Indian Sugar News

Pay cane farmers their dues within 14 days: District magistrate to sugar mills

Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh: Clear all the dues of cane farmers within 14 days of cutting their cane, said district magistrate Akhilesh Tiwari. He threatened to take strict action against the mills that fail to abide by the rules. He was speaking in a meeting of the officials and sugar mill officers from the district.

The rule mandates that sugarcane amount should be deposited to the farmers’ bank accounts within 14 days after the sugarcane harvest is handed over to the factory owners, but millers in the district failed to do so.

The millers have assured to clear dues of the year 2018-19 by February 10. The DM expressed displeasure over the slow pace of sugarcane payment in Hargaon and Mahmudabad and said, “We will take strict action against the millers if they fail to pay the dues.”

Haryana: Lunch at Rs 10 in sugar mill canteen

Kaithal: The sugarcane cultivators can now take their cane to the sugar mills and need not have to carry their tiffin as the mill administration will provide them lunch at Rs 10 in the mill’s canteen. The facility will be available for cane harvesters along with the employees of the mill. The government has issued instructions to the mills to open ‘Atal Kisaan canteen’ in the mill premises. The facility will be available at all the mills in the state.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal had stated that the canteen will be opened at markets in the state to provide the farmers lunch at a low rate. On the same line, the government has decided to open the canteens at all the 10 cooperative sugar mills in the state. The process of opening the canteen at Kaithal Cooperative Sugar Mill has started.

With the token system, farmers and other employees will get lunch. At the canteen, the farmers will have to pay Rs 10 per plate. The rest of the expenditure will be borne by the mill management through subsidy.

Jagdip Singh, managing director of the sugar mill said, “The ‘Atal Kisan Canteen’ will be opened soon in our sugar mill and we have initiated the process for the same. Canteen facility will be available in all the ten co-operative mills of the state as per the instructions of the government. This will help farmers to get food at a low rate.”

Sugarcane farmers shower gifts on sugar mill inspector on his retirement

Usually, the news keeps coming about sugarcane farmers and the mill inspectors quarrel over cane payments, but in Sonipat of Haryana, farmers bid farewell to the mill inspector in a grand way.

Farmers on the retirement of Mahabir Singh offered him a car worth Rs 15 lakh, bullet and Rs 10 lakh in garland. The farmers were happy with his service of 35 years and wanted to show their gratitude towards him through the gifts.

Overwhelmed with the gifts, Mahabir Singh said, “I never expected that I would be treated in such a grand way during my retirement. I thank farmers for felicitating me and considering me worth for the same.”

Sugarcane dues: Farmers to organise mahapanchayat on February 12

Ambala: Sugarcane farmers of Naraingarh are irked over delay in the cane payments and have decided to organise a mahapanchayat on February 12 to decide on their future course of action.

Rajiv Sharma, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) spokesman, said, “Till February 2, farmers have sent 28 lakh tonne of Sugarcane and the mill is yet to pay bills worth Rs 58 crore. As per the rule mills should clear dues within 14 days of crushing Sugarcane but the mill has cleared dues till December 13. Farmers had to agitate for their dues last year and had launched Jal Satyagraha.”

“There was a problem with the mill’s power plant and considering this we did not raise the issue earlier. The farmers have decided to meet at mahapanchayat on February 12 to decide the future course of their action,” he said.

BKU chief Gurnam Singh Charuni said, “The lower prices of sugar in the market has also affected the payment issue.”

Aditi, Naraingarh Subdivisional Magistrate, said, “We are working for the speedy redressal of the issue. The problem is due to low sugar rate in the market.”

Current budget will neither benefit sugarcane farmers nor sugar mills: Rohit Pawar

New Delhi: The second Union Budget presented by the Narendra Modi led government has made several provisions for the welfare of people residing in rural India including farmers but has disappointed the sugar sector. Rohit Pawar, former president of Indian Sugar Mill Association, commenting on the budget said, “The budget has no separate announcement for sugarcane farmers and sugar mills.”

“The government has used the figures to influence people but actually has delivered nothing for them. This budget seems to be only media-friendly. This budget will neither benefit sugarcane farmers nor sugar mills,” he further added.

Recently, the millers have asked for a rise of Rs 200 per quintal in the minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar and restructuring of soft loans given to the mills in the last few years. Sugar mills claim that sugar production cost is higher than the MSP at Rs 31 per kg. Due to which, they are facing financial scarcity and are unable to clear the sugarcane arrears.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced an outlay of Rs 2.83 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sector for the financial year 2020-21. Presenting the Union Budget 2020-21 in the Lok Sabha, she said that Rs 2.83 lakh crore will be allocated for agriculture and allied sector, while Rs 1.23 lakh crore for rural development and Panchayati Raj.

“Sugar exports in short term and ethanol program in long run for permanent cure of India’s surplus” – President, Renuka Sugars

A brewing deficit of sugar supply in the global market is lifting the price of the sweetener providing a slow gulping relief for countries like India holding surplus sugar stocks. Speaking at the 2nd International Conference on Sustainability – Innovation & Diversification in Sugar and Allied Industry in Pune, Mr. Ravi Gupta – President – Renuka Sugars expressed his views on the global sugar markets and economics.

Mr. Ravi Gupta commented that world deficit supply and demand is hovering around 10 million tonnes in this year due to lower crop in India, Thailand, US. Even Pakistan may produce lower than expected. He also said that most of the countries have lower production due to weather so there is no reason to believe that production shall not be higher in the next year given normal weather. India sugar mills should participate and strengthen its place in the global market by maximizing exports and benefiting from the escalating sugar prices.

Throwing light and sharing his interpretation on the 20 years analysis on the global trade trend and countries holding surplus sugar stocks and countries which are in deficit he said, “Out of the 15 top importers of sugar only four countries are importers of white sugar which simply signifies that raw sugar has wider demand in the global market than white sugar since importers like Bangladesh, Iraq, Indonesia etc have set their own refineries changing the scenario of demand in the global market.”

He also stressed the need that longer-term solution to surplus is by having an effective fuel ethanol program. He said that Govt. has declared a remunerative price for ethanol and also declared incentives to encourage new investment but still the investments are not to the desired levels. The reason for that the weak mills are not able to get the loans from the bank; therefore, deliberation should be made to make a scheme under which loan is sanctioned based on securitizing the future inflow from ethanol business rather than current balance sheet of the mills. He concluded that a bigger fuel ethanol program is the long-term solution to India’s growing sugar surplus.

Punjab and Maharashtra should jointly make efforts for the welfare of sugarcane farmers: Sukhjinder Singh Randhwa

Chandigarh: The modernisation of sugarcane cultivation especially the plantation and harvesting is need of the hour due to labour problem and to increase yield, said Punjab Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhwa on Sunday.

He was speaking at Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI), Pune after inaugurating the exhibition regarding the latest techniques in sugarcane cultivation and modernisation of sugar mills

In presence of Former Union Minister and VSI president Sharad Pawar, Randhwa said that to increase the income of farmers, there is a need to make efforts to increase per acre yield of sugarcane. He also said that concerned states should make joint efforts for the same.

Randhawa sought special assistance from the Government of India for modernization of sugar industry so as to turn these into sugar complexes producing various byproducts like Ethanol, Bio CNG, Cogeneration of Power and Bio-Fertilizers etc. He said that this will help sugar mills to support themselves financially increasing productivity and income.

“Maharashtra and Punjab should make joint efforts for the welfare of the sugarcane growers and find ways to increase yield and get financial assistance from central government,” he further added.

Sharad Pawar thanked Randhawa for attending the conference. He said, “VSI and state government will be ready for the assistance of sugarcane farmers in Punjab.”

Sugar production till January 31 at 141.12 lakh tonnes: ISMA

New Delhi: According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), as on 31st January, 2020, 446 sugar mills in the country have produced 141.12 lakh tonnes of sugar, as compared to 185.59 lakh tonnes produced by 520 mills last season on the corresponding date.

In Maharashtra, sugar production till 31st January 2020 is estimated at 34.64 lakh tonnes, compared with 70.99 lakh tonnes produced last year same period. In the current 2019-20 SS, totally 143 sugar mills were operating, of which 3 sugar mills have already closed their crushing operations.

In U.P. 119 sugar mills are in operation and they have produced 54.96 lakh tonnes of sugar till 31st January 2020, compared with 52.86 lakh tonnes produced by 117 mills on the corresponding date of last year.

In case of Karnataka, till 31st January, 2020, 63 sugar mills have produced 27.94 lakh tonnes, as compared to 33.76 lakh tonnes produced by 66 sugar mills last year same period.

In case of Tamil Nadu, 21 sugar mills commenced their crushing operations so far for 2019-20 SS and they produced 2.05 lakh tonnes of sugar, as compared to 2.86 lakh tonnes produced by 32 sugar mills in 2018-19 SS on the corresponding date.

Gujarat has produced 4.87 lakh tonnes of sugar till 31st January 2020 with 15 sugar mills in operation. Last year, 16 sugar mills were in operation and they had produced 6.66 lakh tonnes of sugar till 31st January 2019.

In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 18 sugar mills have produced 2.34 lakh tonnes as on 31st January 2020, as compared to 3.67 lakh tonnes produced by these mills on the corresponding date last season.

In Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, sugar production till 31st January 2020 has been in the order of 4.21 lakh tonnes, 1.94 lakh tonnes, 3.00 lakh tonnes, 2.80 lakh tonnes and 2.26 lakh tonnes, respectively.

Sugar production estimated for 2019-20 SS is 260 lakh tonnes, after accounting for the diversion of sugarcane juice and ‘B’ heavy molasses into ethanol, which will reduce about 8.5 lakh tonnes of sugar production. 260 lakh tonnes of sugar will be around 70 lakh tonnes less than the production of the last season. We can already see that current year’s production is trailing by almost 44.5 lakh tonnes till the end of January 2020 as compared to the previous season.

On the other side, the sugar sales in the first four months of the current season i.e. January 2020 will be almost 7-8 lakh tonnes more than the sugar sales in the first 4 months of the last season. In the last year, the estimated sugar sales by the sugar mills were around 255 lakh tonnes and considering the higher sales in this year, ISMA expects the sugar sales by sugar mills in the current season to be around 260 lakh tonnes.

ISMA has procured the satellite images of the sugarcane area across the country in the end of January 2020. This will give a very good idea of the sugarcane which has already been harvested, and the balance sugarcane which is on the ground. The trend of yields and sugar recoveries of the current season is now available with the Association. After having physically visited the sugarcane area and thereafter having detailed discussion with the member sugar mills across the country, ISMA will, if required, give its second advance estimates in its Committee Meeting before the end of February 2020.

ISO suggests neighbouring countries to import sugar from India

Pune: International Sugar Organisation (ISO) has predicted that there will be a sugar deficit in 2019-20 season over surplus production in the last few years.

In such a scenario, India having surplus sugar will be benefitted. ISO has encouraged neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Indonesia to import sugar from India. Jose Orive, executive director of the International Sugar Organisation (ISO) said that this will help in stabilising the demand-supply situation.

Speaking on the side-lines of the 2nd International Conference on Sustainability – Innovation & Diversification in Sugar and Allied Industry in Pune, he projected a global sugar deficit of 6.1 million tonne with global production shrinking by 5.5 million tonne to only 170.4 million tonne.

To meet a global sugar deficit, global buyers have been targeting the Indian market. Global sugar production will decrease due to the fall in sugar production in India and Thailand and USA.

Nepal: Sugarcane farmers warn to protest again

Kathmandu: Sugarcane farmers have threatened to launch an agitation if the sugar mills and the government fails to clear their arrears as the deadline set by them has crossed more than a week.

The millers owe around Rs 1 billion to the cane farmers. According to millers, they have also not received subsidies around Rs 1.20 billion from the government.

Rakesh Mishra, a member of the sugarcane farmers’ action committee said, “There are two mills in the country and both have deceived farmers. Mahalaxmi sugar mill and Annapurna sugar mills are yet to pay sugarcane arrears to cane growers.”

Since farmers launched the first phase of agitation, the Annapurna mill has stopped operations. Farmers from all districts stage a week-long protest in December last year. The protest was called off on January 3 after the mill owners agreed to clear dues by January 21. The mills, however, have paid the nominal amount despite the set deadline.

Scientists say sugar beet is a better alternative to sugarcane

Belgavi: Government is working to reduce the cost of sugarcane cultivation and increasing its yield. Therefore now the scientists are emphasizing on the cultivation of sugar beet.

According to the scientists of S. Nijalingappa Sugar Institute in Belagavi, “Sugar beet cultivation will also achieve other objectives such as economic use of water, extending crushing season of sugar mills, and providing fodder for cattle and compostable biomass to farmers.”

The institute is doing extensive research on the project in Karnataka. R B Khandagave, director of the institute said, “The crop is presently cultivated in some parts of Punjab and we want Karnataka farmers to adopt it.”

“It takes less time for cultivation compared with sugarcane. Sugar beet also needs less water. It produces foliage that can be used as fodder for cattle and can be used for composting after harvesting. As the cost of cultivation is lower than that of cane, so, therefore, it will be helpful for farmers,” he further added.

State-level seminar on “Production of ethanol & compliance with GST norms in sugar factories”

Kolhapur: With ethanol providing an additional revenue stream for the sugar sector, more ethanol capacities are likely to be added in the coming years reducing the excess supply of sugar in the market. Also, helping mills get stronger financially, strengthen the prices of sugar, and assist the Central Government’s vision to achieve 20% ethanol with petrol by 2030. Many companies have stepped forward to expand or add new capacities.

This time, sugar mills have bet a thrust on Ethanol and are inquisitive to find the apt way on how Ethanol will prove to be an elixir for Sugar Industry. KDAM & Associates, has organised a State level Seminar “Sakhar Kranti 2020” for all the stakeholders of the Sugar Industry in Maharashtra at Hotel Sayaji, Kolhapur on 8th February 2020 where the panel experts would throw light on the benefits of Ethanol manufacturing and future tactics to make the business profitable.

In conversation with ChiniMandi News, Mr. Ashish Deshmukh – Partner-KDAM & Associates expressed his views on the event taking place. He shared that, “Proper understanding of Rule 42 / 43 of GST Act would result into substantial savings in the working capital of sugar mills. There would be a separate session on Rule 42/43 of GST Act and GST Audit conducted by GST Expert – CMA Mahindra Bhombe. Working capital management will also be presented by the Mr Jaydeep, Director- BUZI Sugar, Nr Buzi River Dam in Buzi District, Sofala Province, Mozambique, Africa.”

He added that there would be a group of eminent speakers during the event where topics like, Global trend, Automation in the Sugar Industry etc. will be deliberated on.

The program is to be inaugurated in the hands of Mr Balasaheb Patil, Minister (Cooperation and Marketing) and Mr. Saurabh Rao, Sugar Commissioner of Maharashtra state.

The event is open for MDs, Chief Accountants, Distillery managers, Engineering Heads, Knowledge seekers etc from the Sugar Industry across Maharashtra.

For registration or more details, contact 7758060463

Time has come to arrive at an acceptable solution for sugarcane farmers and millers: Sharad Pawar

Pune: The time has come for sugar millers and cane growers to work together and arrive at an acceptable solution for the development of sugar sector, said former union minister and the present of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

He was speaking at a second international conference organised on Sustainability – Innovation & Diversification in Sugar and Allied industry organised by the Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) at Manjari near Pune.

“Union government is taking steps to deregularise the sector however the sector is still controlled by the government policies over price-fixing, export, ethanol blending and area reservation. The aim of the industry is the welfare of cane growers as well as consumers,” he said.

According to the Pawar, “The central government fixes FRP (fair and remunerative price) for sugarcane which is mandatory but there is no assurance of sugar prices which makes it extremely difficult to ensure timely payments to the growers. Now the time has come for millers and growers to arrive at an acceptable solution.”

Speaking about sugar recovery, he said it is now stagnant at 10.5 per cent, whereas it can be improved to 11.5-12 per cent and in this area, research organisations will have to play a pro-active role and government will have to encourage researchers to develop varieties with high yield and high sugar content.

3 sugar mills face action for selling excessive sugar quota

New Delhi: The Central Government had reintroduced the Monthly Release Mechanism last year to control supply of sugar and ensure stability in pricing. The central government also fixed the minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar and instructed mills to adhere to the directive.

The notification passed on the 7th Day of June 2018 mentioned that any violation of the order would attract penal provisions under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 as amended from time to time.

The Department had been constantly auditing the sales of mills. Show Cause Notices (SCNs) was issued to the sugar mills for violation of stock holding order for the month of September 2019. Except 3 sugar mills, replies to SCNs have been received from other sugar mills which are under examination. The excess quantity sold by the said 3 sugar mills have been deducted from the proposed allocation in the month of February 2020.

State-wise monthly sugar quota for sale in February 2020

ChiniMandi Delhi, 31st January 2020: In a notification issued on the 31st day of January 2020, the food ministry has allocated 20 LMT monthly sugar quota for February to each of 543 mills in India.

The Government has announced 20 LMT Monthly Sugar Quota for Sale in February 2020 which is -9.13% lower quota compared to the last month’s Sugar quota of January 2020 which stood at 22 LMT. The statewise quota for February 2020 is as follows: Andhra Pradesh 25716 MT, Bihar 56552 MT, Chhattisgarh 6408 MT, Goa 0 MT, Gujarat 64984 MT, Haryana 38665 MT, Karnataka 312170 MT, Madhya Pradesh 22677 MT, Maharashtra 557316 MT, Orissa 119 MT, Punjab 54252 MT, Rajasthan 675 MT, Tamil Nadu 32296 MT, Telangana 6813 MT, Uttar Pradesh 791706 MT, Uttarakhand 28872 MT.

Nirmala Sitharman announces new scheme to achieve higher export credit disbursement

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman on Saturday announced a new scheme NIRVIK to achieve higher export credit disbursement, which provides for higher insurance coverage, reduction in premium for small exporters and simplified procedure for claim settlements.

By the end of fifth year, the scheme is expected to support exports of about Rs 30 lakh crore. She proposed digitally refund to exporters the duties and taxes levied at central, state and local levels. They include electricity duties and value-added tax on fuel used for transportation which are not getting exempted or refunded under any other existing mechanism.

Sitharaman said that the electronics manufacturing industry is very competitive and the potential in job creation is immense. She further said that India needs to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in the electronics value chain.

She proposed a scheme to encourage the manufacture of mobile phones, electronic equipment and semiconductor packaging. She also proposed a National Technical Textiles Mission with a four-year implementation period from 2020-21 to 2023-24 at an estimated outlay of Rs 1,480 crore to position India as a global leader in technical textiles.

Sitharaman referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for quality and standards with zero-defect manufacturing. All ministries during the course of this year will be issuing quality standard orders.

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is moving ahead for creating a unified procurement system for providing a single platform for procurement of goods, services and works, said Sitharaman.

She proposed to take the turnover of GeM to Rs 3 lakh crore and proposed to provide Rs 27,300 crore for development and promotion of industry and commerce for the year 2020-21.

Govt. Fixes 20 LMT Monthly Sugar Quota for Sale in February 2020

ChiniMandi Delhi, 31st January 2020: In a notification issued on the 31st day of January 2020, the food ministry has allocated 20 LMT monthly sugar quota for February to each of 543 mills in India.

The allocated quota for February 2020 is 1 LMT lower than February 2019’s month quota that stood at 21 LMT. In the previous month the Govt. allocated 22 lakh MT monthly sugar quota in January 2020 to 537 mills in the country. Sugar millers have witnessed moderate demand in the month of January due to continuous piling of sugar stocks owing to sharp fall of sugar production in the new sugar season. As per sources, traders in the industry are quite interested in stocking of sugar to enjoy the suitable benefits of the market trend with good demand and therefore market men are optimistic about the sentiments to remain positive, demand to be good and prices to be firm.

The group sugar producing companies having more than one sugar producing units may maintain the stock as defined in Para (1) of this Order, either unit wise or for the group as a whole.

The sugar-mill wise Maximum quantity of white/refined sugar for domestic sale and dispatch during the month of February 2020 been worked out on the basis of the following parameters:
The February 2020 stock holding limit has been worked out on the basis of giving 100% weightage to the month end notional stock for the month of January 2020.

The notional month-end stock for the month of January 2020, has been worked out on the basis of month end stock for December, 2019 (as reported on P-II) adjusting the difference in the actual and the estimated production of December, 2019 (received from sugar mills) further adding the sugar lifted from sugar mills for export as per 4.3 column P-II and subtracting actual release for January 2020.
The difference in the actual and the estimated sugar sacrificed for producing ethanol with B heavy molasses/sugarcane juice/sugar syrup/sugar of December 2019 has been adjusted. Incentive in lieu of estimated sugar sacrificed for the month of January 2020 (received from sugar mills) for producing ethanol from B heavy molasses/sugarcane juice/sugar syrup/sugar has been given for issuing stock holding limit Order for the month of February 2020.

