The government is set to announce a crop insurance scheme for farmers producing tea, rubber, tobacco and spices. These crops have witnessed a decline in production. The insurance scheme is expected to give a push to the production of these crops. The proposal is likely to be taken up by the Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting scheduled for Thursday.
According to an official source, CCEA would also consider a proposal for product diversification and an export promotion scheme for tea and spices sectors. While allocation to the tea board would be around Rs 230 crore for five years, the allocation to spices board would be around Rs 193 crore. ?The proposal is targeted at small farmers and would be valid for five years,? the source said.
The CCEA may also take up a proposal to raise the authorised capital of Food Corporation of India (FCI) from Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,500 crore. The move, if approved, would allow FCI to expand its operation and infrastructure.
FCI purchases foodgrains for the central pool at the procurement prices fixed by the Union government. The issue prices do not cover the full cost incurred by FCI in procurement, movement, storage and distribution of food grains. Each year, FCI purchases roughly 15-20% of country s wheat production and 12-15% of rice production.
The Cabinet is also expected to take up commerce ministry?s proposals to allow duty free entry of 80 lakh pieces of apparels from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh into India annually.
The garments from Bangladesh would come following an MoU signed between the governments of India and Bangladesh last year in Dhaka in which India had agreed duty free access of 80-lakh pieces of readymade garment products to India to boost bilateral trade and reduce trade deficit.
The proposal is to allow access of garments into the domestic market every calendar year without any sourcing conditions meaning that the garments would be completely made in the respective countries with their own inputs. Of the total number of garments, 60-lakh pieces would be exported to India at zero duty.