FOOD MINISTRY PROPOSES 30% DILUTION IN JUTE BAG USE RULE

摘要

In a setback to the jute sector, the Union food ministry has recommended dilution of the Jute Packaging Materials Act of 1987 (JPMA), pressing instead for a 30 per cent use of plastic bags for packing foodgrain in the 2013-14 agriculture season. It has based this on a recent price policy report on raw jute for 2013-14 by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). The CACP said reservation in the JPMA should be reduced to 70 per cent of the total need. JPMA provides for mandatory use of jute bags for packaging of foodgrain and sugar up to 100 per cent by government procurement agencies. The food ministry is the biggest purchaser of the annually produced 2,000 million jute bags. About 35-40 per cent of jute bags produced by the industry are purchased by the food ministry on behalf of different state food procuring agencies and the Food Corporation of India (FCI).