Show Cause Notices (SCNs) was issued to the sugar mills for violation of stock holding order for the month of September 2019. Except 3 sugar mills, replies to SCNs have been received from other sugar mills which are under examination. The excess quantity sold by the said 3 sugar mills have been deducted from the proposed allocation in the month of February 2020.

Click her to view the notification Monthly Release Order – February 2020

Low sugar recovery in old cane causing financial losses to sugar mills

Lucknow: Commissioner Cane and Sugar Shri Sanjay R. Bhoosreddy Said that E.R.P. system has been implemented to provide real time information related to sugarcane marketing to the farmers. It been seen that in some cooperative sugar mills viz., Ghosi, Sathiyav, Sultanpur and Munderawa, Pipraich sugar mills of corporation sector and in few private sugar mills, some farmers are harvesting their sugar cane by estimating time of receiving purchi, seeing their Calendar on “E-Ganna App“. While the delay in issuance of purchi is possible due to break down in sugar mill and bad weather. Farmers are being given supply tickets through S.M.S. and, after issuing purchi at list 72 hours of time is given for cane supply. In the event of supply of sugarcane harvested by farmers 3 to 4 days ago, the weight of sugarcane reduces by 5 to 8% and the recovery of sugar at the delay of every 24 hours also decreases by 0-25 %.

So by supplying sugarcane, harvested more than 72 hours before, on the one hand, the farmers loose money due to reduction in cane weight and on the other hand the reduced sugar recovery in stale cane causes financial losses to sugar mills which affect their paying capacity.

Giving the above information, the Commissioner, Cane and Sugar Shri Bhoosreddy said that in state, sugarcane is the main source of livelihood of about 2.50 crore persons, including about 50 lakh sugarcane farmers and their families. In such a situation, the loss of all the farmers due to some farmers is not good and it is clarified that in any case the old harvested dry sugarcane will not be taken by the sugar mills and the farmers who so ever will supply such sugarcane, their bonds will be closed.

He appealed to the farmers that they should harvest their sugarcane only after receiving the S.M.S purchi so that they can avoid weight lost to themselves and recovery loss to sugar mills. By doing this the farmers will get the full value of their produce and the paying capacity of sugar mill will also be better.

Kolhapur collector asks sugar mills to stop procuring sugarcane from neighbouring states

Kolhapur: Cane growers from Kolhapur are struggling as their flood-hit damaged sugarcane crop is still standing in the field. Taking note of this, District collector Daulat Desai has convened the meeting of the sugar millers on Wednesday. In a meeting, he asked the sugar millers to refrain from procuring sugarcane from neighbouring states until they complete crushing of damaged crop from the district. The meeting was attended by sugar millers, representatives of farmers and Veteran activist N D Patil.

The collectorate will appoint assistant registrar at every mill to monitor cane crushing of the damaged crop.

“When cane crushing season began, the millers were asked to take 70% fresh crop and 30% damaged crop for crushing. But the damaged cane remains in the fields and millers have not followed the instructions. However now they have to crush 70 per cent of the damaged crop and 30 per cent good cane for crushing till they crush the damaged crop completely,” said Desai.

Recently, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna (SSS), warned sugar mills in the district to cut and crush the Sugarcane damaged due to floods by January end, else they will shut down the mills. Jalinder Patil, state president of SSS met district collector Daulat Desai and pointed out the mills are not following directives issued by him to cut cane from the flood-affected area on a priority basis.

Congress plans to reach 50 lakh farmers in Uttar Pradesh in two weeks

New Delhi: Aiming to connect with a large number of farmers, Congress has planned a programme to meet over 50 lakh farmers from UP within two weeks starting from February 3. The drive has been initiated by Priyanka Gandhi through the party’s Kisan Janjagran Abhiyan.

The drive will help party to hear farmers grievances and problems they are facing due to various reasons including delay in sugarcane arrears payments by sugar mills in the state.

The block-level workers will reach every household in a fortnight. In each block 50 Congress workers will go to 10 farmer households per day, and in this way, in two weeks, the party will reach 7,000 farmers living in 840 blocks of the state.

“Priyanka will join any group at any time and anywhere in the state to meet the farmers and assure them that the party is with the farmers,” said a party leader.

The leader said that the activists will fill two forms at the house of each farmer. In one form they will tick the problems that affect him most and in a second form they will get details of farmer’s income and also farmers can spell out their suggestions.

Govt. notifies steps on failure of submission of report on sugar export performance

New Delhi: The Central Government, with a view to facilitate export of sugar during the sugar season 2019-20 and to improve the liquidity position of sugar mills and thereby enabling them to clear cane price dues of farmers for sugar season 2019-20, has notified on 12.09.2019 a Scheme for providing assistance to sugar mills for expenses on marketing costs including handling, upgrading and other processing costs and costs of international and internal transport and freight charges on export of sugar.

The Department vide order dated 16.09.2019, has allocated mill-wise MAEQ of 60 Lakh MT of sugar for export during the current sugar season 2019-20. Pursuant to Clause 10 of the said Notification, it has been decided that henceforth, Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) will review the performance of sugar mills on a quarterly basis during the sugar season 2019-20 and revise the allocated mill-wise MAEQ.

DFPD vide letter dated 03.1.2020 has issued guidelines to review export performance of sugar mills against MAEQ for export of sugar during the sugar season 2019-20. 2. In order to re-assess the export performance of sugar mills, the mills are requested to submit a quarterly report in the pro-forma prescribed along with a copy of contract signed for export of sugar, by 3rd February, 2020. The said information may be sent through email at: dtesug.fpd@nic.in

According to the notification issued by the DFPD on 30th January 2020, if a sugar mill does not submit its report of export performance by the cut-off date, it would be presumed that the concerned sugar mill has not signed any contract or exported any quantity at all and accordingly deductions would be made from their MAEQ and reallocated as per the guidelines.

Revival of closed Brahmavar sugar mill soon: Minister

Udupi: Government will soon take steps to revive ailing Brahmavar Cooperative sugar mill that has been stopped operation from 2004 owing to heavy financial loss, said Home minister Basavraj Bommai. He was speaking to a delegation of mill board and farmers representatives led by MLA K. Raghupati Bhat, during his recent visit to the mill premises at Brahmavar in Udupi district.

Bommai stated that only crushing sugarcane will not help the mill to earn profit and the option of ethanol production should also be considered. However, this requires a huge investment.

He said, “The government is not likely to spend a huge amount. Since the factory was located on National Highway 66, it would be possible to lease it out to a private party and thus revived.”

Since after the mill closed down in 2004 owing to heavy losses, several efforts were made to revive it, but nothing worked.

Maharashtra: Sugar industry seeks financial package

Mumbai: The ailing sugar industry from Maharashtra has demanded assistance from the government due to the financial crisis. They raised demands in presence of Former Union minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday. They have submitted a list of proposals in a meeting, which was presided by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar with Sharad Pawar, chairman of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), chairman of the board of administrators of MSC Bank and other top officials from the sector.

Their demands include financial package on the lines of Uttar Pradesh, restructuring of loans and transport subsidy of Rs 250 per quintal to boost sale in the country.

Sugar mills in the state claim that sugar MSP is at Rs 31 per kg, whereas the cost of sugar production is Rs 34 per kg. Therefore they are facing losses and also in such condition they have to pay a fair and remunerative price (FRP) to sugarcane farmers. This has increased financial stress on mills. Mills are also seeking transport subsidy of Rs 250 per quintal to face the competition from Uttar Pradesh which is the largest sugar producer in the country.

The less availability of sugarcane and cane harvesters have affected the crushing season and it is expected that most of the mills will finish crushing by January end this year. Crushing season in Maharashtra commenced late this year. Sugar mills in Maharashtra officially kick-started sugarcane crushing season on November 22 after they got permission from state Governor BS Koshyari in the absence of a functional state government. Sugar production in Maharashtra is down in the season 2019-2020 as the state had been gripped with drought and flood.

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Bank account of sugar mills freezed over pending cane arrears

Kathmandu, Nepal: Sugarcane farmers in Nepal are upset as they have yet not received sugarcane dues, and now government took strict action against those mills who failed to pay the arrears before the deadline.

The bank accounts of two sugar mills namely Annapurna Sugar mill and Lumbini Sugar mill have been frozen as they failed to clear dues of cane farmers. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has issued a letter to Nepal Rastra Bank to initiate action in this regard.

The mills had promised to clear the dues by January 21 as per the agreement between agitating sugarcane farmers and government. The government will also be investigating the transactions of the two sugar mills.

Sugarcane farmers had withdrawn their protest after the government signed a five-point agreement with them assuring the clearing of cane dues from sugar mills by January 21. Recently, the Nepal government has kept the sugarcane price unchanged at Rs 536.36 per quintal for sugar season 2019-20. The price is with including a subsidy of Rs 65.28 per quintal.

चीनी उद्योग की समस्यों को लेकर आज बैठक; की जायेगी बेलआउट पैकेज की मांग

महाराष्ट्र के चीनी उद्योग ने उत्तर प्रदेश सरकार की तर्ज पर राज्य सरकार से बेलआउट पैकेज की मांग की है। नेशनल फेडरेशन ऑफ को-ऑपरेटिव शुगर फैक्ट्रीज (NFCSF) भी पिछले पांच वर्षों में मिलों को दिए गए सॉफ्ट लोन के पुनर्गठन की मांग कर रहा है। उपमुख्यमंत्री अजीत पवार आज (23 जनवरी) को कई महत्वपूर्ण मुद्दों पर चर्चा करने के लिए राष्ट्रवादी कांग्रेस पार्टी के नेता शरद पवार, नाबार्ड के अध्यक्ष, मुंबई में राज्य बैंक के प्रशासकों के अध्यक्ष और सेक्टर के अन्य शीर्ष अधिकारियों के साथ बैठक करेंगे।

महाराष्ट्र स्टेट को-ऑपरेटिव शुगर फैक्टरीज फेडरेशन के प्रबंध निदेशक संजय खताल ने कहा, बैठक में कई सेक्टर से संबंधित, वित्तीय मुद्दों पर चर्चा की जाएगी, जिसमें फेडरेशन द्वारा मांगे गए बेलआउट पैकेज भी शामिल हैं। चीनी उद्योग वित्तीय तनाव से गुजर रहा है, इसलिए उद्योग सॉफ्ट लोन के पुनर्गठन की मांग कर रहा है और यदि संभव हो तो अधिक प्रोत्साहन की भी मांग की गई है। उन्होंने कहा, उत्तर प्रदेश के चीनी मिलों को राज्य सरकार से 1,100 करोड़ रुपये का पैकेज मिला है और हम उसी तर्ज पर पैकेज की मांग कर रहे हैं।

राज्य के वित्त मंत्री जयंत पाटिल ने हालही में कहा था कि, चीनी मिलें को नुक्सान हो रहा है क्यूंकि उनकी चीनी उत्पादन लागत ज्यादा है जबकि न्यूनतम बिक्री मूल्य कम है। निगेटिव नेट वर्थ और नेट डिस्पोजेबल रेवेन्यू की वजह से बैंक नया कर्ज देने में हिचकते हैं। हालांकि, बैंक अब केस-टू-केस आधार पर लोन प्रदान करने के लिए सहमत हुए हैं। इससे पहले उन्होंने चिंता व्यक्त की थी कि अगर प्राथमिकता के आधार पर मुद्दों को संबोधित नहीं किया गया तो राज्य चीनी उद्योग संकट में पड़ जाएगा।

पेराई सीजन शुरू के होने के बावजूद अब तक कई चीनी मिलों ने गन्ना बकाया भुगतान नहीं चुकाया है। चीनी मिलों का कहना है की वे आर्थिक संकट से जूझ रहे है जिसके कारण वे गन्ना मूल्य चुकाने में विफल है। इस बीच, शेखर गायकवाड़ को पुणे नगरपालिका आयुक्त के रूप में नियुक्त किया गया है और वर्तमान में सौरभ राव महाराष्ट्र के चीनी आयुक्त बन गए हैं।

Sugar sector to discuss bailout package

Pune: Sugar sector in Maharashtra is in deep crisis, due to which many sugar bodies from the state are seeking assistance from the government. State’s sugar industry has sought a bailout package from the state government on the lines of the one offered by the Uttar Pradesh government.

According to the report, Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar will hold a meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar, NABARD chairman, chairman of the board of administrators of MSC Bank and other top officials of the sugar sector today in Mumbai to discuss several important issues. Here, crucial issues affecting the sugar industry could be discussed.

“Sugar sector is passing through financial stress. Several issues related to the sugar sector including financial issues will be taken up in the meeting. Uttar Pradesh has received a Rs 1,100-crore package from the government and we are seeking a package on the same lines.,” said Sanjay Khatal, MD, Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation.

The less availability of sugarcane and cane harvesters have affected the crushing season and it is expected that most of the mills will finish crushing by January end this year. Crushing season in Maharashtra commenced late this year. Sugar mills in Maharashtra officially kick-started sugarcane crushing season on November 22 after they got permission from state Governor BS Koshyari in the absence of a functional state government. Sugar production in Maharashtra is down in the season 2019-2020 as the state had been gripped with drought and flood.

Indo-Brazilian ties are stronger than ever and filled with huge synergies: Nitin Gadkari

New Delhi [India], Jan 23 (ANI): Union Road Minister Nitin Gadkari met Brazil’s energy minister Bento Albuquerque here on Wednesday.

During the delegation-level bilateral meeting, Gadkari stated that Indo-Brazilian ties are stronger than ever and are filled with huge synergies. He said that the two countries are encouraging technological partnerships and bilateral trade between each other.

Meanwhile, Brazilian ambassador to India Andre Aranha Correa do Lago also called on the Union Minister today and held talks on adopting the best practices and technologies to develop sustainable infrastructure in the two countries.

“H.E. Andre Aranha Correa do Lago, Hon’ble Ambassador of Brazil to India called on today. In collaboration with Brazil, we are focused to adopt the best practices and technologies to develop sustainable infrastructure in our country,” the minister said in a tweet.

The meeting comes ahead of the visit of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who will be the chief guest during the Republic Day parade.

Work on Chandrayaan-3 started: ISRO chief

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], Jan 22 (ANI): The work on Chandrayaan-3 mission has started and it is going on at full speed, ISRO chief K Sivan said on Wednesday.

“The work on Chandrayaan-3 has started and it is going at full speed,” he told reporters here. Asked whether ISRO look at a manned mission to the Moon, Sivan said, “Definitely someday but not immediately.”

Earlier this month, Sivan had stated that Chandrayaan-3’s configuration will be almost similar to Chandrayaan-2 but the new mission will have a rover with a propulsion module.
“In Chandrayaan-2 we had orbiter, lander and rover configuration. But the Chandrayaan-3 will be having a lander and rover with a propulsion module. The work is being carried out very smoothly,” he had said.

Sivan further said that Chandrayaan-3’s lander and craft cost is approximately Rs 250 crore, whereas the launch cost will be around Rs 350 crore.

One killed, three fell unconscious while cleaning cane juice tank in sugar mill

Bareilly: A 22-year-old youth died due to suffocation and three others fell unconscious when they were cleaning the cane juice tank of a sugar mill at Isanagar in Lakhimpur Kheri district.

The deceased has been identified as Mohammed Fayyaz (resident of Budaun). The mill had completed the cane crushing and was preparing to close shutters after cleaning the machinery when the accident happened. The four workers were deployed to clean the tank and fell unconscious after inhaling the poisonous gas. The labourers on duty rescued them and rushed to the nearby hospital where the hospital authorities declared Fayyaz dead on arrival.

Sugar bags stolen from mill’s warehouse

Muzaffarnagar: The thieves have stolen 58 sugar bags by breaking the lock of Morna Sugar Mill’s warehouse. The incident has been registered with Bhopa police station.

The incident came to light when the employees of the mill resumed work on Tuesday morning and noticed the lock of the warehouse broken and alerted the senior officials. The officials from the mill rushed to the spot and after checking accounts and the available sugar in the warehouse, they found that the 58 bags of sugar stolen from the warehouse. A case of theft has been registered against unidentified persons.

Sugarcane farmers’ protest intensifies ahead of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s Visit

New Delhi: Farmers have launched a week-long protest ahead of the Brazilian President Jair Boslonaro’s visit to India as chief guest at Republic Day Celebration on January 26. The agitations that began from January 18 will continue till January 25.

Brazil is the world’s largest producer of sugarcane and exporter of sugar. Bolsonaro has objected over the subsidies granted to the sugar sector and raised the issue with the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The farmers’ organisations including All India Sugarcane Farmers’
Federation (AISSF) is leading the agitation and have condemned the BJP-led Modi government’s decision to invite Bolsonaro as chief guest.

Ashok Dhawle, all-India president of AIKS (All India Kisan Sabha) said, “AISFF, AIKS, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana and the like-minded organisations are protesting jointly against Bolsonaro’s visit. Crucial issue of the campaign and the protest is that the sugarcane price must be according to the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP). And of course, his (Bolsonaro’) fascist ideology will also be highlighted.”

Brazil, Australia and Guatemala had objected India’s sugar policy at WTO. The countries alleged that India’s sugar subsidies are inconsistent with global trade rules and distorting the sugar market. Also, they claim it aids in building a global sugar surplus, which is ultimately affecting the farmers and millers of their respective countries.

Countering the claims, India had maintained that its subsidies are in line with the WTO rule. The Indian sugar industry is suffering from various hurdles from last two to three years, and to bring the sector out of the crisis, the government had introduced various measures like soft loan scheme, hike in minimum selling price, scrapping of export duty, 100 per cent rise in import duty, hike in sugarcane price and others.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to begin 4-day visit to India from January 24

New Delhi [India], Jan 22 (ANI): Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro will pay a four-day visit to India from January 24 to attend the Republic Day Parade as the Chief Guest, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday.

Bolsonaro will be accompanied by a delegation of ministers, including Foreign Affairs Minister Ernesto Fraga Araujo, Minister Chief of Staff Jose Vicente Santini; Agriculture and Lifestock Minister Tereza Cristina Correa da Costa Dias; Mines and Energy Minister Admiral Bento Costa Lima Leite de Alburquerque Junior; Science, Technology, Communications and Innovation Minister Macros Cesar Pontes. Other ministers who are part of the delegation include Minister Chief of the Secretariat of Government General Luiz Eduardo Ramos Baptista Pereira; Minister Chief of Institutional Security Office General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira; Vice Minister for Foreign Trade and International Affairs Macros Prado Troyja; Vice Minister for the Investment Partnership Program Martha Seillier; and Vice Minister of Defence products (Ministry of Defense) Marcos Rosas Degaut.

President of Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brazil) Rear Admiral Sergio Ricardo Segovia Barbosa will also be part of the delegation.

This is the first state visit by Bolsonaro to India. The last Presidential visit from Brazil was by President Michel Temer in October 2016 on the sidelines of the VIII BRICS Summit in Goa.

During the visit, Bolsonaro will meet President Ram Nath Kovind — who will host a banquet at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in his honor — and hold talks with PM Modi. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will call on President Bolsonaro.

On 27 January, Bolsonaro will address Indian and Brazilian Business leaders at the India-Brazil Business Forum. This visit is expected to further enhance and strengthen the multi-faceted ties between India-Brazil.

India-Brazil relations are based on a common global vision, shared democratic values, and a commitment to foster the economic growth of both countries.

“Bilateral relations were elevated to a Strategic Partnership in 2006, heralding a new phase in India-Brazil relations. The relations are strong not only at the bilateral level but also at plurilateral fora such as BRICS, IBSA, G-20 and in multilateral bodies particularly the UN,” the MEA said in a statement.

Saurabh Rao is new sugar commissioner of Maharashtra

une: In a major reshuffle, Saurabh Rao has been appointed as the Sugar Commissioner of Maharashtra replacing Shekhar Gaikwad. Gaikwad has been transferred as the Pune municipal commissioner.

The state government announced the transfer of 16 IAS officers in the state on Tuesday. Tukaram Mundhe has been appointed as municipal commissioner of Nagpur, the bastion of former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Sugar sector should consider its complete decontrol: Sharad Pawar

Pune: Sugar sector should consider its complete decontrol, said Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar while addressing the Sugar Conclave in Pune on Monday.

Pawar said, “The sugar industry is operating for the last 60 years, and time has come to reconsider the norms and regulations of the sector. In the case of complete decontrol, the sector should be ready to bear the effects.”

The Indian sugar industry is suffering from various hurdles from last two to three years, and to bring the sector out of the crisis, the government had introduced various measures like soft loan scheme, hike in minimum selling price, scrapping of export duty, 100 per cent rise in import duty, financial assistance in export.

