Sunday, 29 March 2015

29-mar


Price Stabilization Fund

1)      Announced in July, 2014 budget, a Price Stabilization Fund has been approved by Union Agriculture Ministry.

2)      The fund, with a corpus of Rs. 500 crore, will be used to support market interventions for managing prices of perishable agri-horticultural commodities.

3)      Initially, the fund is proposed to be used for onion and potato only.

4)      Losses incurred, if any, in the operations will be shared between the Centre and the States.

5)      The PSF will be used to advance interest-free loans to State governments and Central agencies to support their working capital and
other expenses on procurement and distribution interventions for such commodities.

6)      These commodities will be procured directly from farmers or farmers’ organisations right at the farm gate or mandi levels and be made available at reasonable prices to consumers.

7)      The States will set up a revolving fund to which the Centre and State will contribute equally, except for North-Eastern States where the ratio will be 75:25.

8)      The revolving fund is being mooted so that requirements for all future interventions can be decided and met at the State level itself.

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Rajya Sabha prorogued

1)      The Rajya Sabha’s Budget Session being prorogued clearing the decks for re-promulgation of the contentious Land
Acquisition Ordinance.

2)      Prorogue means cutting short the Budget Session of the Upper House which had gone into recess from March 20 and would have met again on April 20.

Ø  The session was to conclude on May 8 but with the Rajya Sabha getting prorogued, the session has ended for the House.

3)      Cabinet can now recommend to the President reissuance of the land ordinance, which is due to lapse on April 5.

4)      Bill on land acquisition was passed by the Lok Sabha during the first half of the Budget Session with some amendments but was blocked by the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, where the government falls short of numbers.

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