Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Customs duty on onion imports reduced to zero

 

New Delhi: With onion prices skyrocketing to as much as Rs 85 per kg in some retail markets, the Indian government on Wednesday said it has brought down customs duty on imports of the commodity to zero from 5 per cent.
 
"The customs duty on onions has been brought down to zero," Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday.
 
The step comes amid a sharp rise in the price of onions up to Rs 70-85 per kg in retail markets across the country from just Rs 35-40 a few days ago on account of damage suffered by crops in the key-producing states of Maharashtra,
 
Gujarat and a few Southern states due to excessive rains, which has led to large-scale hoarding by some traders.
onion trouble
The steep hike in onion prices set alarm bells ringing in the government, which has imposed a ban on onion exports till January 15, 2011, with a view to increase availability in the domestic market. However, it is likely to take at least three weeks before the common man gets any relief from the measure.
 
"Onion prices will remain high for the next 2-3 weeks and the situation is likely to improve only after that," Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday.
 
While Pawar had indicated the government did not have any plans to import onions to bring down prices at home, small 450-tonne consignments of the commodity from neighbouring Pakistan have been making their way into the country across the Punjab border since Tuesday.
 
Compared to the exorbitant domestic prices, the price of the onions imported from Pakistan is just Rs 18-20 per kg.
 
A worried Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose government has been grappling with high inflation for much of the past year, has also stepped into the picture and asked the agriculture and consumer affairs ministries to take effective steps to rein in onion prices.
 
"The Prime Minister desires all necessary steps to effectively deal with the extraordinary price rise of onions and bring the prices down to an affordable level," an official source said, quoting letters written by Singh to the ministries concerned.

Gujjar protest intensifies, affects road traffic

 

Jaipur: The Gujjar protest in Rajasthan intensified on Wednesday after the Rajasthan High Court turned down the state government's petition for five per cent reservation in government jobs and educational institutions. Gujjars have blocked traffic on the Jaipur-Agra and Jaipur-Ajmer highway.
 
They also pelted stones at the state roadways buses. Bus services on these roads were suspended. Earlier the protestors had also blocked rail routes to Rajasthan.
 
The Centre rushed 15 paramilitary companies to Rajasthan to control the agitation.
 

While turning down the government's petition the court directed the it to provide data on Gujjars in a year's time. 

J&K govt lifts ban on post-paid mobile SMS

 

Jammu: In a New Year gift to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the state government on Wednesday withdrew the ban on Short Messaging Services (SMS) using post-paid mobile phone but the ban on sending of bulk messages remained in force.
omar abdullah
The decision was taken at the directive of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who reviewed the overall situation in the state with senior officials as well as intelligence agency sleuths, official sources said.
 
The ban was imposed in June this year following widespread unrest in the Valley, which was further fuelled by bulk messages sent in by anti-national forces.

According to the order, which comes nine days ahead of the New Year, the state government asked mobile service operators to allow SMS services from all post-paid phones.

 

However, the ban on bulk messages sent usually from computers remained banned, the notification said. 

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