In the current season, sugar production witness decline. According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), 440 sugar mills are in operation in the country and sugar production till 15th January, 2020 is at 108.85 lakh tonnes as compared to the 147.40 lakh tonnes produced by 511 sugar mills as on 15th January’ 2019. This is 38.55 lakh tonnes lower as compared to last season’s production for the corresponding period.

Srei Infra to consider raising up to Rs 3,000 crore on February 14

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], Jan 21 (ANI): Asset finance and leasing company Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd has scheduled a board meeting for February 14 to consider the issue of securities during the current financial year 2020-21.

The board will consider a public issue of redeemable, non-convertible debentures (NCDs) aggregating up to Rs 1,000 crore in one or more tranches during the FY 20-21. It will also consider issuing redeemable NCDs including bonds totalling Rs 1,000 crore outstanding at any point of time during FY 20-21 on private placement basis in one or more tranches.

Besides, the board will consider issuing commercial papers aggregating up to Rs 1,000 crore outstanding at any point of time during the FY 20-21 on a private placement basis, the company said in a statement.

Srei Infrastructure Finance is an Indian multinational providing integrated asset financing solutions at a time when the country has embarked on a National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) with investments of Rs 102 lakh crore in the next five years. At 12 noon, the company’s stock was trading 9.95 per cent higher at Rs 10.28 apiece.

Auditors appointed to calculate interest over delayed cane arrears

Pune: The Maharashtra sugar commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad has appointed government auditors to calculate the interest on the delayed cane bills of 20 sugar mills from Marathwada during 2014-15 crushing season. According to the report, the development follows a failure of the mills to comply with his September 25, 2019, order to submit calculations for delayed payment during the 2014-15 crushing season.

The Individual government auditors will calculate the interest and submit the data to the office of the sugar commissioner soon.

Shiv Sena leader Prahlad Ingole had raised the issue and moved Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court for the payment of the interest on the FRP as per rule. The Sugarcane Control Order of 1966 mandates payment of the FRP to the farmers within 14 days of delivery of cane and 15 per cent interest on it if they fail to adhere to the timeline.

Following this, then sugar commissioner Dr Bipin Sharma hold multiple hearings, which helped in clearing sugarcane dues, but the interest component was not cleared. Due to this, Ingole again knocked the door of High Court for the payment of interest.

The High Court had asked the sugar commissioner to hear the case and take a decision on the payment of interest. Gaikwad in his order had asked the mills to calculate the interest component and make payment of the same within 60 days of the order. After the mills failed to meet the deadline, he appointed government auditors to calculate interest.

Five days training programme on “Newer Technologies for Effluent Control” commenced at NSI

Lucknow: Five days training programme on “Newer Technologies for Effluent Control” for officers of central, state pollution control boards and technical personnel of sugar factories from different states viz. Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi and Odisha commenced today at National Sugar Institute, Kanpur. The programme was inaugurated by Mrs. Nilima Katiyar, Hon’ble State Minister, Higher Education, Science & Technology, Government of Uttar Pradesh. In her address, Mrs. Nilima Katiyar, Hon’ble Minister expressed her pleasure and complimented National Sugar Institute on conducting training programme on such an important issue. The state and central government are committed to combat the menace of both municipal and industrial pollution and it is the duty of every citizen to feel the onus and contribute to prevent exploitation of natural resources and polluting rivers and other natural water bodies. More such training programmes are needed to create awareness and take effective measures for controlling pollution, she said.

In his inaugural address, Prof. Narendra Mohan, Director, National Sugar Institute made a presentation on fresh water usage and effluent generation in Indian Sugar Factories. Since sugar factories produce different kind of sugars i.e. raw, refined and plantation white sugar adopting different process technologies, the effluent also differs in quality and there is need for modifying the effluent treatment systems as per requirement to have treated effluent as per norms, he stressed. While elaborating on various such technologies on “Sulphate Removal” and “Brine Recovery”, he called upon the participants to look for implementation of five R’s i.e Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Renew and Return so as reduce the fresh water consumption and effluent discharge.

Dr (Mrs.) Seema Paroha, Convener and Prof. Biochemistry highlighted the necessity of achieving “Zero Liquid Discharge” in molasses based distilleries by adopting incineration or bio-composting techniques. She also emphasized upon developing newer technologies of effluent treatment in distilleries and taking up production of value added potash rich fertilizer from boiler ash in combination with sludge from fermenters. Dr Ashutosh Bajpai, Prof. Sugar Tech. elaborated the process techniques of plantation white sugar and refined sugar factories being followed in Indian sugar factories and their impact on effluent quantity and quality. Shri Mahendra Yadav, Technical Officer, elaborated latest technological interventions made in the process of effluent control and treatment. The programme was conducted by Prof. D Swain, Prof. Sugar Engineering who also delivered the vote of thanks.

Government planning to promote honey industry

New Delhi: The government is taking steps to boost the village industry by promoting the use of honey instead of sugar in tea and coffee at hotels and at the airport.

Nitin Gadkari, MSME Minister said, “The most important industry we have selected is the honey industry (under village industries) and I am trying to replace sugar by honey for usage tea and coffee in planes, hotels, restaurants.”

According to the market research firm Imarc, the honey market size of India was Rs 1557.9 crore and is likely to grow to Rs 2805.7 crore by 2024.

Earlier also, Gadkari informed the Lok Sabha about government’s plans to start honey cube production as the central government is planning to promote honey cubes replacing them as an alternative for sugar sachet.

Unseasonal rain, hailstorm destroys crops in Haryana’s Rohtak

Rohtak (Haryana), Jan 17 (ANI): Unseasonal rainfall and hailstorm caused significant damage to crops in Haryana’s Rohtak. Locals said they that have never experienced anything like this earlier. “This is the first time we have experienced something like this. Most of the crops were destroyed and there are chances that this will continue. Farmers have faced a great loss and are having a hard time,” a local told ANI on Friday.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Rohtak is likely to receive one or two spells of rain or thunderstorm with fog in the mornings in the next week. The forecasting agency also recorded rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms at many places over Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, West Uttar Pradesh and West Madhya Pradesh.

Revamp of SEZ policy to meet challenges faced by exporters

New Delhi: Commerce and Industry & Railways Minister Piyush Goyal chaired a meeting yesterday in New Delhi to review the remaining recommendations of the Baba Kalyani report on Special Economic Zone (SEZ) policy of India. The meeting was attended by members of the Baba Kalyani group along with representatives from the Department of Revenue, Department of Legal Affairs and legal firms.

Commerce and Industry Minister examined the revamp of the SEZ policy with a view to meeting the global challenges being faced by Indian exporters. Discussions were also held to find a way out for implementation of the remaining recommendations in order to facilitate the ease of doing business in the present global market scenario.

The recommendations which have been completed include review of specific exclusions proposed in NFE computation in light of Make in India initiative, sharing of duty exempted assets/ infrastructure between units to be allowed against specific approval, and formalization of de-notification process for enclaves and delinking its present mandatory usage for SEZs purpose only. The other implemented recommendations are support to servicification of manufacturing zone, allowing manufacturing enabling services companies, broad-banding definition of services/allowing multiple services to come together and flexibility to enter into a long term lease agreement with stakeholders in Zones in line with the State policies and the application for constructing minimum built up area by Developer or Co-developer beyond a period of ten years from the date of notification of the SEZ on merits of each case..

Other changes and initiatives taken for the SEZs include delegation of powers to Development Commissioner for shifting of SEZ unit from one zone to another, supplies of services in DTA against foreign exchange or Indian Rupees to be counted towards NFE, enable a trust to be considered for grant of permission to set-up a unit in a SEZ, setting up of cafeteria, gymnasium, creche and other similar facilities/ amenities and uniform list of services to SEZ.

The Baba Kalyani led committee was constituted by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to study the existing SEZ policy of India and had submitted its recommendations in November 2018. The objectives of the committee were to evaluate the SEZ policy and make it WTO compatible, suggest measures for maximizing utilization of vacant land in SEZs, suggest changes in the SEZ policy based on international experience and merge the SEZ policy with other Government schemes like coastal economic zones, Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, national industrial manufacturing zones and food and textile parks.

If India is on the path to become a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025 then the present environment of manufacturing competitiveness and services have to undergo a basic paradigm shift. The success seen in services sector like IT and ITeS have to be promoted in other services sectors like health care, financial services, legal, repair and design services.

The Government of India has set a target of creating 100 million jobs and achieving 25% of GDP from the manufacturing sector by 2022, as part of the flagship Make in India programme. Further, the Government plans to increase manufacturing value to USD 1.2 trillion by 2025. While these plans are intended to propel India into a growth trajectory, it requires evaluation of existing policy frameworks to catalyse manufacturing sector growth. At the same time, policy needs to be compliant with the relevant WTO regulations.

With sugar factory gone, cane growers find alternative in jaggery instead of sugar

Mangaluru: Brahmavar sugar mill is closed for many years, so the cane growers dependent on the mills are disappointed. As the mill is closed, the sugarcane producing farmers from the region were in distress all these days due to lack of market for the produce. The mill was shut down in 2004.

The disappointed farmers from Udupi district are turning to jaggery production as they are left with no choice after the closure of mill to various reasons.

Umesh Shetty, member of Udupi Jilla Raitha Sangha said, "After mill failed to reopen, we were disappointed initially. But we decided to find out way seeing standing crop in 8-acre land. I constructed 'Alemane' (jaggery making unit) and started production of jaggery instead of letting the crop dry."

The cost of setting up of Alemane is Rs 5.5 lakh. Another farmer Ramchandra Bhat also joined Shetty in jaggery making. "The job is tedious and difficult. We are producing 10 to 12 boxes of jaggery every day. We expect to increase production day by day," he said. Sharath Kumar Shetty, Kundapur APMC president, has promised him to make arrangements to sell his jaggery.

Home Minister Basavraj Bomma said that we are planning to revive the Brahmavar Sugar mill and will study the matters related to it. Talking to the media, Bommai said that he would have to do a detailed study of the condition of the factory before planning its revival.

Bhartiya Kisan Union warns of an agitation if sugarcane dues not paid soon

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh government has released an amount of Rs.200.00 crore for the outstanding Cane price payment of 20 cooperative sugar mills of the state of the year 2018-19. Bhartiya Kisan Union has alleged that the private sugar mills are yet to pay Rs 2000 crore arrears of cane growers and have threatened to launch an agitation if sugar mills failed to clear the dues.

Harinam Singh, BKU leader, said, "Four months ago we had protested against the state government for payment of Rs 294 crore cane arrears from cooperative mills, and the UP government has released the amount now." He also said that there is still an arrear of about 2,000 crores on the private sugar mills of the state. If it is not paid soon, then BKU will launch an agitation.

The Commissioner, Cane and Sugar, Sanjay R. Bhoosreddy told that, out of 24 sugar mills of the cooperative sector, 04 co-operative sugar mills Morna, Puwayan, Snehroad and Sathion have already paid the cane price payment for the crushing season 2018-19, and for rest 20 cooperative sugar mills, an amount of Rs.200.00 crores has been released by the State Government for clearing outstanding cane price payment. This released amount will be transferred to the farmers account within two days. With this decision of the state government, there is a wave of happiness among the sugarcane farmers.

J&K likely to receive rain between Jan 12-13: IMD

New Delhi [India], Jan 10 (ANI): As a western disturbance is likely to prevail over the western Himalayan region on January 11, some areas over Jammu and Kashmir are likely to receive rain between January 12-13, predicted the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday.

Some isolated pockets over Himachal Pradesh are also likely to get rain on January 13 due to the changing weather system. IMD further predicted that Northeast monsoon rains are likely to cease over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal, Kerala and Mahe today.

Apart from these areas, Andhra Pradesh, Yanam and Rayalseema and south interior Karnataka are also likely to receive rain today.

Cold wave conditions in a few pockets with severe cold wave conditions in isolated pockets are very likely over Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi.
Dense to very dense fog is very likely in isolated pockets over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi and west Uttar Pradesh.

"Dense fog at a few pockets over Bihar and in isolated pockets over Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Gangetic West Bengal and Odisha during the next two days," the IMD stated in its all India weather warning bulletin.

Decline in sugar recovery continues to pose a challenge for mills

Mumbai: Decline in sugar recovery continues to pose a challenge for sugar factories this season. It is likely to hit mills profit margin.

Delay in the commencement of cane crushing season has affected the many mills in the country. Flood and drought in Maharashtra have impacted the sugarcane crushing season in the state.

Sugar production in Maharashtra is down in the season 2019-2020 as the state had been gripped with drought and flood. According to the ISMA, In Maharashtra, 137 sugar mills, which are in operation, have produced 16.50 lakh tonnes till 31st December, 2019, as against 187 sugar mills which had produced 44.57 lakh tonnes last year upto same period. From the beginning of the season and till 31st December, 2019, average sugar recovery % in the State stands at 10% as against 10.5% achieved for the corresponding period of 2018-19. This is because a part of the crushing includes the flood affected sugarcane, which lost some of its sucrose because it was waterlogged for some time.

The flood has damaged sugarcane in many districts in Karnataka as well. In Karnataka as well, sugar recovery has been impacted. 63 sugar mills in Karnataka were in operation till 31st December, 2019, who have produced 16.33 lakh tonnes of sugar, as compared to 21.03 lakh tonnes produced by 65 sugar mills in the previous season on 31st December, 2018.

A senior official associated with one sugar mill said,"Most of the sugar mills have cleared their pending dues and are also at the forefront in clearing this year's dues from the profit earned through export subsidy and sale of ethanol. Now the decline in cane recovery is posing a big challenge for the sugar industry this year. Because of the delayed start of crushing, profit margins in December quarter would remain muted which may recover in March quarter."

Uttarakhand likely to receive rains, snow due to Western Disturbance, predicts Skymet

New Delhi [India], Jan 9 (ANI): Uttarakhand is likely to receive snow/rainfall on Thursday due to a Western Disturbance (WD) moving eastwards, predicts Skymet.

According to the weather forecaster, due to movement of WD, the weather of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh would become dry. Also, due to the starting of cold northerly winds, minimum temperatures of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan will drop by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius.

There are also chances of dense fog in some parts, predicted Skymet.

In Southern parts of the country, rain activities will now subside further over the South Peninsula.

“North Telangana, parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh might still receive light rains at one or two places. Karnataka and Kerala will witness dry weather. Lakshadweep may receive light rains, but the weather of Andaman and Nicobar will remain dry,” the Skymet added.

Meanwhile, the weather in Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad will remain dry along with the cloudy sky.

Goa CM assures farmers Sanjivani sugar mill buy sugarcane

Ponda: Motivating sugarcane farmers to cultivate sugarcane, Goa Chief minister Pramod Sawant assured them that the Dharbandora based Sanjivani Cooperative sugar factory would purchase their and requested them to continue with cane cultivation.

The farmers were in a dilemma after the government decided to shut crushing at Sanjivani mill this year. Sawant assured that the mill will start operating from next year and stated that it wouldn’t affect farmers whether cane will be crushed at this mill or some other mill.

At present, the factory procures cane from farmers and sends it to Laila Sugar Factory at Khanapur in Karnataka for crushing.

Sawant said that the harvesting rate for the cane would be raised from Rs 200 to Rs 600 per tonne. However, he said, “The government could not hike canes rate from the existing Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per tonne. The factory has been paying Rs 1,200, and also, the agriculture department pays a support price of Rs 1,800.”

Flood-hit cane growers claim sugar mills refuse to buy sugarcane

Bengaluru: The struggle for flood-affected cane growers is refusing to die down as they claim that sugar mills are not taking their cane for crushing.

The sugar mills are not taking cane produced by farmers from North Karnataka area that was hit by floods including Belgavi, Bagalkot and Gadag districts stating that the cane is of poor quality.

Subhash Siraguru, a farmer leader from Bagalkot said, “We are into the second month of the harvest season, but no mill has shown interest in purchasing our cane. They say it is of low quality because it was affected by floodwaters.”

“There is no point in crushing cane grown in these areas as there is no sugar content in the crop,” said a miller.

According to mill owners, they are purchasing crops from flood-affected regions and are rejecting crops that are completely damaged.

Sangamesh Nirani of Nirani Sugars, Mudhol said, “We are aware of the farmers’ problems. We are purchasing sugarcane from flood-affected areas as per our capacity. But it’s difficult for mills to purchase a cane that has no sugar yield.”

“We know that the quality of sugarcane crop has been reduced. We are expecting mills to pay less than what they pay for the quality crop,” said another farmer.

Action against Director (Former Chairman), Cooperative cane Development Society for violation of Sugarcane Satta Policy

Lucknow: Commissioner, Cane & Sugar/Registrar Cooperative cane Development Societies has removed Shri Hariom, Director (Former Chairman), Cooperative cane Development Society Titavi Muzaffarnagar from his post with immediate effect and banned him from contesting society elections for three years.

Giving detailed information in this regard, the Cane Commissioner/Registrar said that, a complaint was received against Shri Hariom for violation of the sugarcane Satta policy issued for the crushing season 2016-17, and the Board of Directors also requested to take action against Shri Hari om and brought no-confidence motion against him. In this case, it has also been informed by the sugar mills Khaikhedi and Titavi that Mr. Hariom has misused his position and took undue advantages in cane supply by putting unnecessary pressure on sugar mills.

Shri Hariom was also given an opportunity of personal hearing, but despite repeated instructions, he did not appear for personal hearing. This behavior reflects Shri Hariom’s arbitrariness, insensitivity and negligence. In this order, due to report of investigation team and in pursuit of the relevant facts, Shri Hariom, was found to be guilty of violating the provisions and bye-laws of Uttar Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act 1965, and related Rules, 1968, and removed from post with immediate effect and banned from contesting society elections for three years.

It has been made clear by the Commissioner, Cane and Sugar/Registrar Cooperative Cane Development Societies Lucknow that the policy of ‘zero tolerance’ on corruption in Government work will be followed, and if the involvement of any person is found in corruption and misconduct etc. then strict action will be taken against him.

Steps to revive Yashwant sugar mill

Pune: NCP MP Amol Kolhe has assured that the government is making an effort to revive Yashwant sugar mill. He said that I, along with MLA Ashok Pawar, will try to get the mill started as soon as possible. The mill based in Theur village of Haveli taluka has not commenced operation from last eight years. Kolhe claims many sugarcane farmers are facing problem because of this.

He was speaking in Theur while addressing a gathering in the village. “Our priority is the betterment of farmers, and we will work for this. If the mill commences operation again, this will change the fate of sugarcane farmers. We are discussing the issue with the state cooperative bank and state government in this regard.” Kolhe said.

Mexico: Sugar production to fall by 10 per cent

According to the reports, sugar production in Mexico is likely to fall by 10 per cent in 2020 as compared to 2019. The country may witness shortfall in output because of unfavourable weather conditions such as droughts and frosts.

The adverse weather conditions have impacted 543,000 hectares, says a media report. Mexico’s sugar production was record in 2013, when it reached 6.9 million tonnes.

In the 2018-19 season, the country had produced 6.4 MMT of sugar. Cane producing regions in Mexico are suffering from drought, which will hamper the sugar output.

According to Carlos Blackaller, president of local sugarcane growers association, new food labeling rules will pose a challenge for the sugar industry in 2020. The sector is demanding food labeling to state clearly when the product contains sugar or high fructose syrup.

Efforts on to revive Brahmavar sugar mill

Udupi, Karnataka: We are planning to revive the Brahmavar Sugar mill and will study the matters related to it, said Home Minister Basavraj Bommai. The mill was shut down in 2004.

Talking to the media, Bommai said that he would have to do a detailed study of the condition of the factory before planning its revival.

Raghupati Bhat, MLA had earlier stated that efforts were on to revive the ailing Brahmavar Cooperative Sugar Factory by leasing it to a private entity.

The mill closed down in 2004 owing to heavy losses. In the meantime, several efforts were made to revive it, but nothing worked.

UP government to convene meeting with the management of defaulting sugar mills

Lucknow: Inspite of various attempts by Uttar Pradesh government, sugar mills are unable to clear sugarcane dues, and therefore now it seems the government will put pressure on them to clear the arrears.

Uttar Pradesh government has warned strict action against the sugar mills in the state as they owe arrears worth Rs 2000 crore from 2018-19 season. More than 85 per cent mills are owned by the private mills, and the maximum pending dues are from these mills. The big players include Bajaj Hindusthan, Modi and Simbhaoli groups.

According to reports, private mills owe Rs 1700 crore to the farmers, and cooperative sector mills owe Rs 300 crore.

UP sugarcane development and sugar industries minister Suresh Rana said, “We will convene a meeting with the management of the defaulting mills, especially Bajaj Hindusthan, Modi and Simbhaoli groups and ask them to clear their sugarcane dues.”

The Uttar Pradesh government had already given instructions for daily monitoring of the “sugarcane price payment” by the department commissioner.

