The government has removed restrictions on exports from the farm sector, apart from doing away with the registration requirement for exports of non-basmati rice and pulses in packages of five kilos.
Minister of State for Agriculture, Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav, informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply that agricultural products put on the open general licence list are grains, barley flour, maize, bajra, ragi, jawar (excluding hybrid jawar grown as kharif crop), butter and all types of pulses, lentils, gram and flour made there from with effect from March 2002.
Further, the restrictions on exports of cashew to Russia, groundnut oil packs, agricultural seeds -- except jute and onion -- have also been lifted with effect from March 31 this year.
The registration requirement for export of butter and wheat and wheat products have also been removed with effect from that day.
The minister, however, said, the government had no definite proposal to set up a separate agricultural channel for making available information on global warming, changing monsoon pattern and increasing heat and uncertainty of wind.
Expenditure on agriculture sector: The percentage of total amount of the agricultural gross domestic product spent as well as annual expenditure incurred, including Plan and non-Plan, by the department for 1998-99 was 0.21 which rose to 0.29 per in 2000-01.
The working group on agricultural research and education, constituted by the Planning Commission, has recommended at least 1 per cent of AGDP be spent on the farm sector.
UNI