Seeking the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh’s intervention, the Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, today said he was not consulted on the Commerce Ministry’s decision to ban cotton exports.
“I was kept in dark on the issue. I came to know about this only after a notification was issued by DGFT yesterday,” Mr Pawar told reporters here on the sidelines of ICAR conference.
Mr Pawar said he has written a letter to the Prime Minister seeking revocation of the ban on cotton exports.
He said that such a decision, which would impact lakhs of farmers, should have been taken after proper consultations either in the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs or Cabinet Committee on Prices, like it is done in the case of wheat and sugar.
Describing the decision as harmful, Mr Pawar said the cotton growers in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are in great distress as traders have stopped buying cotton from them after the decision.
“Export of cotton has been prohibited till further orders,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a notification yesterday.