Nirbhaya convicts to be hanged on January 22

New Delhi, Jan 7 (ANI): All four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya case will be hanged on January 22, Delhi’s Patiala House court said on Tuesday. Additional Session Judge Satish Kumar Arora issued the death warrant in the presence of all convicts, who were produced before the court through video conferencing. The convicts will be hanged at 7 am on January 22.

Earlier in the day, the court reserved the order on the plea of parents of Nirbhaya seeking issuance of death warrant against all the four convicts in the case.

The court heard the plea of parents of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape victim seeking to expedite the procedure to hang all four convicted in the case and also seeking issuance of death warrant against them.

It was informed by the lawyers of the convicts that they are in the process of filing the curative plea.

On Monday, the court had dismissed an application filed by the father of one of the death-row convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case, who had questioned the credibility of the sole witness by claiming that he was “tutored” and sought the registration of FIR against him.

The court had on December 20 reserved the order on an application filed by Pawan Kumar Gupta’s father till today. The petition had stated that the girl’s friend committed perjury for giving false testimony in the court.

The sole eye-witness was accompanying the 23-year-old girl when she was raped and murdered by six men on a moving bus on December 16, 2012.

Besides Pawan Kumar Gupta, three others – Akshay, Vinay, and Mukesh are facing the gallows in the case.

The main accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail during the trial. Another accused was a minor at the time of the commission of the crime and was sent to a reform facility and released after three years.

All the four convicts had earlier knocked at the doors of the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court order of March 2014 which had confirmed the capital punishment awarded to them by the trial court on September 13, 2013.

However, the top court also dismissed their appeals after finding no merit.

Uttar Pradesh takes step to completely eradicate evil practice of sugarcane under weighment

Lucknow: Commissioner, Cane & Sugar Shri Sanjay R. Bhoosreddy issued orders to allot nine-digit unique codes to mill and society weighing clerks to be deployed for weighing work at cane purchasing centers. In compliance with this, the sugar mills have been informed by the Regional authorities by allocating a unique code to the weighing clerks holding the license of the respective sugar mills. In this sequence, It has also been decided to make fortnightly transfers of weighing clerks through ERP system.

For the first time, to completely eradicate The Evil practice of under weighment, transfer of weighing clerk is being done randomly through ERP. Transfers will be done in such a way so that no weighing clerk will get posting on a particular purchase Centre more than once during crushing session. Each weighing clerk will compulsorily wear a photo id card in his neck. The photo ID card will have name, father’s name, licence number, unique ID number and name of the concerned sugar mill. Thus complete transparency in weighing system will be maintained.

Weighing clerks who transferred through ERP system must join to the concerned purchasing centre. Action will be taken against the sugar mills and weighing clerks under Sugarcane (Supply and Purchase Regulation) Act 1953 and Sugarcane (Supply and Purchase Regulation) Rules 1954, who will disregard it. This will bring transparency and reduce local pressure in deployment of weighing clerks.

MLA Balraj Kundu alleges large scale irregularities in sugar mills in Haryana

Chandigarh: Balraj Kundu, independent MLA from Meham launches scathing attack on BJP over large scale irregularities in sugar mills in Haryana. Kundu has alleged that the sugar mills in the state are involved in a series of scams since BJP came to power in the state in 2014. He also demanded a probe against former state cooperative minister Manish Grover and deputy commissioner R S Verma over alleged involvement in allotment of development works in Rohtak.

Speaking to media persons, Kundu said, “Former minister Grover had shown that sugar mills were in losses when he was a cooperative minister in the government. He and his family members have been doing business of sheera being used in sugar mills for the past many years. He had purchased sheera from the mills at lower rates and sold it at higher prices, causing a big loss to the state exchequer.”

Raju Shetti gives ultimatum to sugar mills

Satara: Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader Raju Shetti has given an ultimatum of eight days to the sugar mills to declare the FRP plus Rs 200 rate per tonne for the sugarcane crop. He has threatened that if the millers fail to declare the rate, then the farmers will come on the road and agitate for their demand. He was speaking at a loan waiver rally in Satara on Sunday.

Addressing the farmers, he said, “Minister Balasaheb Patil has been assigned the ministry of cooperation in the recent allocation of portfolios. And we expect that he would do his best to ensure that farmers get good sugarcane price. We also request the government to seize the properties of the mills if the millers fail to pay farmers dues.

Tea plantation workers to get free sugar from March-end

uwahati: If everything goes as planned then each family of tea garden labourers in Assam will get two kg of sugar free of cost per month from March end. The information was shared by Phani Bhusan Choudhury, State Food and Civil Supplies Minister.

The decision has been taken by the government to help them to give up the habit of salt intake along with tea which is injurious for health, he said.

According to the Choudhury, “The tender has already been sought and opened for the supply of sugar by the Food and Civil Supplies department, and the work order will be issued by January-end or the first half of February. Rs 46 crore has been allocated in the annual budget for this scheme.”

Around six lakh tea garden workers in the state will be benefitted by the Assam government’s ‘Free Sugar’ scheme. Earlier, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had asked the officials to convey the message to the concerned beneficiaries as the state government strive to fulfill their nutritional requirements that they lack in their diet.

Two injured after truck carrying sugar falls off bridge in Punjab

Mandi Gobindgarh: A truck driver and cleaner were injured after a truck carrying sugar from Moradabad to Kotkapura (Punjab) fall off the bridge at Gobindgarh on National Highway No. 6 on Sunday night. They have been admitted at the Civil Hospital, Mandi Gobindgarh. After treatment both have been referred to PGI Chandigarh for further treatment.

According to police officials, the accident happened after the truck driver lost his control. Police are further investigating the case.

No recruitment in cooperative sugar mills till roadmap is cleared: Maharashtra government

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has issued directives to the cooperative sugar mills in the state to stop fresh recruitments till further orders. The decision has been taken considering that the sugar mills are passing through the financial crisis. This will help mills to cap on the administrative expenses.

The decision has been also taken as the elections to the board of directors of few cooperative sugar mills is scheduled in the next few months.

The government notification has been issued by Pramod Valanj, undersecretary, department of cooperation, marketing and textile.

Welcoming the government decision, Jaiprakash Dandegaonkar, chairman of the Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories in Maharashtra, said, “We welcome the government’s move. In a few sugar cooperative factories, the number of employees is in excess of the approved pattern.”

The drought and floods in the state have affected the sugar industry in the state which is already going through a financial crisis. Some mills are unable to pay wages to the employees.

Regional officers to conduct surprise inspection of basic facilities available at the sugar mill gate

Lucknow: In compliance of the orders given by the Minister of Sugar Industry and Cane Development Department, Hon’ble Suresh Rana, Commissioner Cane and Sugar Shri Sanjay R. Bhoosreddy have issued Instructions to all the Regional & District level officers to conduct surprise inspections to ensure proper arrangements of bonfire, drinking water, resting and other basic facilities to protect Cane Farmers from cold, coming to sugar mill gate for weighment.

Giving detailed information in this regard, the Cane Commissioner told that due to the provision of bonfire at the sugar mill gates and yards, the farmers will not have to chill in the fierce cold and will get relief from this cold at the sugar mill gate at night. Apart from this, the Regional officers have also been instructed to meet the farmers in the sugar mill yard and inform them about “E-Ganna App” and other departmental works and get feedback from them, so that if the cane farmers are facing any practical problem then it can be disposed of promptly. Regional officers will also ensure its monitoring from time to time during crushing season.

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray to interact with industrialists tomorrow

Mumbai, Jan. 06: The Chief Minister Shri Uddhav Thackeray will interact with prominent industrialists to discuss the vision to make Maharashtra industrially and economically a vibrant State. The interaction in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will take place at Sahyadri guest house Mumbai on Tuesday, 7th January, 2020.

After taking over as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Uddhav Thackeray, will have his first ever interaction with eminent industry captains. The Chief Minister will also discuss the role of State Government and measures to be taken to give impetus to the industrial growth of the State.

The meeting will have Subhash Desai, Minister for Industries and also Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, Anand Mahindra, Adi Godrej, Sajjan Jindal, Uday Kotak, Deepak Parekh, Gautam Singhania, Baba Kalyani and other eminent dignitaries from the industrial sector. The discussion will suggest a roadmap towards building a progressive and globally competitive Maharashtra.

Maharashtra, occupies a leading position in the country’s economy. The State through its well-developed economy is among the largest contributors to the GDP of the country with a strong presence of industries in almost all sectors. The vision for Maharashtra is to become a trillion – dollar economy by 2025 contributing about one-fifth to Indian economy.

Deadlock between sugarcane farmers and Rana sugar mill resolved

Amritsar: The management of Rana Sugar mill agreed to procure the sugarcane crop of nine farmers ending the long deadlock between the mill and the farmers.

The district administration had intervened in the issue after chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh directed them to look after it. Sarwan Singh Pandher, general secretary of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, said, that the mill management will sign an agreement with nine farmers to procure their crop this season.

The farmers had launched agitation after the mill decided to not to procure the cane of these nine farmers who had agitated against the mill administration in the past.

Demand to make Sanjivani sugar mill operational from next year

Ponda: The cane farmers from Goa are annoyed over the slow pace of cane harvesting which is sent to the neighbouring Karnataka for crushing. The farmers have decided to launch an agitation on January 7 demanding government to speed up cane harvesting.

The state government cancelled cane crushing in the state’s lone mill Sanjivani sugar mill over the huge cost of repair of the mill to take up crushing. The sugarcane farmers cane were sent to mills in Karnataka for crushing.

However, the government has taken the responsibility of their crop and even to provide them Farmers gang for harvesting their sugarcane production. Cane growers allege it has been one month now and when crushing season may likely to end soon, only 7,000 tonnes of sugarcane harvested and sent to Karnataka mill while still around 25,000 tonnes of sugarcane is yet to be harvested.

The farmers will stage a demonstration on January 7 demanding a written assurance from the government about harvesting and crushing all their cane and pay them their dues.
The sugarcane farmers have warned the government not to send their sugarcane to Karnataka next year. They demand that the Sanjivani sugar mill should be made operational next year.

The mill is facing financial trouble due to a lack of adequate supply of cane. The mill has registered a loss of Rs 101.22 crore due to unavailability of sugarcane and various reason. The government made sure that sugarcane produced by farmers will be bought at the market price. State chief minister Pramod Sawant had assured farmers that those who produce sugarcane this season would not incur any loss.

Government working to uplift sugar industry in Karnataka

Tumkur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that agriculture has a key role to play in helping the country achieve its goal of becoming five trillion dollar economy and the government was focusing on formulating a cash crop and export-centric farming system.

“The agriculture sector has a very important role to play in making India a five trillion dollar economy. For this, our government is focusing on formulating a cash crop and export centric farming system,” he said.

Modi said that the sugarcane and sugar industry of Karnataka is considered to be the backbone of the farmers here, but due to the drought here this year, the sugarcane production will decline and both the cane growers and sugar industry are affected. He said the government was not only solving problems of farmers but also working towards a better future for them.

The Prime Minister said that the Government is continuously working to uplift the sugarcane and sugar industry in Karnataka. Our government is committed for betterment of cane farmers, and we are taking efforts to increase their income.

Assam government to launch ‘Free Sugar’ scheme

Guwahati: Around six lakh tea garden workers in the state will be benefitted by the Assam government’s ‘Free Sugar’ scheme slated from January next year.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has asked the concerned departments to be well prepared to launch the scheme by January end, next year.

As per the scheme, each beneficiary would receive a package of 2 kg per month. He has asked the officials to convey the message to the concerned beneficiaries as the state government strive to fulfill their nutritional requirements that they lack in their diet.

Sonowal has reviewed the functioning of the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, here on Friday and issued them instructions to take appropriate steps in this regard.

Maharashtra bans export of molasses

Mumbai: Maharashtra government has imposed a ban on the export of the molasses till September 30, 2020. The government has also restricted the sale and transport of the molasses in other states. The decision has been taken after the demand in this regard was raised by the minister of cooperation, Jayant Patil.

On the decision of the Union Government, the State Government has cancelled the control over the allotment of the Molasses in accordance with the letter of the Home Department, KMLS / 1093/1 / IXC-2, dated June 21, 1993. Therefore, the byproduct of molasses produced in sugar mills in the state can be sold to any other licensed license holder.

Considering the quantity of available Sugar Cane available in the state, the Sugar cane production estimate is prepared every year and after meeting the need of the state, the residue was allowed with the approval of the government for export to other states or areas.

Molasses is an important source of revenue for the state excise duty department. Molasses is mainly used for the manufacture of alcohol. There are about 231 sugar factories, of which 134 Mills are operating in the State. (of which 134 are factories affiliated to the sugar factories, 95 of which are in Co-operative sector and 39 are approved by the private sector) Also, there are 19 Stand alone factories. The sugar factories that have set up the distillery and are producing Extra Neutral Alcohol which is widely used in the state for the purpose of supplying alcohol and potable alcohol. The consumption of head alcohol is 60:40 and the government generates huge revenue from it.

Due to the production of low quantity of molasses production in the current crop season in the current 2019-20 season, the steps are taken regarding banning of export of molasses produced during the 2019-20 Molasses season till September 30, 2020.

Bhartiya Kisan Union stages demonstration outside sugar mill

Dehradun: The activists of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) staged a demonstration outside Uttam sugar mill alleging that the mill is procuring cane from outside the mill’s jurisdiction. BKU has asked the mill to ensure that the mill takes local farmers sugarcane for crushing.

BKU said the farmers have complained that the farmers are getting less cane receipts and therefore local farmers are upset.

Intensive campaign ensured payment of Rs 115.83 crore of unpaid cane price payment

Lucknow: Hon’ble Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath’s decision to provide total relief to sugarcane farmers in payment of sugarcane dues, and instructions issued by Hon’ble Cane Minister Shri Suresh Rana in this regard, the Cane Department launched intensive campaigning for clearing unpaid cane price.

Commissioner, cane and sugar, told that for the first time in the history of the state, a special campaign is carried out to prepare the farmer-wise details of the pending unpaid cane price payment of the sugarcane farmers. Under which the Departmental Authorities have ensured unpaid cane price payment of Rs.31.06 crore to 14,448 farmers in Saharanpur range, Rs.20.04 crore to 15,529 farmers in Meerut range, Rs.13.59 crore to 9,469 farmers in Moradabad range and Rs.11.15 crore to 15,724 in Bareilly range of western UP along with this unpaid cane price payment of Rs.27.18 crore to 16,735 farmers has been made in Lucknow range. In eastern UP unpaid cane price payment of Rs.3.84 crore to 5,212 farmers in Ayodhya Range, Rs.8.69 crore to 8,352 farmers in the Devipatan range, Rs.0.18 crore to 556 farmers in Gorakhpur Range, Rs.0.12 crore to 93 farmers in Deoria Range has been made. Thus, a total of Rs.115.83 crore to 86,118 farmers has been paid in unpaid cane price payment in the whole state.

Interestingly, the above mentioned amount was lying in accounts of Sugar Mills and Cane Societies for the past several years, the farmers had forgotten about it and their families have also failed to file any claim with Sugar Mills or the Societies. The farmers could not have even thought that their outstanding unpaid cane price will be made available to them at the instance of Cane Department. Due to the interest of the Government and the Department the unpaid cane price payments brought happiness and smile amongst the cane farmers and also increased their trust and faith in their Cane Societies.

Sugarcane farmers threaten to lock sugar mills

Kaithal, Haryana: Over no hike in sugarcane price, cane growers in Haryana seems upset, and are all set to launch the agitation to press for their demands.

Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, the farmers’ organisation has threatened to lock the sugar mills if the government fails to hike sugarcane rate. They have set a deadline of January 14, and if the government fails to act, they will start agitation by locking the mills from January 15. Sugarcane growers in Haryana claim that the cost of sugarcane production is increased; therefore, there is a need to hike cane price.

The farmers’ organisation has alleged the government is not serious regarding the hike in sugarcane price. The existing government is anti-farmer and has not taken steps to increase cane rate. The organisation has given the deadline of January 14 to the government to act on their demand else they will launch state-wide agitation from January 15.

Central govt announces guidelines to review sugar export performance of sugar mills during sugar season 2019-2020

New Delhi: The Central Government, with a view to facilitate export of sugar during the sugar season 2019-20 and to improve the liquidity position of sugar mills and thereby enabling them to clear cane price dues of farmers for sugar season 2019-20, has notified on 12.09.2019 a Scheme for providing assistance to sugar mills for expenses on marketing costs including handling, upgrading and other processing costs and costs of international and internal transport and freight charges on export of sugar.

The Department vide order dated 16.09.2019, has allocated mill-wise MAEQ of 60 Lakh MT of sugar for export during the current sugar season 2019-20. Pursuant to Clause 10 of the said Notification, it has been decided that henceforth, DFPD will review the performance of sugar mills on a quarterly basis during the sugar season 2019-20 and revise the allocated mill-wise MAEQ.

The first such review will be done on the basis of report sought vide this Department’s letter No. 1(l4)/2019-SP.I dated 16.12.2019.

In order to re-assess the export performance of the sugar mills, the mills would be required to submit a quarterly report in the enclosed proforma. However DFPD may, if required, seek additional information from time to time. 5. For the purpose of revision of mill-wise MAEQ, the following methodology would be adopted by DFPD:

i) In the first instance, based on the reports furnished by sugar mills in terms of Para-4 above, the MAEQ voluntarily relinquished by the sugar mills, would be re-distributed amongst those sugar mills which have already contracted at least 75% quantity of their initial MAEQ and has lifted 25% of their MAEQ for export and have requested for more quantity.

ii) Thereafter, the sugar mills which have not even contracted 25% quantity of their MAEQ by 31.01.2020, 20% of their MAEQ would be deducted from their quota and the same woould be re-allocated amongst those sugar mills which have fulfilled the criteria given in para 5(i) above and have requested for more quantity.

iii) Review of export performance of sugar mills would be again done by DFPD in the first week of April, 2020. In respect of those sugar mills which have not contracted any quantity for export till 31.03.2020, 40% of their MAEQ may be deducted and be redistributed amongst those sugar mills which have contracted 100% of their MAEQ and have lifted 50% of their MAEQ for export by 31.03.2020 and which have requested for more quantity.

iv) Further review of export performance of sugar mills may be done by DFPD in the first week of July, 2020. In respect of those sugar mills which have not contracted any quantity for export till 30.06.2020, 75% of their MAEQ would be deducted and be redistributed amongst those sugar mills which have contracted 100% of their MAEQ and have also lifted 100% of their MAEQ for export by 30.06.2020 and which have requested for more quantity.

v) In order to encourage the export of sugar, if necessary, DFPD may further assess the export performance of sugar mills and re-allocate the un-exported quantity amongst the sugar mills, which have requested for additional quantity.

vi) Redistribution of quota among sugar mills which are willing to export beyond their MAEQ would be done on pro-rata basis to their MAEQ, subject to a maximum ceiling limit of the quantity requested by them.

Assam government to launch ‘Free Sugar’ scheme

Guwahati: Around six lakh tea garden workers in the state will be benefitted by the Assam government’s ‘Free Sugar’ scheme slated from January next year.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has asked the concerned departments to be well prepared to launch the scheme by January end, next year.

As per the scheme, each beneficiary would receive a package of 2 kg per month. He has asked the officials to convey the message to the concerned beneficiaries as the state government strive to fulfill their nutritional requirements that they lack in their diet.

Sonowal has reviewed the functioning of the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, here on Friday and issued them instructions to take appropriate steps in this regard.

Maharashtra bans export of molasses

Mumbai: Maharashtra government has imposed a ban on the export of the molasses till September 30, 2020. The government has also restricted the sale and transport of the molasses in other states. The decision has been taken after the demand in this regard was raised by the minister of cooperation, Jayant Patil.

On the decision of the Union Government, the State Government has cancelled the control over the allotment of the Molasses in accordance with the letter of the Home Department, KMLS / 1093/1 / IXC-2, dated June 21, 1993. Therefore, the byproduct of molasses produced in sugar mills in the state can be sold to any other licensed license holder.

Considering the quantity of available Sugar Cane available in the state, the Sugar cane production estimate is prepared every year and after meeting the need of the state, the residue was allowed with the approval of the government for export to other states or areas.

Molasses is an important source of revenue for the state excise duty department. Molasses is mainly used for the manufacture of alcohol. There are about 231 sugar factories, of which 134 Mills are operating in the State. (of which 134 are factories affiliated to the sugar factories, 95 of which are in Co-operative sector and 39 are approved by the private sector) Also, there are 19 Stand alone factories. The sugar factories that have set up the distillery and are producing Extra Neutral Alcohol which is widely used in the state for the purpose of supplying alcohol and potable alcohol. The consumption of head alcohol is 60:40 and the government generates huge revenue from it.

