The government on Wednesday gave its approval for deletion of 'onion' from the list of essential commodities.
This is due to by and large satisfactory production and availability of onion during the last five years, according to a release issued after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The price trend of onion also did not indicate any abnormality during the period, it said.
This will allow free movement of onions within the country and for export. The removal of unnecessary restrictions and relaxations of controls on 'onion' will give fair returns to growers, promote consumer interest and free trade.
Consequent upon improvement of the availability of various agricultural products, the government has already a taken a stand to do away with the controls such as licensing of dealers, limits on stock and restriction on movement since such restrictions would hamper the growth of agricultural sector and promotion of food processing industries, it said.
The government also agreed that facilitating free trade and movement of food-grains would enable farmers to get best prices for their produce, achieve price stability and ensure availability of food-grains in deficit areas.
"Onion is a perishable commodity and storage problems coupled with controls/interventions have often led to distress sale by farmers in several states at very low prices, causing them economic hardship."
Construction of rural godowns gets nod
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also approved a proposal for construction and renovation of rural godowns with a total outlay of Rs 445 crore, of which the Central outlay would be Rs 115 crore.
This is part of the continuation of ongoing Capital Investment Subsidy Scheme for construction and renovation of rural godowns.
While an additional 32 lakh tonne capacity will be added, renovation will be carried out for godowns with a total capacity of 45 lakh tonnes, the Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the CCEA meeting.
The proposal is part of the 10th Plan programme.
The scheme will be implemented through National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, National Cooperative Development Corporation and by Directorate of Marketing and Inspection.
Marine fishing policy
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also approved the proposal for a Comprehensive National Marine Fishing Policy 2004 suggested by the agriculture ministry.
As part of the exercise to evolve this policy, it has been decided to set up an empowered committee and also a standing consultative committee to formulate the policy, Chidambaram said.
The policy would help augment marine fish production of the country to the sustainable level in a responsible manner so as to boost export of seafood and also increase the per capita fish protein intake of the people.
Agri-marketing infrastructure
The CCEA also approved a central sector scheme for developing and strengthening agricultural marketing infrastructure with a central outlay of Rs 190 crore.
The scheme would help in setting up of new markets, strengthening and modernising the existing markets and upgrading the Agmark laboratories.
The scheme will be implemented in those states which amend their Agriculture Produce Marketing Regulation Act, wherever required, to allow direct marketing and contract farming and permit setting up of markets in private and cooperative sectors, the Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the meeting.
The salient features of the scheme include a credit linked 'back ended' subsidy at 25 per cent of the capital cost of the project to be provided for general or commodity specific infrastructure for marketing of agricultural commodities.
