Food subsidy cannot be removed: Chidambaram

New Delhi, Aug 11 (UNI) The subsidy on food and fertilizers cannot be removed and it is going to stay for a long time in the country because a large part of the population is very poor, including farmers, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said in the Lok Sabha.

Replying on the supplementary demands for grants (General), Mr Chidambaram appreciated the members for showing so keen an interest in its discussion.

Replying on most of the points raised by the members, the Finance Minister announced that the Cabinet Committe on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the setting up of Backward Region Growth Fund (BRGF) plan covering 250 districts with the Ministry of Rural Development as its nodal monitoring agency. He said it would speed up the process of developmental activities in those areas.

Referring to the rise in prices, Mr Chidambaram said the Government was already aware of it and had already initiated a number of steps to put a curb on this. As a result, the price rise had come to a halt since June 13. With the arrival of new sugarcane and imported wheat, the prices would further stabilise, he added.

He said the Government was constantly monitoring the price rise on a daily basis.

On allocation of funds to North-East, the Minister said there was no shortage of funds and Rs 4000 crore had already been sanctioned for the region.

He said the UPA government promised to double the agriculture credit in three years but the objective had been achieved in just two years.

Similarly, the interest rate on agriculture loan was being reduced from 9 to 9.5 per cent to 7 per cent by the UPA government.

On the issue of pepper import from Sri Lanka affecting the domestic market, Mr Chidambaram said India was not a major producer of pepper in the world market and the imports from Sri Lanka were not much in quantity. But still he would ask the Commerce Ministry to make a study on the issue, he assured.

Later, the members passed the bill unanimously.

Earlier, Giridhar Gomango (Cong), Dr Ram Krishan Keshmaria (BJP) and I Chewang (Ind) participated in the discussion.

Eds: Pick up suitably from related series.

UNI BKS PK GC1704