Due to the production of low quantity of molasses production in the current crop season in the current 2019-20 season, the steps are taken regarding banning of export of molasses produced during the 2019-20 Molasses season till September 30, 2020.

To facilitate the small cane farmers amendments has been made in satta policy

Lucknow: Commissioner Cane and sugar, Sanjay R. Bhoosreddy, told that to facilitate small cane farmers in supplying their sugar cane to Sugar Mills, some changes has been made in Satta Policy 2019-20 for increasing the basic quota of farmers, keeping in view the cane requirement of sugar mills.

While giving detailed information about the amendments made in the Satta policy Bhoosreddy said that in case the total Satta of the farmers of the sugar mills area is less then the sugarcane requirement of the Sugar Mills then the difference between requirement and total Satta will be met by additional bonding. In order to meet this differential requirement firstly farmer’s whose bonded quantity is less then the last years average cane supply per hectare of the sugar mill then those farmer’s will be given the benefit of additional bonding equal to the last year’s average cane supply per hectare subject to the maximum of 85% of their yield.

He also said that if the differential requirement is met from the additional bonding of such farmers then it will be implemented in same way but if the additional Bond quantity is more then the differential requirement then their additional bonded quantity will be reduced as per the principle of pro rata. In case, the differential requirement of sugar mill is not met by additional bonding of such farmers then the rest requirement will be met by additional bonding of rest of the farmers and in that case also principle of pro rata will apply.

Commissioner cane and sugar informed that with this change made in the interest of sugarcane farmers, farmers will get more cane supply facility per hectare and in particular small sugarcane farmers will be able to supply their sugarcane to the mills in time. Cane cultivated through Drip irrigation will be given priority in additional bonding and cane of rejected varieties will not be considered for additional bonding.

Gadaura sugar mill will start operations soon: MP Chaudhary

Maharajganj: The efforts are on to make Gadaura sugar mill operational soon, said Member of Parliament Pankaj Chaudhary. He was addressing a meeting of sugarcane farmers from Siswa assembly constituency at his residence on Friday.

“Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken up the issue on a serious note, and the steps will be taken soon in this regard,” he said.

Last year the issue was raised by cane farmers in a meeting organised by Sugarcane Minister Suresh Rana and Cane commissioner.

No MDR charges on payment modes to be notified on Jan 1: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi [India], Dec 28 (ANI): The customers will not be charged merchant discount rates (MDRs) for transactions made through “payment modes” that will be notified from January 1, 2020.

“Those payment modes that will be notified from 1st January 2020 will not have charges under the MDR being levied on them,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday. In her Union Budget announcement in July, Sitharaman had said that customers or merchants would not be charged MDRs as the Reserve Bank of India and banks would absorb the costs.

Delhi’s air quality remains in ‘very poor’ category, overall AQI 332

New Delhi, Dec 27 (ANI): The overall air quality in Delhi stood at ‘very poor’ on Friday with at Air Quality Index (AQI) docking at 332, said Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

Capital’s popular market place Chandani Chowk witnessed a ‘severe’ AQI of 405 while Mathura road saw 334. Adjoining Uttar Pradesh’s Noida recorded a ‘very poor’ air quality with the AQI standing at 351. An AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor and 401-500 is marked as severe/hazardous.

The PM10 and PM2.5 levels in Delhi touched 264 and 161 respectively. The SAFAR has advised ‘Sensitive Groups’ to reduce prolonged or heavy exertion when the air quality is not good.

“People are advised to take more breaks and do less intense activities. It is advisable for the asthmatics to keep medicines ready if symptoms of coughing or shortness of breath occur. Heart patients, see the doctor, if get palpitations, shortness of breath, or unusual fatigue,” it stated in its advisory.

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Maharashtra will have to work hard to regain top position in sugarcane production: Sharad Pawar

Pune: State government will set up a new committee to formulate farmers’ policy to address issues related to agriculture, said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. He was speaking at the annual general body meeting of Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) in Manjari, Pune.

Thackeray said that our priority would be a respite to the drought and flood-affected farmers. Special incentives will be given to the farmers who have paid their loans regularly.

“We will set up a branch of VSI in Marathwada to promote research in this sector,” he further added.

Former Union agriculture minister and chairman of the institute Sharad Pawar were also present at the AGM of VSI. He said, “Maharashtra will have to work hard to regain the top position in sugarcane production in the country.”

Impressed by PM Modi’s work, Tamil Nadu farmer builds temple for him

Trichy (Tamil Nadu) [India], Dec 27 (ANI): A farmer in Trichy has constructed a temple in honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.50-year-old P Shankar, who hails from Yerkudi village of Thuraiyur town, said that he was impressed with the welfare schemes started by his government that he decided to construct a temple as a mark of respect for PM Modi. “I did not have a toilet facility. Now, it has been provided to us. I am impressed by with all his welfare schemes reaching to the people in rural areas. Therefore, I decided to build a temple for him,” he said.

The farmer said he used his savings to build the temple and performs pooja everyday.

“I am a farmer who owns 10 acres of land. I bought this piece of land after I returned back from Saudi Arabia. I like Modi “Ayya” very much because of his visionary welfare schemes. Last year, there was a drought in the area. Then I opted for drip irrigation system as suggested in 5 acres of land. I earned from adopting drip irrigation,” he told ANI.

“We did bhoomi poojan of the temple eight months back. Gradually, I saved money from my earnings and thus carried out the work of temple construction. I spent Rs 1.25 lakh on this temple. I worship his bust daily,” Shankar said.

The temple also has portraits of Mahatma Gandhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former chief ministers K Kamaraj, MG Ramachandran, J Jayalalithaa and chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Gujarat: Sugar production may fall in 2019-20 season

Ahmedabad: The sugar production in Gujarat is likely to dip due to the prolonged monsoon and delay in commencement of cane crushing season in the state.

As the sugarcane production is affected, therefore it is estimated that sugar production is likely to decline by 15 to 20 per cent in 2019-20 season.

According to the According to Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), 15 sugar mills were in operation, and they have produced 1.52 lakh tons of sugar till 15th December, 2019. In 2018-19 SS, as on 15th December, 2018, 16 sugar mills were in operation, and they had produced 3.10 lakh tons of sugar till that date. Delay in cane crushing season due to post-monsoon showers is largely responsible for the reduction in present production levels.

Ketanbhai Patel, vice-chairman, Federation of Gujarat State Co-operative Sugar Factories (FGSCSF) said, ” “Sugar output is expected to be lower by 15-20 per cent. We estimate it to be around 9-9.5 lakh tonne in 2019-20 season.”

Mansinh Patel, former chairman, Federation of Gujarat State Co-operative Sugar Factories (FGSCSF) said, “This year the cane crushing began in November whereas every year the season starts in October. The rain has also affected the yield, which will reduce the overall output of sugar in 2019-20.”

As per ISMA report, as on 15th December, 2019, 406 sugar mills were crushing sugarcane for the year 2019-20 Sugar Season and they have produced 45.81 lakh tons of sugar, i.e. 35% less than the sugar production on the corresponding date of previous sugar season, of 70.54 lakh tons of sugar. Last year on the corresponding date, 473 mills were operating.

Main culprit in case of GST fraud leading to tax evasion of Rs 241 crore arrested

New Delhi [India], Dec 27 (ANI): The Anti-Evasion wing of CGST Delhi South Commissionerate on Thursday arrested the main culprit in the case of fake invoicing and GST fraud leading to tax evasion of approximately Rs 241 crores, according to a release by the PIB.

The team had discovered a case of fake invoicing and GST fraud leading to tax evasion of approximately Rs 241 crores. “The Anti-Evasion wing of CGST Delhi South Commissionerate has discovered today yet another case of fake invoicing and GST fraud alongside a new modus operandi of defrauding the exchequer by exploiting the facility of refunds given for inverted duty structure,” the release read.

“Over 120 entities who are involved in the transactions have come to light so far, involving fake invoicing of Rs 1,600 crores and tax evasion of Rs 241 crore,” it added.

According to the release, the investigation unearthed a racket involved in “creating bogus firms, issuing fake invoices and bogus e-way bills to generate and encash tax credits.”
The accused was arrested and produced before a judicial magistrate from where he was sent to 10 days judicial custody.

The racketeer had created several firms on the basis of unauthorised access to identity documents of various persons.

Dehradun likely to receive rainfall on New Year’s Eve, predicts IMD

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], Dec 27 (ANI): Rainfall is expected to batter Dehradun on the new year eve, predicted India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The temperature in the city is expected to be between 8 degrees Celsius and 16 degrees Celsius on December 31. The cold wave will continue to persist in Dehradun for the first few days of January.

Apart from Dehradun, Delhi and its adjoining areas such as Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida will continue to reel under cold conditions till December 30.
On Dember 31, the capital is likely to witness light rains with the minimum and maximum temperature hovering around Six degrees and 15 degrees Celsius.

Sugarcane farmers agitate over pending dues

Vadodara, Gujarat: Police foiled an attempt of a farmer associated with Vadodara District Cooperative Sugarcane Growers Union Ltd (VDCSGUL) of immolating self outside the Union’s sugar factory at Gandhara near Karjan seeking settlement of cane dues. Thousands of protesters are agitating for their sugarcane arrears outside the office.

The management has been handed over to the Narmada Sugar Cooperative after VDCSGUL shut its operation due to debt
According to the reports, the mill has not settled dues of farmers of the previous crushing season.

Yogesh Patel, who is among those spearheading the agitation, said,” The cooperative mill had debt amounting to Rs 102.56 crore, and farmers dues were Rs 22.8 crore.”

“We have obtained some details of the farmers. So far, we have prepared a list of around 1,800 farmers who have not been paid their dues.”, Patel was quoted as saying by Times of India.

“We had given memorandum of our demand to the mill several times and have staged protest also, but nothing has worked so far. This is the reason for the farmer taking the extreme step,” he further added.

Teams will pay surprise visit to sugar mills to check sugarcane weighing

Satara, Maharashtra: The district administration has formed 11 teams that will conduct surprise checks of the weighing machine of sugar mills in the district and will take strict action against the mills if found violating any law.

Teams have been formed after the complaints from farmers associations that mills are engaged in underweighment of sugarcane. They will pay a sudden visit to inspect the weighing machines in sugar mills, and action will be taken against those found guilty.

The administration has intensified exercise to eradicate the evil of underweighment. Farmers get their bills based on the weight of their cane done at these weighing machines.

In Uttar Pradesh also, Commissioner, Cane and Sugar Sanjay R. Bhoosreddy had issued instructions that in case of underweighment will found the FIR will be lodged against sugar mill along with original equipment manufacturer of weighbridges.

Minister writes to Maharashtra CM on uterus removal by women sugarcane workers

Mumbai: Maharashtra Minister Nitin Raut has highlighted the issue of women sugarcane workers removing uterus for not losing wages and has written Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to intervene in and address the issue.

The women labourers lose wages during their menstrual cycle as they remain absent during the period, and hence they opt for removal of the uterus, he wrote in a letter to CM.

According to Raut, more than 30,000 women labourers from Marathwada region in central Maharashtra have removed their uterus so far.

Raut said women will not take such a step if sugar mills provide them wages for the four days of the menstrual cycle during the six-month-long sugarcane harvesting period.

He has requested CM to look after the issue and address it on a priority basis on humanitarian ground.

Crisil downgrades GP Petroleums’ rating for bank loan facilities

Mumbai (Maharashtra), Dec 26 (ANI): Investment consulting firm Crisil has downgraded its rating for Rs 220 crore worth of bank loan facilities for GP Petroleums Ltd, which is a part of the Gulf Petrochem Group.

The long-term rating of A-minus with negative outlook has been revised to BBB-plus with a stable outlook. The short-term rating of A2-plus has been downgraded to A2. The rating action reflects a moderation in the parent group’s financial risk profile on account of continued high leverage and weak operating cash flows, said Crisil.

Gulf Petrochem Group’s leverage marked by debt/EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) continues to be higher than the earlier expectation, it added.

At the same time, the ratings reflect GP Petroleums’ established market position in the industrial lubricant segment and healthy financial risk profile because of sound capital structure and debt protection metrics.

These strengths are partially offset by modest scale of operations in the intensely competitive lubricants industry, exposure to volatility in raw material prices and working capital-intensive operations, said Crisil.

GP Petroleums is a leading lubricant player specialising in industrial and automotive lubricants, process oils, transformer oils, greases and other specialities under the brand name IPOL in India and overseas market.

Sugar industry in Maharashtra seeks bailout package

Mumbai: Sugar industry in Maharashtra has sought a bailout package from Maha Vikas Aghadi government to come out of the financial crisis and also to compete with Uttar Pradesh and other sugar-producing states.

Sanjay Khatal, Managing Director of Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation Ltd (MSCSFF) said, “There is an urgent need for the restructuring of all loans including loans from the Sugar Development Fund.”

“In order to compete with mills from UP, the government needs to provide a transport grant of Rs 250 per quintal. It will help mills to sell in UP and other states in North India,” Khatal further added.

Agreeing that the sector is financially under the burden, state finance minister Jayant Patil said, “Due to FRP payment and no hike in sugar prices, the sugar industry is in financial stress. Industry wants restructuring of loan and if possible more incentives.”

Sugar production in Maharashtra will be impacted in season 2019-2020 as the state had been gripped with drought and flood.

Sugar tax in UAE, Saudi Arabia: Vimto warns of lower profit

The excise tax on non-carbonated sweetened drinks in Saudi Arabia and the UAE will impact many companies. Vimto soft drinks maker Nichols feels that its full-year 2020 pretax profit could be materially below current expectations because of the excise tax.

The company stated that it might have to increase the retail prices of its drinks to compensate for the hike in excise tax which may affect the company performance in the year 2020.

As per reports, beginning January 1, 2020, 50 per cent tax will be levied on soft drinks with added sugar, in the form of a liquid, concentrate, powders, extracts or any product that may be converted into a drink.

It is likely that with the initiation of a sugar tax, it may impact on sugar usage in the country. The consumers may have to shell out more money for sugary drinks. The government aims to introduce it in a bid to reduce sugar consumption and to promote a better and healthy life.

Many countries, like the United Kingdom, Thailand, France, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, and as well some US states, have introduced a tax on sugary drinks over the past few years.

Sugar mills demand hike in sugar MSP

Pune: The millers in Maharashtra have asked for a rise of Rs 200 per quintal in the minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar and restructuring of soft loans given to the mills in the last few years.

Addressing a gathering at Vasantdada Sugar Institute, Pune, Prakash Naiknavare, managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories said that they expect the rise in the ex-mill price of sugar in next few months.

During a meeting with Raosaheb Danve, the minister of state for food and civil supplies, Naiknavare said that federation had pointed out that the present MSP of Rs 3,100 per quintal did not take into consideration the finance cost or the depreciation cost.

“We have also asked the government to raise the MSP to Rs 3,300 per quintal to help mills to raise liquidity for their operations,” he further added.

New India should come forward to tackle water issues: PM Modi

New Delhi, Dec 25 (ANI): Outlining the importance of water management, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that ‘New India’ will have to work together to tackle water issues.

“New India should come to work together to deal with every situation of the water crisis. For this, we are working together on five levels,” he said after inaugurating the Atal Bhujal Yojana here to mark the 95th birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He also said that the Rohtang Tunnel, connecting Himachal Pradesh to Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir, and connecting Manali with Leh, will now be known as Atal Tunnel, in honour of the late BJP stalwart.

“On the one hand there is Jal Jeevan Mission, which will ensure that piped potable water will reach every household while on the other side is the Atal Jal Yojana, which will put prime focus on places where the groundwater level is low,” Modi said.

He said that during the tenure of the previous NDA government, water issues were a priority for Vajpayee.

“Whether it is the Atal Jal Yojana or the guidelines related to the Jal Jeevan Mission, these are major steps in proving the resolve to ensure that water reaches to every household in the country by 2024,” the Prime Minister said.

He said that only three crore houses have access to piped water even after the country gained independence in 1947.

“Imagine, out of 18 crore rural households, only 3 crore houses get piped water. This was achieved in 70 years. Now we have to deliver clean drinking water to 15 crore households in the next three years,” the Prime Minister said.

The Atal Bhujal Yojana scheme aims to improve groundwater management through community participation in identified priority areas in seven states — Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Implementation of the scheme is expected to benefit nearly 8,350 gram panchayats in 78 districts in these states.

The initiative will promote panchayat led groundwater management and behavioural change with a primary focus on demand-side management.

Maharashtra: Sugar mills likely to complete their crushing operations early this season

Mumbai: The cane crushing in Maharashtra is at the peak, and most of the mills will finish crushing by January end next year. The reasons are heavy floods in cane growing areas, lower acreage, and diversion of cane to fodder for animals.

Crushing season in Maharashtra commenced late this year. Sugar mills in Maharashtra officially kick-started sugarcane crushing season on November 22 after they got permission from state Governor BS Koshyari in the absence of a functional state government.

“In the next 30 days, about 70 per cent of the mills will complete their operations on account of lower cane availability. There has been large scale diversion of cane for animal feed”, Sugar Commissioner of Maharashtra, Shekhar Gaikwad was quoted as saying by BusinessLine.

According to the reports, the shortage of fodder scarcity resulted in farmers cutting cane and selling it as fodder for animals.

A total of 195 sugar mills participated in sugar season 2018-2019 and produced 107.19 lakh tonnes of sugar at a recovery rate of 11.26 per cent by crushing 951.79 lakh tonnes of sugarcane.

Sugar production in Maharashtra will be impacted in this season 2019-2020 as the state had been gripped with drought and flood.

Maharashtra: 13 sugar mills paid 100 per cent FRP to cane growers

Pune: According to the media reports, 13 sugar mills in Maharashtra have paid 100 per cent FRP in sugar season 2019-2020, whereas 53 sugar mills cleared than 60 per cent FRP.

According to the latest crushing report of the Maharashtra Sugar Commissionerate, in sugar season 2019-2020, as on 22nd December 2019, 134 sugar mills (62 cooperative mills and 48 private mills) have commenced sugarcane crushing in the state and by crushing 118.77 LMT sugarcane produced 114.70 lakh quintals of sugar with a recovery rate of 9.66 per cent.”

Swabhimani Shetkari Saghtana is firm on its demand of payment of a fair and remunerative price (FRP) in one installment plus Rs 200 on per tonne of sugarcane, but sugar mills claim it is difficult to fulfil the same as the industry is suffering from sugar surplus and financial scarcity.

A total of 195 sugar mills participated in sugar season 2018-2019 and produced 107.19 lakh tonnes of sugar at a recovery rate of 11.26 per cent by crushing 951.79 lakh tonnes of sugarcane.

Complete crushing of flood-damaged cane by January 15: Kolhapur district collector

Kolhapur: Kolhapur district collector Daulat Desai has asked the sugar millers to complete the crushing of cane damaged in flood by January 15. He has warned of action against the mills if they fail to do so. The cane grown over the 27,000 hectare has been damaged due to floods in the district, and till date, only cane grown on 4000 hectares have been crushed by the mills.

He issued orders while addressing a delegation of farmers led by veteran leader N D Patil who raised the issues of cane farmers in the district.

Collector Desai had already asked the mills to take up crushing of damaged cane when he had called the meeting of millers before starting cane crushing. Following the demands of farmers’ organisations, he had asked the millers to complete crushing of damaged cane within three weeks, and millers too agreed but after more than one month has passed, the damaged cane is still standing in the fields.

Notices will be issued to sugar mills to clear pending arrears

Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh: Notices will be issued to the sugar mills to clear the pending cane arrears of cane farmers. The decision was taken in a meeting organised by the Cooperative sugar development committee. Krishnapal Singh, president of the committee, said, “The orders will be issued to the sugar mills to clear the pending cane arrears.”

Apart from this, to get rid of the problem of burning leaves, a proposal was passed to the sugar mills to buy cane leaf cutting machine. The committee discussed several issues and took decisions to fulfill the needs of the mills.

'Buy my family': Rain-affected Maharashtra farmer puts up board in field

Washim (Maharashtra), Dec 25 (ANI): Having been upset over not getting compensation for his crops that got destroyed due to unseasonal rains, a farmer in Washim district's Kolgaon village has put up a board in his field requesting Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led government to either pay compensation or buy his family.

The 30-year-old farmer, Vijay Shendage, said that the Governor had given financial help of Rs 8,000 per hectare but that was not enough. "All the crops of farmers were destroyed due to rain. The Governor gave financial help of Rs 8,000 per hectare but it is not enough. Before coming to power, Uddhav Thackeray had said that they will give aid of Rs 25,000 per hectare. But he seems to have forgotten farmers after coming to power," Shendage told ANI.

Malegaon Tehsildar Ravi Kale said the incident is unfortunate for an agrarian country. "I will talk to the concerned department," he said.

