In a fillip to India's sugarcane farming sector the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane at Rs 275 per quintal and the government has decided to create a buffer stock of 40 lakh metric tonne sugar for a period of one year from August 1, 2019 to July 31, 2020."Last year, sugarcane farmers get benefits under buffer stock system. To protect the interest of sugarcane farmers and to ensure that they give their dues on time, the government has decided to create a buffer stock of 40 lakh metric tonnes of sugar and CCEA has approved FRP of sugar cane at Rs 275 per quintal," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said here at a press briefing about Cabinet decisions. "Modi government has taken a historic decision to give 50 per cent over and above the cost of production. If there is a recovery of more than 10 per cent than farmers will get benefits accordingly," he said.Javedkar said another big decision taken by the CCEA is the passage of the amendment bill related to Aadhaar card and other laws. The Act provides for the use of Aadhaar number as proof of identity of a person, subject to authentication.He said Aadhar will be allowed to be used as identification for the distribution of state subsidies also. Under this, the actual beneficiary will get money in their bank accounts. The Union Cabinet also approved the merger of National Institute of Miners' Health (NIMH) with Indian Council of Medical Research - National Institute of Occupational Health (ICMR-NIOH).NIMH is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Mines while ICMR-NIOH comes under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare In this, coming together will benefit both the institute as it will facilitate better infrastructure, research and expertise, Javadekar said. The Union Minister said the government has decided to revive the Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT), which is facing financial burden and bogged down with heavy borrowing.
"The infrastructure needs immediate up-gradation and it has potential. South India depends on FACT as it reduces logistics cost. The additional land of 481 acres has now been decided to as per Cabinet decision to be given to Kerala government for which the state will pay and they can use it for their own purpose. This is a win-win situation. There will be more employment, more production, more saving of foreign exchange and less logistic cost of taking fertilisers to South Indian states."
( With inputs from ANI )