognise Super Basmati rice under the Seed Act which the Commerce Ministry notified last year, the Commerce Ministry is mulling over some amendments to the Basmati Rice (Quality Control and Inspection) Rules 2003 in order to assume overarching power to recognise, certify and regulate basmati rice export from the country. The proposed amendments, details of which are disclosed to Business Line, conclusively show that once these amendments are notified, the Commerce Ministry would automatically arrogate to itself the work of listing and notifying basm ati rice varieties, though the basic remit of the Seed Act, 1966, was for the purpose of development of quality seeds to ensure the authentic genetic variety. This would militate against the Seed Act which has recognised so far only 11 varieties of basmati rice — six traditional and five evolved ones after thoroughly scanning the variety. ‘Land’ clause
Under the proposed amendment to the Basmati Rice (Quality Control & Inspection) Rules 2003, where the traditional variety adverted to land races, the new one drops “land”, which implies that the Commerce Ministry is unsure about its version of land race. It could also be construed that the Commerce Ministry mandarins are not sure about our traditional varieties. Where the Rules 2003 clearly states: “which has been recognised as basmati variety under any law for the time being in force”, the new one makes it: “which is so recognised under any law/treaty or agreement entered into by India for the time being in force”. In effect, the Commerce Ministry has, by invoking the phrase “so recognised” in its proposed Rules, has excluded any upcoming law or variety by the Agriculture Ministry which is the qualified agency to pronounce the authenticity of the variety under the Seed Act. The removal of word “land” from the “land race” implies a new category race which is not known in agriculture even as the Agriculture Ministry refused to recognise Super Basmati under the Seed Act, a variety developed by Pakistan. In an additional blow to the Agriculture Ministry, the proposed notification has done away with the phrase “identified under the Seeds Act 1966” by which the Commerce Ministry has signalled its protests over the failure of the Agriculture Ministry to recognise the Super Basmati for which it had to resort to the Export Inspection Act, which overrides other Act for notification in 2006 for purposes of export of the said basmati variety. Industry alarmed
At a time when India’s basmati rice exports to the European Union (EU) were galloping, provoking importers to subject Indian basmati to DNA test to establish authenticity, the Commerce Ministry’s proposed move to pander to traders’ interests in pushing other varieties of rice not notified under the Seed Act, 1966 and torpedo the very Seed Act 1966 as not important in its proposed notification have alarmed agronomists and geneticists. They seem concerned that the high value traditional land race basmati rice peculiar to India would become a thing of the past if one wing of the Government (Commerce) sidesteps the crucial other wing (Agriculture) in a bid to capture overseas market even at the cost of aromatic quality and purity for which basmati rice has become a byword. They say that the Agriculture Ministry, looking after farmers interests, should not let the Commerce Ministry assume the role of certifying basmati rice by bureaucrats when the whole job involves farm researchers and scientists to address the genuine concern of importing countries about fake being sold as original overseas. They caution the Agriculture Ministry to wake up to the emerging dispensation under the Ministry of Commerce as otherwise the interests of traders would prevail over that of the farmers and farm scientists.
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