Cabinet approves promulgation of IBC (Amendment) Ordinance 2019

New Delhi, Dec 24 (ANI): The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to promulgate an ordinance to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016.

The amendments will remove certain ambiguities in the IBC 2016 and ensure smooth implementation of the code, an official statement said. The move is aimed at easing the insolvency resolution process and promoting the ease of doing business. Aimed at streamlining of the insolvency resolution process, the amendments seek to protect last-mile funding and boost investment in financially-distressed sectors.

Under the amendments, the liability of a corporate debtor for an offence committed before the corporate insolvency resolution process will cease.

The debtor will not be prosecuted for an offence from the date the resolution plan has been approved by the adjudicating authority, if a resolution plan results in change in the management or control of the corporate debtor to a person who was not a promoter or in the management or control of the corporate debtor or a related party of such a person.

The debtor will also not be prosecuted if a person with regard to whom the relevant investigating authority has on the basis of material in its possession reason to believe that he had abetted or conspired for the commission of the offence, and has submitted or filed a report or a complaint to the relevant statutory authority or court.

Subject to relevant provisions, the corporate debtor will extend all assistance and cooperation to any authority investigating an offence committed prior to the commencement of the corporate insolvency resolution process.

The amendments are aimed at providing more protection to bidders participating in the recovery proceedings and in turn boosting investor confidence in the country's financial system.

Tamil Nadu: Farmers in Villupuram refuse to grow sugarcane

Villupuram: Tired of awaiting sugarcane pending dues, farmers in Villupuram, Tamil Nadu have stopped growing sugarcane and are opting for other crops like paddy. This is likely to impact sugar mills in the region. Farmers Association claims that the millers have not paid around Rs 50 crore of fair and remunerative prices (FRP) to them.

The farmers in Villupuram were mainly focused on sugarcane cultivation but now have changed their crop growing pattern as they alleged that the private sugar mills refused them to pay FRP that have been pending since January 2019.

The farmers staged many demonstrations for pending arrears, but nothing worked in their favour. Cane growers claim that during a meeting by then district Collector L Subramanian, sugar mills assured to pay FRP by June. But the situation has not changed till date.

Kalivardhan, president of All Farmers Association, said, "The continuous struggle for pending arrears helped us to get Rs 10 crore from millers. We are still awaiting for Rs 50 crore. As a result, we have decided not to go for cane cultivation and instead take paddy, urad dal, cowpea, and cassava. The good rain this year has helped in flourishing these crops."

Due to various reasons, Tamil Nadu sugar industry is in deep crisis, and they are awaiting financial assistance to come on track. Sugar producers from the state have requested a relief package to come out of this grim situation. Drought in the state has impacted the sugarcane production. The cane shortage has affected the mills as many were forced to shut it. Drought impact is likely to persist in season 2019-2020 too.

Uttar Pradesh: Farmers may have to pay less fine for vehicle carrying overloaded sugarcane

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh government has decided to impose less fine to the tractor-trolleys for overloading sugarcane, fodder etc. The other vehicles found overloading will have to pay a heavy fine for the same offence.

According to the news report published in Hindustan Times, UP government has decided to give a heavy discount to them in the compounding fee to be prescribed for overloading and other offences.

As per the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019 that came into effect from September 1 in the country, overloading attracts a hefty penalty.
A media report suggests that the proposal to revise the compounding fee for the fines for overloading by the cane carrying vehicles and other vehicles will be tabled in cabinet soon.

The government is gathering data from all the concerned departments including Transport, Home, PWD, Health and Sugarcane before sending the proposal to the cabinet for revision.

Maharashtra: Grand farewell to farmer as he bids adieu to farming after 60 years

Bhandara (Maharashtra) [India], Dec 24 (ANI): A farmer’s family in Bhandara on Monday organised a grand farewell party for him as he bids adieu to farming after 60 years here in Mohegaon.

The family arranged a grand ceremony for Gajjanan Kale, a farmer who decided to give up farming at the age of 80.

“I started farming when I was 18-year-old. I have spent 60 years of my life in farming. It is an emotional moment for me as it is very difficult to say goodbye to something which you love the most,” Gajjanan told ANI.

Along with Kale, the family honoured 10 other farmers by taking out a grand procession of bike, cars and bullock cart.

During the procession, which started from Kale’s home to a place where the event was organised, villagers including children, women and young boys danced on various songs and drum beats joyfully.

Kale’s family consists of 19 members and they have a 25-acre of land for cultivation. “My brother was facing difficulties while doing farming due to his old age. So, we decided that he should get retired from farming and spend time with our family. We arranged a magnificent farewell ceremony for him to make his days of farming memorable,” Yashwant Kale said.

Scrumptious delicacies and dessert were arranged by the Kale’s family for the whole village and their relatives.

Demand to hike sugar MSP to Rs 36 per kg

Kolhapur: The government should hike the minimum selling of price (MSP) of sugar to Rs 36 per kg. It will bring relief to the troubled sugar industry, said Kumbhi Kasari cooperative sugar mill chairman Chandradeep Narke.

Narke said, “The millers are facing problems to pay one time FRP to farmers due to low sugar prices and no buyers for sugar in the domestic market.”

“Along with sugar mills, the cane growers, workers, labourers associated with sugarcane sector, transporters and traders are suffering from financial scarcity as the sugar sector is in big trouble,” he further added.

In the month of June this year, the National Co-operative Sugar Factories Federation (NCSFF) also demanded that MSP of sugar should be increased from the present level of Rs 3100 per quintal to help mills improve their financial condition.

Concerned over mounting cane arrears ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the Indian government on February 14, 2019, hiked the MSP of sugar by Rs 2 per kg to Rs 31 to help millers clear farmers’ dues.

Two injured after a truck carrying sugarcane overturns

Kopargaon: Two college teachers were injured after a truck carrying sugarcane overturned after hitting a divider and fell over them at Yevla Naka area in Kopargaon on Nagar-Manmad road on Saturday night.

The injured have been identified as Jayesh Gautam and Santosh Selokar. According to the local police station, the duo had come to deliver a lecture at a college in the city. On Saturday night when they were walking at Yevla Naka, a driver lost his control and truck overturned and met with an accident. Following which, the duo came under the truck. They are currently recuperating in the hospital.

Accident of sugarcane loaded vehicles is on the rise; therefore, traffic police is taking all measures to low dow the number of accidents. Recently, many awareness camps on road safety for sugarcane transporters were organized to increase awareness.

Deputy commissioner pays surprise visit to Maham sugar mill

Maham: Rohtak Deputy commissioner R S Verma conducted a surprise check at Maham sugar mill and issued several instructions to the mill administration. He checked all the departments in the sugar mill and ensured that they are functioning properly.

Verma also discussed the issues of workers and employees working in the mill. He checked the cleanliness of the mill at several establishments including rest house and other places. Expressing displeasure over cleanliness, he asked the mill administration to take efforts to keep mill area clean.

Verma asked the administration to ensure that farmers coming to mill with cane should not face any inconveniences during their visit.

Sugarcane farmers in Haryana are suffering: Rajya Sabha MP Selja Kumari

Chandigarh: Haryana government has failed to address the plight of sugarcane farmers, said Selja Kumari, state Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP.

“Government is not taking adequate steps to address the issues related to non-procurement of sugarcane crop and non-payment of dues. The farmers are deliberately harassed by the concerned authorities while purchasing their cane,” she said.

“Take an example of Palwal mill. Farmers from four districts including Palwal, Faridabad, Nuh and Gurugram sell their cane to the mill, but the farmers are facing losses as the mill has not taken their cane for crushing,” she said.

Selja said that the government had spent Rs 12 crore on machines in this mill, but these machines were not working and the mill is closed. She urged the government to take immediate steps to address farmers issues.

Karnataka minister urges sugar mills to clear pending cane arrears

Belagavi: Karnataka minister C T Ravi has urged the sugar millers to clear the cane arrears immediately.

Like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, sugarcane arrears has remained a major issue in Karnataka too. Sugarcane farmers in the state are under stress due to non-payment of pending cane dues. Following which, they have intensified their protest against mills and government.

Speaking to media, Ravi said, the millers should clear the dues of farmers without any delay. He also advised the farmers to get advances for their cane before crushing from millers and get a written agreement from them about payments. These agreements will help the government to take action against the millers if they fail to fulfill promises.

Karnataka is already impacted by drought and flood, following which the sugarcane production will be affected. Therefore the state has decided to ban cane selling to other states. Flood has caused massive loss to the cane growers in Belagavi district. Cane growers in the state are struggling to come back on a track.

Jawahar sugar mill conducts a campaign to raise awareness on road safety

Kolhapur: An awareness camp on road safety was organized at the Jawahar Shetkari Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana, Hupari. The aim was to increase awareness among the tractors transporting sugarcane and trolley drivers to reduce road accidents. As many as 300 reflectors banners were distributed to 300 vehicles transporting sugarcane. The campaign also highlighted the use of headlights during night time to avoid road accidents.

“People should always be alert while transporting cane from fields to mills and ensure that their vehicles must have proper headlights. Following traffic rules will only save the lives of the people and reduce accidents,” said Rajendra Maskhe Mahale, a police officer attached with Hupari police station.

Keep a written agreement with mill owners regarding sugar cane rates: Minister to cane growers

Belagavi: Out of 69 sugar mills in Karnataka, 61 have started cane crushing, said Tourism and Sugar minister CT Ravi.

Speaking on the pending FRP at S Nijalingappa Sugar Factory Foundation board meeting, he said, “We have asked the concerned officials to clear the dues before starting cane crushing.”

“There was a decrease of 66 tonnes of sugarcane yield due to flood in the district. The government has paid Rs 2 crore to S Nijalingappa Sugar Foundation to help cane growers,” Ravi further added.

Minister suggested the sugarcane farmers to get advance money before crushing and keep a written agreement with mill owners regarding sugar cane price. Such written agreements will help the government to intervene in case of a dispute between mill owners and sugar cane growers.

No need to panic over falling sugar prices: Uganda President Yoweri Museveni

The sugar industry and farmers in Uganda are worried over low sugar prices and surplus sugar. Taking note of this, President Yoweri Museveni appealed farmers not to get panic and government will address the issue.

Speaking to the sugarcane growers in Eastern Uganda’s Busoga Sub-Region, he said that the government is committed to addressing the issue and is exploring the alternative uses of sugarcane.

The markets are flooded with a specific type of sugar used to sweeten tea.

He encouraged the industry to upgrade its processing facilities to also supply to the foods, beverage and pharmaceutical industries for the production of syrups, soft drinks, among other products.

Farmers’ loans upto Rs 2 lakh to be waived off: Maharashtra CM

Mumbai (Maharashtra), Dec 21 (ANI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday announced that state farmers’ loans up to Rs 2 lakhs will be waived off under Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Shetkari Karjamukti Scheme.

Speaking at the state Legislative Assembly, Thackeray said, “Farmers loans up to Rs 2 lakh will be waived off under Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Shetkari Karjamukti Scheme.” The scheme will be implemented in March 2020, he said.

Shiv Sena chief further said that the Maharashtra government will provide a meal at Rs 10 to poor people under Shiv Bhojan Yojna.

After Thackeray’s announcement of farm loan waiver, Opposition staged a walkout from the state Legislative Assembly, demanding complete waiver of farmers’ loans.
Thackeray had been showing concerns towards farmers’ woes due to untimely rains in the state.

Recently, he had sought help from the Centre to provide immediate aid to farmers in distress in the state.

However, BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis had accused Thackeray of falling short on his promise of providing adequate relief to the farmers affected by untimely rains in the state.

PNB scam: Nirav Modi threatened to kill company’s director, CBI tells court

New Delhi [India], Dec 21 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday filed a charge sheet in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case in which it invoked criminal intimidation charges against the main accused, Nirav Modi, for threatening to kill one of the dummy directors of his company.

The investigating agency told the special court in Maharashtra that Modi threatened to kill one of the directors, Ashish Mohanbhai Lad if he ever expressed a desire to return to India from Cairo. The CBI said that Lad had fled from Dubai to Cairo to avoid arrest. Later in June 2018, when he planned to return to India from Cairo, he was contacted by Nehal Modi on Nirav Modi’s behalf and threatened.

“Investigation revealed that subsequent to the threatening call by Nirav Modi to Ashish Mohanbhai Lad… accused Nehal Modi offered Rs 20 lakh to Lad for visiting Europe to give a favourable statement before the lawyer and a judge in a European court to help Nirav Modi which was refused by Lad,” the CBI said in the charge sheet.

Wanted diamantaire Nirav Modi was declared a fugitive economic offender earlier his month for evading prosecution in the scam.

Modi is currently lodged at Wandsworth prison in south-west London and is wanted for his alleged role in the Rs 13,570 crore loss caused to the bank along with his uncle, Mehul Choksi.

Modi, 48, was arrested in March this year by Scotland Yard in connection with the case. He has not returned to India despite repeated summons from Indian probe agencies and courts.

India is seeking his extradition to make him face the law of the land for allegedly committing economic offences.

Revenue Department holds high-level meeting to Rs 13.5 lakh crore direct tax collection target

New Delhi, Dec 20 (ANI): In furtherance of its concerted efforts to augment tax collection in the coming four months, the Department of Revenue on Friday conducted here a high-level meeting of senior Income Tax officials to strategise and achieve direct tax collection target of Rs 13.5 lakh crore despite recently announced corporate tax relief of Rs 1.45 lakh crore by the government.

In the meeting, all Income Tax Principal Chief Commissioners and Chief Commissioners were present. This crucial meeting was chaired by Revenue Secretary Dr Ajay Bhushan Pandey and was also attended by the Goods and Services Tax (GST), and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) officials including members of both the boards.

Sources in the Finance Ministry said that in today's meeting deliberations were made to share information between the GST and the Income Tax departments about all such taxpayers, who have taken a high input tax credit (ITC) but that does not match with their personal income tax return submitted to I-T Department.

Also, the GST information would be made available to the Income Tax Department to identify the cases of suppression of personal income or tax evasion by showing lower GST turnover or taking a refund from the GST fraudulently. The officials were told to get into a campaign mode to recover the past arrears.

Post-discussions, directions were given to the taxmen to put forward special efforts to identify and book the tax evaders through data analytics.

They were asked to share the findings with the GST officials to initiate stern actions against wilful tax evaders or those using fake invoices or inflated or fake e-way Bills. However, officials were told to ensure that the genuine taxpayers shall not be troubled but none of the tax evaders should go scot-free.

The officials were directed to communicate with taxpayers that they must genuinely file their taxes before the notice of the tax department reaches them, sources said.

It may be noted that the Central government is taking all possible careful measures to curb tax evasion and leakages in its anti-evasion drive.

Recently in its 38th meeting, the GST Council lowered the limit of ITC outgo from 20 percent to 10 percent before invoices are loaded.

In order to help genuine taxpayers who have mistakenly missed out on some information in their tax return, the tax authorities have provided them with an opportunity to submit their revised returns as well.

It may be recalled that earlier this week, the Finance Ministry put its GST tax collection targets to Rs 4.45 lakh crore for the remaining period of this financial year.
"Today's meeting was yet another effort to strategies and exhort the tax machinery to put up special efforts to stop leakages and curb tax evasion to maximise tax collection without troubling the genuine taxpayers," added sources.

Dwarikesh Sugar commissioned its new 100 KLPD Distillery plant in Uttar Pradesh

New Delhi: One of India’s leading sugar manufacturers, Dwarikesh Sugar Industries Ltd., commissioned its new 100 KLPD distillery plant at its Dwarikesh Nagar unit, Bundki, in Bijnor District, Uttar Pradesh. The statement in this regard was issued by the company.

According to the statement issued by the company, “This expansion comes at a time that Indian sugar business is undergoing a paradigm shift. The distillery capacity expansion will increase Dwarikesh Sugar’s ethanol production and strengthen forward integration. Besides, this initiative will enable the company to optimise the use of molasses generated within its cane crushing facilities and help moderate the impact of volatility of the sugar sector.”

“Ethanol production will strengthen our sugar manufacturing business and will help in expanding our business vertically while creating multi-product foundation,” said Vijay S Banka, Managing Director of Dwarikesh Sugar Industries Ltd.

Punjab: Ministers allege more cane being allotted to private mills

Chandigarh: Cabinet meeting called on Thursday to discuss various issue witnessed huge uproar as ministers alleged that the private sugar mills have been allotted more cane than cooperative mills for this crushing season.

According to the news report published in the leading news website, Rural Development Minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Cooperatives Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa raised the matter and complained that the Cane Commissioner, in his fresh orders on December 17, had allotted most of the surplus sugarcane to private mills for crushing in the upcoming season.

Hearing this, the chief minister Amarinder Singh has directed Vishwajeet Khanna, the Financial Commissioner Development to look into the matter.

Media reports say that Rana Sugar mill has been given 12.22 lakh quintal sugarcane for crushing, which is more than the other cooperative mills.

Randhawa also told CM that the cooperative mill at Nakodar was allotted only 1.75 lakh quintal cane this year whereas it had crushed 6 lakh quintals cane last year.

We will continue to fight for sugarcane farmers’ issues: All India Kisan Sabha

Andhra Pradesh: We will continue to fight for the rights of sugarcane farmers without compromise, said Rao Venkaiah, vice-president of All India Kisan Sabha. The association held its first convention on Wednesday in the town’s Sriprakash Vidyaniketan.

Addressing the gathering, Rao said, “The central and state governments are paying no need on sugarcane farmers suffering.”

“All the 250 farmers’ organisations have come together for campaigning on farmer issues. They are already struggling for quality seeds. Farmers are facing injustice due to the actions of the central and state governments. The government had assured help to the cane growers, but nothing happened.”

Opposition parties against Yogi government over no hike in sugarcane price

Lucknow: Raising the issue of not hiking sugarcane prices, the opposition parties including SP, BSP and Congress members alleged that the government has failed to meet the promise of doubling farmer income. They staged a walkout when cane minister Suresh Rana was explaining that during BJP rule, sugarcane farmers condition has been improved. He stated that 29 sugar mills were shut down in the last ten years, but after BJP came to power, it took so many steps to boost cane farming that land under cultivation had increased from 20 lakh hectare in 2017 to 28 lakh hectare at present.

Objecting the statement, SP MLC Shashank Singh said that the cane cultivation has decreased 12 per cent.

Rana said, “The government after coming to power has cleared dues from last six years and has paid farmers around Rs 77,000 crore. We have started 6 out of 29 closed mills. We have also reduced cane carrying price and cracked down on the mafia.”

UP government had fixed SAP (State Advisory Price) of sugarcane at Rs 315 per quintal (for normal variety of sugarcane) for crushing season 2019-2020. Likewise, SAP for low and high grades cane price are at Rs 305 and Rs 325 per quintal, respectively.

Sugarcane growers in Uttar Pradesh claim that the cost of sugarcane production is increased; therefore, there is a need to hike cane price. They had demanded to fix the sugarcane price at Rs 400 per quintal.

2G ethanol plant to be set up in Davangere

Davangere: A 2G ethanol plant will be set up by the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) at Hanagawadi in Davangere district. The plant will be first of its kind in South India and is in line with the Union Government’s roadmap to set up 12 such units in the country. The plant will be commissioned by March 2023.

The plant will use maize stalk, maize combs, cotton stalk, sugarcane waste, coconut fronds, and paddy stalk to produce biofuel from 2G ethanol plant. The plant has the capacity of producing 60,000 kilolitres of ethanol using 250-350 tonnes of agricultural waste daily. The ash residue will be used to produce cement brick industries.

Recently, the government increased the price of ethanol from C heavy molasses from Rs.43.46 per litre to Rs.43.75 per litre, and the price of ethanol from B heavy molasses hiked from Rs.52.43 per litre to Rs.54.27 per litre. Price of ethanol from sugarcane juice/sugar/sugar syrup route was fixed at 59.48 per litre.

Millers in India are struggling because of unsold stocks. Therefore, the government is focusing on ethanol production to strengthen the financial condition of sugar mills. The Central government has the vision to achieve 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol by 2030 and is moving in the same direction. Experts believe the production of ethanol will aid sugar mills to improve the financial condition as they are struggling with depressed sugar prices, surplus stocks and piling cane arrears.

Farmers unhappy over no hike in sugarcane price in Uttarakhand

Doiwala, Uttarakhand: Sugarcane farmers are not happy with the state government’s decision to not hike sugarcane price in Uttarakhand. For the high grades of cane, price is kept at Rs Rs 327 per quintal, whereas for the normal variety of sugarcane, it is kept at Rs Rs 317 per quintal.

The state government has not hiked the rates from the last two years, and cane growers were expecting that the government will increase sugarcane price this season. Sugarcane farmers in the state claim that the cost of sugarcane production is increased; therefore, there is a need to hike cane price.

