The ban on wheat exports was imposed by the US government on Saturday, saying it was an anti-farmer measure and deprives farmers of the benefit of higher export prices. India banned wheat exports with immediate effect as part of measures to control rising domestic prices, according to an official notification.
Asked about the government's move at a press conference on the second day of the Congress' ongoing Chintan Shivir'', senior leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram said, "I presume that it is because the central government has failed to procure enough wheat." It is not that wheat production has come down, it is more or less the same. It may be marginally more than that. On Friday, a Chhattisgarh minister told him that the government there had procured 97 lakh tons of paddy.
If the procurement had taken place, there wouldn't be a need to ban the export of wheat, he said.
But let me add that banning the export of wheat is an anti-farmer measure. The farmer is deprived of the benefits of higher export prices. This government has never been very friendly to the farmer, and I am not surprised that it is an anti-farmer measure.
The export policy of wheat is not allowed with immediate effect, according to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade DGFT. The export shipments for which irrevocable letters of credit LoC have been issued on or before the date of the notification will be allowed, the DGFT said.