There are around 10,000 sugarcane farmers in Doiwala region and all opt for cane cultivation as the crop yields give them a good return. However, now they are anguish as the government have not hiked the sugarcane price.

Sugarcane farmers from Doiwala region said, “The sugarcane price has not been raised by the government for two years. It is clear from this that the government is not in favour of improving the situation of sugarcane farmers.”

India may export 5 million tonnes of sugar this year

New Delhi: According to the trade and industry officials, the favourable global situation and flurry of overseas sales in the past few months will help India to export 5 million tonnes sugar in 2019-20 season that began in October.

As per the media reports, the mills have already signed export contracts of 2 million tonnes of sugar.

“Looking at the current trend, I can tell you with a lot of confidence that we’ll be able to export at least 5 mt this year,” New Delhi-based dealer from the Indian unit of a global trading firm was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters.

According to past data, India may break the record of sugar export of 4.96 million tonnes in the year 2007-08.

To reduce the sugar surplus, the government announced 60 lakh tonnes of sugar export subsidy for 2019-20 sugar season. The policy involves an export subsidy of Rs 10,448 per metric tonne (mt) to sugar mills. The total estimated expenditure government will bear Rs 6,268 crore.

The Indian sugar sector is suffering from various hurdles from the last two to three years, and to bring the sector out of the crisis, the government had introduced various measures, including sugar export subsidy. Sugar surplus in the country causing harm to the sector, so the shipments will be helpful in reducing the sugar glut in India.

Smuggled sugar seized at Manila port

Manila: The sugar smuggling case is on the rise in Philippines. In a recent crackdown, refined sugar worth P54 million smuggled as hardware fitting material from China was seized by the Bureau Of Customs (BOC) at Manila port. It arrived at the Port of Manila in August and September this year.

They had been declared as steel, tek screws, clamps, and nails, among others. According to the reports, the shipment from China was consigned to RZTREC and TRACLEF Trading.

The BOC said in a statement, the sugar, shipped in 48 containers, was seized for violation of Section 1400 in relation to Section 117 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, and the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.

Earlier in the month of November, BOC had seized eight shipping containers of smuggled sugar at a port of Manila.

Sugarcane price remains unchanged in Uttarakhand

Dehradun: After a long wait, the Uttarakhand government has announced the sugarcane price in the state for the crushing season 2019-2020. There has been no increase in cane price for this season.

For the high grades of cane, price is kept at Rs Rs 327 per quintal, whereas for the normal variety of sugarcane, it is kept at Rs Rs 317 per quintal.

The state government has not hiked the rates from the last two years, and cane growers were expecting that the government will increase sugarcane price this season. Sugarcane farmers in the state claim that the cost of sugarcane production is increased; therefore, there is a need to hike cane price.

In the month of July, Central government kept Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane unchanged at Rs 275 per quintal for 2019-20 crushing season for a basic recovery rate of 10 per cent as sugar mills in India claimed that they are finding it difficult to pay FRP of sugarcane as the average production cost of sugar is 35 to 36 rupees per kg as against the MSP of 31 rupees per kg.

Sugar production in Maharashtra drops 73 per cent to 7.66 lakh tons till December 15

New Delhi: Due to delay in commencement of 2019-2020 sugar season, sugar production is the state has been impacted. According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), in Maharashtra, 124 sugar mills were in operation, and they have produced 7.66 lakh tons of sugar till 15th December, 2019. In 2018-19 sugar season, there were 178 sugar mills in operation as on 15th December, 2018 and they had produced 29 lakh tons. In this season, the state witnessed the downfall of 73 per cent in sugar production.

Sugar mills in Maharashtra officially kick-started sugarcane crushing season on November 22 after they got permission from state Governor BS Koshyari in the absence of a functional state government.

A total of 195 sugar mills participated in sugar season 2018-2019 and produced 107.19 lakh tonnes of sugar at a recovery rate of 11.26 per cent by crushing 951.79 lakh tonnes of sugarcane.

Sugar production in Maharashtra will be impacted in this season 2019-2020 as the state had been gripped with drought and flood.

As on 15th December, 2019, 406 sugar mills were crushing sugarcane for the year 2019-20 sugar season, and they have produced 45.81 lakh tons of sugar, i.e. 35 per cent less than the sugar production on the corresponding date of previous sugar season, of 70.54 lakh tons of sugar. Last year on the corresponding date, 473 mills were operating.

Sharad Pawar assures to address problems of sugar mills workers

Baramati: Maharashtra Rajya Sakhar Kamgar Prathinidhi Mandal met NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Baramati to discuss various issue faced by sugar mills workers in the state. Pawar assured the mills worker that he would try to resolve their problem.

Kamgar Prathinidhi Mandal informed him about the pending salaries of workers, hike in existing salaries, setting up of a tripartite committee to address issues of sugar industry workers and other issues.

Assuring the workers, Pawar said that after the full cabinet formation, he will convene a meeting of cooperation minister, labour minister, sugar commissioner, labour commissioner and others to discuss the issue. Pawar will lead the meeting and ensured the workers that he would find a way out regarding their demands.

India’s sugar production down by 35 per cent till December 15

New Delhi: According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), as on 15th December, 2019, 406 sugar mills were crushing sugarcane for the year 2019-20 SS and they have produced 45.81 lakh tons of sugar, i.e. 35% less than the sugar production on the corresponding date of previous sugar season, of 70.54 lakh tons of sugar. Last year on the corresponding date, 473 mills were operating.

In Uttar Pradesh, 119 mills have produced 21.25 lakh tons of sugar till 15th December, 2019, 2.31 lakh tons higher than last year, when 116 sugar mills had together produced 18.94 lakh tons on the corresponding period. Sugar production during the current season till 15th December 2019 is higher than last year on the corresponding date, as sugar mills in the State started their crushing operations one week earlier in the current season.

In Maharashtra, 124 sugar mills are in operation and they have produced 7.66 lakh tons of sugar till 15th December, 2019. In 2018-19 SS, there were 178 sugar mills in operation as on 15th December, 2018 and they had produced 29 lakh tons. In this season, sugar production in Maharashtra is likely to decline as the state had been impacted by flood and drought.

The third largest producer of sugar viz. Karnataka, 63 sugar mills are in operation who have produced 10.62 lakh tons of sugar till 15th December, 2019. This is about 3.32 lakh tons less than the sugar production in 2018-19 SS as on 15th December, 2018.

The production in Maharashtra and Karnataka are lower than last year due to the fact that mills in these States started late by one month and one week, respectively. Apart from this, sugar recovery so far is reported to be lower as compared to last year, mainly because mills are crushing damaged sugarcane due to floods, along with the fresh cane as also other climatic factors.

As regards Gujarat, 15 sugar mills are in operation and they have produced 1.52 lakh tons of sugar till 15th December, 2019. In 2018-19 SS, as on 15th December, 2018, 16 sugar mills were in operation and they had produced 3.10 lakh tons of sugar till that date.

In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 14 sugar mills could start crushing till 15th December, 2019 and they produced about 0.30 lakh tons of sugar till that date. Last year, 18 sugar mills were in operation on 15th December 2018 and they had produced 1.05 lakh tons.

There are 6 sugar mills in Tamil Nadu in operation and sugar production till 15th December, 2019 was about 0.73 lakh tons, as compared to 0.87 lakh tons produced by 16 sugar mills as on 15th December, 2018.

In regard to Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, there are 9, 16, 13 and 19 sugar mills are in operation respectively and they have produced 1.35 lakh tons, 0.75 lakh tons, 0.65 lakh tons and 0.35 lakh tons, respectively.

Against the two tenders floated by OMCs for ethanol procurement during the Ethanol Supply Year (December 2019 – November 2020), sugar mills and stand alone distilleries have offered to supply 163 crore litres of ethanol, out of which 10.38 crore litres will be from sugarcane juice, 62.58 crore litres from ‘B’ heavy molasses, 86.39 crore litres from ‘C’ heavy molasses and 3.78 crore litres from damaged foodgrains. The supply of ethanol of about 73 crore litres from sugarcane juice and ‘B’ heavy molasses is almost double that of what was supplied in the last 2018-19 ESY, and, therefore, the diversion of sugar into ethanol this season is higher.

There is another tender expected shortly from the OMCs, against which more quantities of ethanol including the ethanol made from ‘B’ heavy molasses and sugarcane juice, is expected to be offered to the OMCs for 2019-20 ESY.

Sugarcane farmers threaten to lock all sugar mills in Haryana

Kurukshetra: The Haryana sugarcane farmers under the banner of Bhartiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) have threatened to lock down all the sugar mills in the state if the government fails to increase cane purchase price. They have accused the government of being anti-farmer and said in the last five years sugarcane price was increased by only Rs 30 per quintal.

Randeep Singh Arya, spokesperson of Haryana unit of BKS, said, “The government aims to double farmers income by 2022 but in actual its policies are against farmers. From last one year, we are taking the issue with chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, but he has shown least interest in it.”

“On December 20, we have decided to launch a protest at Karnal and will show black flags to chief minister wherever he goes. If the prices are not increased by Rs 30 per quintal, then we will launch a protest at all the 14 sugar mills in the state, and from January 5 we will lock all the mills,” he further added.

Devendra Fadnavis accuses Uddhav Thackeray of betraying Maharashtra farmers

Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], Dec 17 (ANI): BJP MLA and leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday accused Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray of falling short on his promise of providing adequate relief to the farmers affected by untimely rains in the state.

“The Chief Minister had announced that Rs 25,000 per hectare will be provided to farmers suffering due to the untimely rainfall. But yesterday when the supplementary demands came, they had allotted only Rs 750 crore. If they have to give Rs 25,000 per hectare then they should’ve allotted Rs 23,000 crore,” Fadnavis told reporters here after the session of the Maharashtra Assembly was adjourned on the second day. Further targeting the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state, Fadnavis said that it has betrayed the farmers of the state.

“The manner in which this government is being run, in its first stage itself, it has betrayed the farmers of Maharashtra. We raised this issue strongly in the Assembly today. The Assembly has been adjourned for the day,” he said.

A scuffle took place between BJP and Shiv Sena MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly on Tuesday after Fadnavis raised the issue of farmers’ woes due to untimely rains in the state.
The BJP MLAs had carried placards of an earlier article in the Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ demanding aid for farmers hit by the unseasonal rains.
Shouting slogans, the BJP MLAs rushed to the well of the House seeking implementation of aid to farmers. The Shiv Sena members, however, tried to snatch the placards from their hands leading to a scuffle.

The House was later adjourned by Speaker Nana Patole for 30 minutes following the ruckus.

Haryana aims to increase sugar recovery rate

Chandigarh: Haryana aims to increase sugar production; therefore, it will take various steps to achieve the same. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has asked the cooperation department officers to formulate a strategy to increase the sugar recovery rate from the state cooperative sugar mills in the state. Increase in sugar recovery will help in more sugar production in the state.

Sanjeev Kaushal, additional chief secretary, cooperation department said, ” The instructions have been given to the officials to plan out a strategy to boost sugar production. In a big to increase sugar production, the government is also preparing a plan to give incentives to the officers for this.”

Earlier, Dr. Banwari Lal, Cooperation Minister, advocated for increasing production of refined sugar to increase the revenue of mills.

Vellore cooperative sugar mill commences sugarcane crushing operations

Vellore: The Vellore cooperative sugar mill has begun cane crushing from Monday with setting the target of crushing 1.05 lakh tonne sugarcane.

Inaugurating the crushing, Collector A Shanmuga Sundaram said the crushing would continue till February end.

The mill plans to take 2000 tonne sugarcane for crushing per day with the aim of crushing 1.05 lakh tonne in this season.

The sugar mill in the last season 2018-2019 paid sugarcane farmers as per Rs 2612.50 per tonne. M Anandan, Chairman of the mill said 1987 farmers have been registered with them to supply cane for the mill.

India’s economy constrained by weakening household consumption: Moody’s

Singapore, Dec 16 (ANI): India’s weak household consumption will curb economic growth and weigh on the credit quality of Indian issuers in a range of sectors, Moody’s Investors Service said on Monday.

Like other major markets, India’s growth has decelerated with GDP growth falling to 4.5 per cent in the July to September quarter from 5 per cent in the April to June quarter. Moody’s has lowered its GDP growth projection for India for the fiscal year ending March 2020 to 4.9 per cent from 5.8 per cent. “What was once an investment-led slowdown has now broadened into weakening consumption, driven by financial stress among rural households on the back of stagnating agricultural wage growth and constrained productivity as well as weak job creation due to rigid land and labour laws,” said Moody’s Assistant Vice President and Analyst Deborah Tan.

The credit crunch among non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), which have been major providers of retail loans in recent years, has exacerbated this slowdown.

“While the income shock to households has been unfolding over several years, it was not visible on headline growth as long as households could borrow from NBFIs. With the materialisation of a credit supply shock, we now see the impact of these twin shocks on growth,” added Tan.

Meanwhile, Moody’s expects that government measures to stimulate domestic demand — including income support for farmers and low-income households, monetary policy easing and a broad corporate tax cut — will be limited in offsetting this slowdown.

Although a modest recovery is expected for next year, supported partly by spillovers from policy stimulus, economic growth will be weaker than in recent years which will have negative credit implications for Indian issuers in a range of sectors.In automotive, weak demand and tight liquidity will constrain automakers’ earnings. Although delinquencies in auto asset-backed securities (ABS) have not increased significantly, the performance of commercial vehicle loans backing ABS deals could deteriorate if economic conditions remain subdued for a prolonged period.

The slower economic growth over the last few quarters will also reduce the debt servicing capabilities of households, which in turn will weaken the asset quality of retail loans across all segments. Private-sector banks have a larger exposure to retail loans and may be more at risk. However, an increase in non-performing loans should be gradual.

Shortage of labourers for sugarcane harvesting

Kahnuwan: The shortage of labourers for sugarcane harvesting has become a cause of distress for the farmers in Kahnuwan town.

According to farmer Lakhvinder Singh, the mills have started cane crushing ten days earlier than usual, and as per their survey, they are facing a problem of cane harvesters. The farmers are ready to pay whatever the harvesters demand as they want to clear fields for Rabi season. Considering the issue, sugar mills have extended the time for farmers to send cane to mill for crushing to 96 hours.

Farmers suffering due to impact of climate change: Agriculture Minister

New Delhi, Dec 13 (ANI): Farmers are suffering due to unseasonal rains caused by climate change, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Thursday.

Replying to a debate on crop loss to farmers, Tomar also said that the government is reviewing the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) to see how it can be made more beneficial for farmers. He said the entire world is facing results of climate change and is finding ways to deal with it.

“There is a change in the weather in the country. There are unseasonal incidents, unseasonal rains, the farmer is suffering,” he said.

He said the country recorded 10 per cent excess rainfall during monsoon with 31 per cent area receiving excess rainfall, 15 per cent less and 54 per cent normal.

The minister said the government was taking steps to deal with the impact of climate change and the ministry has also launched missions and evolved crop varieties which are resilient to the impact of climate change.

Tomar said agriculture was the backbone of the economy and the government was committed to the welfare of farmers.

He said the government has taken a series of steps to increase the income of farmers including enhancing minimum support price, PM-KISAN and a pension scheme. He said the government was deliberating how to make the PMFBY more beneficial to farmers.

“A review is being done of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. We will look into the suggestions and see how these are practical,” he said.

The minister said of about Rs 47,000 crore paid in insurance premium, Rs 38,499 crore were paid in claims. “The farmers have got benefit to the extent of 81 per cent,” he said. PMFBY was launched in the country from Kharif 2016.

37 lakh tonnes of sugar exported in 2018-19 season

New Delhi: As a measure to clear the surplus sugar stock, India exported 37 lakh tonnes of sugar in the 2018-19 season. The information was tabled by Union minister Raosaheb Danve in Rajya Sabha on Friday. He stated that the sugar mills were advised to export sugar as per their MIEQ (Minimum Indicative export Quota).

Danve said that, in a bid to reduce the sugar surplus, MIEQ of 50 lakh tonnes of sugar was fixed for export in the sugar season 2018-2019. There was no compulsion on the mills to export sugar, and they were free to export it as per their commercial decision.

To reduce the sugar surplus, the government announced 60 lakh tonnes of sugar export subsidy for 2019-20 sugar season. The policy involves an export subsidy of Rs 10,448 per metric tonne (mt) to sugar mills. The total estimated expenditure government will bear Rs 6,268 crore.

The Indian sugar sector is suffering from various hurdles from the last two to three years, and to bring the sector out of the crisis, the government had introduced various measures, including sugar export subsidy. Sugar surplus in the country causing harm to the sector, so the shipments will be helpful in reducing the sugar glut in India.

Farmers body demands revival of sugar mills

Mandya: Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) has demanded the state government to revive the state-owned Mysore Sugar Company Ltd. (Mysugar) and the Pandavapura Sahakari sakkare Karkhane (PSSK). The organisation’s representatives from K R Pet taluk threatened to launch an agitation over their demand.

Both mills are lifelines of the hundreds of cane farmers in the district which are defunct due to technical issues from the past few years.

The KRRS leaders urged Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to take immediate steps to revive these sugar mills. Maruvanahalli Shankar, taluk president of KRRS, said, “The three private sugar mills operating in the district have not shown any interest in harvesting sugarcane grown by the farmers that fall in the jurisdiction of these two mills”.

Sugarcane farmers in the state are already under stress as they have been waiting for the pending cane dues. Following which, they have intensified their protest against mills and government.

NEFT transaction facility available 24×7 from today

New Delhi, Dec 16 (ANI): A bank account holder can now transfer any value of money online anytime with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowing the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) facility available for 24 hours a day throughout the year starting Monday.

Prior to this, people could transfer money online between 8 am and 6:30 pm on the days when banks were open. The NEFT facility would be available round the clock starting 12 am on Monday, the RBI said in a tweet. “This ensures the availability of anytime electronic funds transfer,” it said.

The facility will be available on all days of the year including holidays.

India’s central bank said it has joined an “elite club of countries having payment systems which enable round the clock funds transfer and settlement of any value” with the step.
Over 11.4 lakh money transactions were successfully completed using the NEFT medium between 12 am and 8 am on the starting day, the central bank said.

“Making available NEFT 24×7 is part of RBI’s vision of empowering every Indian with access to a bouquet of e-payment options,” the RBI stated.

So far, IMPS facility allowed 24×7 fund transfers online but it had a limit of Rs 2 lakh.

We will shut sugar mills: Tatyasaheb Kale

Solapur: Maharashtra Rajya Sakhar Kamgar Prathinidhi Mandal president Tatyasaheb Kale has demanded the immediate attention of the state government on outstanding salaries and other issues of sugar mills workers. He has warned the government that if the issues of workers are not resolved at the earliest, then we will close the sugar mills. The decision was taken in a state-wide congregation of sugar mills in Solapur.

Addressing the gathering in Solapur, Kale said, “The sugar mills from the state owe salary dues around 450 crores to the workers. The government, as well as the millers, are not paying attention to our demand. Workers are facing financial trouble due to pending salaries. If the government fails to act on our demand, we will launch an agitation against sugar mills and government

Sugar mills will be held co-accused for accidents by heavy vehicles

Kolhapur: Accident of sugarcane loaded vehicles is on the rise; therefore, traffic police is taking all measures to low dow the number of accidents. According to the media reports, now, sugar mills will be held co-accused in case of accidents resulting from an absence of reflective tape on heavy vehicles carrying sugar cane.

The Road and Transport Office (RTO) has issued directives to the sugar mills to ensure that the cane carrying vehicles are equipped with reflectors. Reflective tapes are essential to identify vehicles during foggy nights as many cane carrying vehicles operate during night time.

RTO has already launched a campaign to spread awareness among sugar mills about the necessity of the reflective tapes that help in avoiding accidents.

Speaking to a leading news website, Steven Alvares, Regional Transport Officer, Kolhapur said, “The sugar mill will be considered co-accused in case of the accident due to the absence of reflective tape. As per the motor vehicle act, police will file cases against farmers and cane transporters if found without reflector stickers”.

“We had organised an awareness camp at Rajaram sugar mill and Jawahar sugar mill to increase the awareness about the same,” he further added.

Sugar mills in Kolhapur to pay one time FRP after December 30

Kolhapur: Sugar mills in Kolhapur have agreed to pay one time FRP (Fair and remunerative price) to cane growers and stated that the amount would be deposited on farmers account after December 30.

The decision was taken in a meeting held in Kolhapur which was presided over by Ganpatrao Patil, chairman, Datta sugar mill, Shirol.

In a press release issued by the millers, they said the decision has been taken with the expectation that the state government will announce the loan waiver to farmers by December-end.

The statement reads, “Three months have passed since the mills have started cane crushing. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has declared that the farmers’ loan will be waived. We are expecting that the decision in this regard will be taken during the upcoming assembly session in Nagpur. I view of this, we will deposit the one-time FRP to the bank accounts of the farmers.”

Worker dies in an accident in sugar mill

Purna: A worker employed in the RBC department of Baliraja sugar mill died on Wednesday after getting stuck in a chain. The incident has been registered with Purna police station.

According to police, the deceased has been identified as Om Rengade. The mill has begun the crushing and Om was deployed for supplying the raw material required for the boiler. On Wednesday afternoon, while working his leg got stuck into the chain, following which he lost his life.

A team of Purna police station immediately reached the spot after they got information about the incident. Police are further investigating the case.

Kenya: Cheap sugar import causes trouble for Nzoia sugar company

The farmers have given a deadline of 14 days to the Nzoia sugar company to pay their bills else they will boycott the cane supply to the mill.

The Kenya National Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (KNFSF) stated that if a company fails to pay the farmers, then they will go for strike. Stefen Walpui, KNFSF branch chairman from Bungoma said, the company owes sh300 million as pending arrears and should pay it before commencing talks on privatization. We have informed concerned authorities about the strike for arrears,”

According to the news reports, Joash Warang’ Oli, Chairman of the Nzoia company, confirmed that the company owes farmers. He said, “Import of cheap sugar, lack of cane for crushing and falling market created a problem for them, which has impacted the company’s financial situation. We are aware of the problems and will soon take steps to clear arrears.”

Sugarcane Research Institute at Kalanaur soon

Chandigarh: The government is determined to set up a Sugarcane research institute in Kalanaur (Gurdaspur) and will table a detailed project report in this regard in a week, said Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Punjab Cooperation and Jails minister.

Speaking at a programme held in Markfed office, he said, “The cooperation department has mooted the proposal to set up an institute to increase cane yield and recovery that will benefit farmers and millers in the state. The latest technology will be provided to farmers through this, and they will be trained to use new technology. We will soon finalize a roadmap to set up the institute.”

Retail inflation up at 5.54 per cent in Nov, industrial production in Oct down by 3.8 per cent

New Delhi, Dec 12 (ANI): The retail inflation in November accelerated to 5.54 per cent due to higher prices of food items, government data showed on Thursday.

In October, the consumer price index (CPI) stood at 4.62 per cent. Figures released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed that retail inflation in rural areas was at 5.27 per cent last month and 5.76 per cent in urban areas. Food prices grew 10.01 per cent compared to 7.89 per cent in October. Inflation rate in cereals and products went up at 3.71 per cent against 2.16 per cent a month ago.

Vegetable inflation for November stood at 36 per cent against 26 per cent in October. On the other hand, pulses and products recorded inflation of 13.94 per cent in November against 11.72 per cent in October.

Meanwhile, industrial production shrank by 3.8 per cent in October due to poor performance by power, mining and manufacturing sectors. Factory output as measured in terms of index of industrial production (IIP) had expanded 8.4 per cent in October last year. Power generation dipped sharply by 12.2 per cent in October compared to 10.8 per cent growth in the year-ago period.

Mining output also fell 8 per cent as against 7.3 per cent growth in the corresponding period last fiscal.

PM Modi gets clean chit in post-Godhra riots

Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Dec 11 (ANI): The Nanavati-Mehta Commission Report on post-Godhra riots, which was tabled in Gujarat assembly on Wednesday, has given clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Talking to media persons, Gujarat Home Minister Pradipsinh Jadeja said: “Allegations were made on Narendra Modi that he visited Godhra without informing anyone. This allegation has stood false in the report of the commission. It was not a secret visit nor a visit to destroy the evidence.” The minister said that it was not necessary for Modi, who was then the Gujarat Chief Minister, to inform all the high officers of the state about his visit to Godhra.

“The concerned officers were informed about his visit and they had made necessary arrangements for that visit. It was not a secret meeting,” he added.
Meanwhile, on allegations of disturbance of evidence in the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express, the report said: “There is no material to show that the Chief Minister, by entering the burnt coach S6, disturbed any evidence and that it was done with some ulterior motive.”

An allegation was made by former IPS Shreekumar in which he claimed that there was a meeting held at Modi’s residence on February 27, 2002 night. In the meeting, the then Chief Minister directed the police and the state administration to refrain from resorting to any strict action and to permit the majority community to express their anger and anguish against the minority community.
On these allegations, the commission reported: “Shreekumar has not claimed that he was present in the said meeting. While officers present in the meeting have not supported this version.”
The report also quoted PM Modi as saying: “I was personally reviewing the situation continuously by holding review meetings of the senior government and police officials responsible for maintaining law and order to ensure that normalcy is restored.”

The first part of the report was submitted in 2008 by the Nanavati-Mehta commission. It covered the Godhra train burning incident in which it had concluded that burning of the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express near Godhra Railway Station was a “planned conspiracy.” The first part also gave clean chit to then Chief Minister Modi.

After long wait sugar mill commences crushing operations

Sultanpur: The Sugarcane farmers have breathed a sigh of relief as the Kisan cooperative sugar mill commenced cane crushing on Monday.
The inauguration of mill’s cane crushing was done on November 28 by minister Jay Pratap Singh. However, the mill was not operational as some repair work of the mill was not completed and due to sugarcane scarcity.

The farmers were demanding to begin crushing as they had to clear their fields for rabi season. Now the farmers are happy that they could clear their fields for the next crop.

Mill’s sugarcane supply incharge Ramtej Verma said that around 4800 quintals of sugarcane has been procured to start crushing.

Government to daily monitor outstanding cane price and speed up cane price payment

Lucknow: In compliance of the orders of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath to make speedy payment of the outstanding cane price of the sugarcane farmers of the state, the Hon’ble Minister, Sugar Industry & Cane Development department Shri Suresh Rana, has given instructions for daily monitoring of the cane price payment. It is being done at the level of Cane commissioner. A record cane price payment of Rs.76,943.02 Crore has been made to the farmers by the present government. This includes payment of Rs.30,161 Crore for crushing season 2018-19, as well as cane price payment of Rs.673.05 Crore for the current crushing season 2019-20.

Hon’ble Minister, Sugar Industry & Cane Development department Shri Suresh Rana, said that under the guidance of the Hon’ble Chief Minister of U.P. Yogi Adityanath, State Government is committed for timely cane supply of farmers to sugar mills and to make timely cane price payments to the farmers. Constant efforts are being made to improve the arrangements in this direction. In this order the Reduction on cane transport from cane purchasing centers has been fixed to 42 paise /qt/ km. with maximum limit of Maximum Rs 8.35 /qt/km, Instead of Rs 8.75/qt/km. This will give benefit to all the farmer who are supplying their cane to cane purchasing centre located with in 20 km radios of sugar mills .

Hon’ble Ministar also said, that in order to promote farmers’ Rural Industry, Khandasari and Gur Udhyog, relaxing the conditions for the Khandasari unit license and online license process and in the year 2018-19. The required minimum distance of 15 km from the sugar mills gate has been reduced to 7.5 km, which resulted that for the first time in the last 25 years, 101 new licenses of Khandasari units have been issued, and this will add to 26,450 TCD Crushing capacity will be created. Which is be nearly equal to the crushing capacity of Six Sugar Mills.

Giving information in this regards Hon’ble Minister of Cane told that, due to the efforts made by the present government in the interest of the cane farmers, the economic condition of the farmers is improving and bringing towards happiness and prosperity to the farmers. Due to the special efforts of the Department of Cane Development, the average sugarcane productivity in the state has gone up from 72.38 to 80.50 MT per hectare in the last two and a half years, so that farmers get 8.12 MT per hectare additional cane yield. Due to this increase in cane productivity, the average income of farmers has increased to Rs.25,984 per Ha. In the last two seasons, 2142 Lakh tonnes of cane has been crushed, which is almost equal to crushing in the previous 03 years.

For the first time, the State Government has ensured payment of Rs.114.07 Crore of unpaid cane price payment to 85,178 cane farmers against due total unpaid cane price payment of Rs.129.37 Crore by launching a campaign in Cooperative Cane Societies and Sugar Mills. By adopting a sensitive approach towards cane farmers, State Government has Resolved the problem of cane supply of about one lakh cane farmers by reviving three closed sugar mills Bulandshahr, Gagalhedi and Venus of private sector and established new sugar mills of 5000 T.C.D. and 27 M.W. capacity cogeneration plant in place of the closed sugar mill Pipraich (Gorakhpur) and Munderwa (Basti) of corporation sector. The project for Capacity expansion of Cooperative Sugar Mill, Ramala (Baghpat) From 2750 T.C.D. to 5000 T.C.D. and setting up a 27 M.W. Cogen plant was inaugurated. These projects will facilitate about one lakh cane farmers in their cane supply and 11,000 thousand people will get direct/indirect employment. Under the performance improvement and modernization of cooperative sugar mills, the work of modernization has been done in Anupshahar, Nanpara, Sarsawa, Puvyan, Bellaryan and Sampurnanagar sugar mills this year.

It is also told, that for the first time arrangement has been made to give full benefit of interest subsidy by putting demand two times in a year on NABARD loan repayment, so that farmers get full benefit of interest subsidy of about Rs. 4.5 Crore. Changing the Satta policy’ in the year 2016-17, the maximum limit of the Satta, which was 750qt, 1500qt and 3750qt for marginal, small and general farmers respectively increased upto 850qt, for marginal farmers, 1700qt for small farmers & 4250qt for general farmers. As result of this the Satta of the Farmers of the State has increased upto 56 lakh qt.

Giving information regarding cane price payment Cane Commissioner, Shri Sanjay R. Bhoosreddy informed that to ensure the payment, instructions have been given to departmental officers to take strict action against the negligent mills. Action will be taken against the mills defaulting in cane price payment and along with lodging FIR under the Section 3/7 of Essential Commodities Act, the recovery certificate (RC) will also be issued.

Equity indices tick up on global cues, metal and pharma stocks gain

Mumbai (Maharashtra), Dec 12 (ANI): Equity benchmark indices edged higher during early hours on Thursday with metal and pharma stocks showing the most gains.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 130 points to 40,543 while the Nifty 50 gained 47 points at 11,958. All sectoral indices were in the positive zone with Nifty metal up by 1.5 per cent, pharma by 1.1 per cent and PSU bank by 1 per cent. Among stocks, Vedanta moved up by 2.7 per cent at Rs 142.25 per share while Hindalco edged higher by 2.4 per cent, Tata Steel by 2.1 per cent and JSW Steel by 1.4 per cent. Pharma major Cipla added gains of 2.6 per cent at Rs 461.75 per share and Sun Pharma was up by 1.4 per cent.

The other prominent winners were Yes Bank, UPL, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Eicher Motors. However, ONGC, Bharti Infratel, HCL Technologies and HDFC were on a low swing.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks rose to the highest in a month after the US Federal Reserve signalled that interest rates are likely to remain accommodative. But the upcoming election in Britain and a deadline for US-China trade talks kept most investors cautious.

The Fed kept interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting a day earlier. That helped MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan climb by 0.8 per cent to the highest since November 11. Japan’s Nikkei stock index rose by 0.18 per cent.

Reports said US President Donald Trump is expected to meet soon with top advisers to discuss tariffs on nearly 160 billion dollars of Chinese consumer goods that are scheduled to take effect on December 15.

Haryana to increase refined sugar production

Chandigarh: State government will increase the production of refined sugar to increase the revenue of mills said Dr. Banwari Lal, Cooperation Minister, Haryana. At present, the refined sugar is being produced in the cooperative sugar mill at Rohtak.

Lal said that we are discussing to start production of refined sugar at the Meham cooperative sugar mill. The increase in refined sugar will help in increasing market prices of sugar and will help millers to generate revenue.

“We are also planning to set up an ethanol plant in Cooperative sugar mill Shahabad. Also of now, there are no outstanding dues of farmers with any cooperative sugar mill”, the minister further added.

Uttar Pradesh government to take strict action against negligent sugar mills

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], Dec 12 (ANI): The Uttar Pradesh government has given instructions for daily monitoring of the “sugarcane price payment” by the department commissioner.

Sugar industry minister Suresh Rana has given instructions regarding the same. The BJP led state dispensation has also said to have released a payment of Rs 76,943.02 crores to the sugarcane farmers as prices for their produce.

Also, Rs 114.07 crores as payment against unpaid cane price to 85,178 farmers in the state by launching a campaign in cooperative cane societies and sugar mills.
The total unpaid sugar cane price payment stood at Rs 129.37 crores.

Of the total Rs 76,943.02 crores to the sugarcane farmers, Rs.30,161 crores for crushing season 2018-19, as well as cane price payment of Rs.673.05 crores for the current crushing season 2019-20, is included.

Giving information regarding cane price payment Cane Commissioner, Sanjay R. Bhoosreddy informed that to ensure the payment, instructions have been given to departmental officers to take strict action against the negligent mills. Action will be taken against the mills defaulting in cane price payment and along with lodging FIR under the Section 3/7 of Essential Commodities Act, the recovery certificate (RC) will also be issued.

Reliance Industries’ arm acquires 85 per cent stake in NowFloats Technologies

Mumbai (Maharashtra), Dec 12 (ANI): Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Ltd (RSBVL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, has acquired 85 percent of equity shares in NowFloats Technologies for Rs 141.63 crore.

RSBVL proposes to make a further investment of up to Rs 75 crore subject to achieving agreed milestones, Reliance said in a statement on Thursday. Further investment is expected to be completed by next year-end. After the further investment, the shareholding of RSBVL will increase to 89.66 percent of the equity share capital of Now Floats.

Now floats were incorporated in India on May 9, 2012. It offers software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that enable them to get a digital presence.
Other solutions include local content discovery platform, online business management suite, website promotion, marketing solutions, and various other offerings for SMEs.
Now floats is an early-stage company with a turnover of Rs 32.56 crore, Rs 18.73 crore, and Rs 10.38 crore and net losses of Rs 43.24 crore, Rs 47.49 crore, and Rs 31.43 crore in FY 19, FY 18 and FY 17 respectively.

“The aforesaid investment will further enable the group’s digital and new commerce initiatives,” said Reliance. No governmental or regulatory approvals were required for the said investment. The investment does not fall within related party transactions and none of RIL’s promoter or promoter group or group companies has any interest in the transaction, it added.

VSI to organise International Conferences and Exhibition on 31st Jan to 2nd Feb 2020

Pune: Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) to organise the 2nd International Conference and Exhibition on “Sustainability – Innovation & Diversification in Sugar and Allied industry” from 31st January to 2nd February, 2020 at the VSI campus, Pune.

In conversation with ChiniMandi News, Mr. Shivajirao Deshmukh – Director General of VSI expressed his views on the event. He said, “This is a flagship event of VSI where eminent international and national speakers will be delivering lectures on significantly different important aspects of sugar and allied industry. This largest congregation of technocrats of sugar and allied industry is likely to be attended by more than 2000 delegates from national and international experts and scientists who will share their vision, ideas and experiences during the Conference. Besides, this the three days event will have in-depth discussions of the innovations of the Research Scientists, Engineers, Technologists and Agriculture Scientists for the improvement of sugar and allied industry.”

“In conjunction with the Conference, a concurrent “Exposition of the Products and Services of Sugar Industry” is also being organized in which we will see the participation of leading national and international exhibitors showcasing their latest innovations, products and services. It is an opportunity to meet and interact with more than 200 service providers from sugarcane and allied industry to small and medium enterprises. On the occasion of this International event, there will be a live crop demonstration of sugarcane showing various advance technologies and cultural practices covering sugarcane varieties, irrigation methodology, intercrop cultivation, different agronomical practices and management of nutrients, pests and diseases.” he further added.

VSI invites Scientists, Researchers and Technocrats to present their research papers in poster form and interact with industry.

For more details contact at :
E-mail: contact@vsiconindia2020.org
Website: www.vsiconindia2020.org

Priyanka Gandhi demands better price for sugarcane in Uttar Pradesh

New Delhi: Following the farmers’ protest over the UP government’s decision of not hiking sugarcane prices, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wrote to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the issue.

In a letter, she wrote, “I am surprised that the UP government has not raised the sugarcane price this season. The government has raised rates of electricity, fertilizers, and the cost of labour has also been increased. In such a situation, the prices of sugarcane also should be increased. I request you to consider the farmers suffering and increase the rates.”

In a circular issued by the cane development department, the state government announced sugarcane price at Rs 315 per quintal (for normal variety of sugarcane). Likewise, sugarcane SAP for low and high grades cane price are at Rs 305 and Rs 325 per quintal, respectively. Sugarcane growers in Uttar Pradesh claim that the cost of sugarcane production is increased; therefore, there is a need to hike cane price. They had demanded to fix the sugarcane price more than Rs 400 per quintal.

Madhya Pradesh: Jyotiraditya Scindia writes to Chief Minister for revival of Kailaras sugar mill

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Dec 12 (ANI): Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday wrote a letter to Chief Minister Kamal Nath, urging him to restart a sugar mill in Muraina district.

In the letter, Scindia asked the Chief Minister to fulfil the Congress party’s election promise of reviving the defunct sugar mill in Kailaras town in the district. “People of Muraina blessed us by electing us on all six seats in the district in the Assembly polls. Now, it is our duty that we take necessary steps for reviving the mill,” he wrote.

Farmers hold protest demanding hike in sugarcane price

Lucknow, December 11, ANI: Demanding a raise in the minimum support price of sugarcane and the payment of dues, farmers took out a protest march in Lucknow and also burnt stubble to register their dissatisfaction over the existing prices.

The protest march was, however, stopped on the way to state assembly after administration held a talk with organisers and agreed to look into their demands. “Their protest was regarding an increase in the prices and two other demands for which they were marching towards the Vidhan Sabha. We held talks with them following which they relented and agreed to stop the march mid-way,” Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Vaibhav Mishra told reporters here.

The farmers also burnt stubble to register their protest and also raised slogans of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ and ‘Bharatiya Kisan Union Zindabad’ during the march.

The Bharatiya Kisan Union has also announced to carry out protests in different parts of the state to press for their demands.

Nicaragua: Sugar export revenues fall due to lower prices

Nicaragua’s sugar exports have been impacted by lower prices in the international markets, according to the news website of Nicaragua’s La Prensa newspaper.

The country’s sugar export revenues fell from 14% in the first eleven months of the year, compared to the same period of 2018, to US$162.94 million.

Sugar export volumes increased by 28,639 metric tonnes, to 511,105 tonnes.

The sugarcane crushing season in Nicaragua started in November. The country’s sugarcane industry association CNPA expects mills in the country to crush 17.5 million quintals of sugarcane in the current season, which ends in May, according to a newsletter on the association’s website.

Won’t support Citizenship Amendment Bill till we get clarity: Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai (Maharashtra), Dec 10 (ANI): A day after the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said that the Shiv Sena will not support the proposed legislation unless the party’s queries in the Rajya Sabha were addressed.

“We will not give support to the Bill unless things are clear. If any citizen is afraid of this Bill than one must clear their doubts. They are our citizens so one must answer their questions too,” Thackeray, who is also the Shiv Sena chief, told reporters here. Attacking its former ally BJP over their stance on the Bill, the Chief Minister said, “Terming anyone who disagrees as a traitor is their illusion. We have suggested changes in the Citizenship Amendment Bill we want in the Rajya Sabha. It is an illusion that only BJP cares for the country.”

Interestingly, Thackeray’s statement came hours after Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said that the support for the Bill will continue in the Rajya Sabha as well because of ‘national interest’.

“We will support the Bill. Do we have different roles? Shiv Sena always takes the stand which is good for the national interest. This is not anyone’s monopoly,” he told ANI after the party backed the Bill in the Lok Sabha yesterday.

Meanwhile, according to sources, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 will be tabled in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The Bill, which seeks to give citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Zorastrian communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh was passed in Lok Sabha on Monday.

After heated discussions spanning seven hours, the Bill was passed with a majority of 311 votes against 80 in the Lower House where 391 members were present and voted.
In Rajya Sabha, the Centre requires the support of at least 123 MPs in the 245-member Upper House.

Priyanka Gandhi slams UP government over sugarcane price

Lucknow: Raising the issue of State Advisory Price (SAP), Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra stated that the UP government’s policies are anti-farmer. She has tweeted on her official twitter handle that cane growers have not received thousands of crores and BJP government is totally against the sugarcane farmers.

In a circular issued by the cane development department, the state government announced SAP (State Advisory Price) of sugarcane at Rs 315 per quintal (for normal variety of sugarcane). Likewise, SAP for low and high grades cane price are at Rs 305 and Rs 325 per quintal, respectively. There has been no increase in cane price for the second consecutive year.

Sugarcane growers in Uttar Pradesh claim that the cost of sugarcane production is increased; therefore, there is a need to hike cane price. They had demanded to fix the sugarcane price at Rs 400 per quintal.

After the government announced sugarcane price for this season, sugarcane farmers have intensified their protest for higher cane price.