THE removal of import duty on edible oil has been criticised severely in Kerala. According to Hassan Koya, a wholesale merchant in Thiruvananthapuram, the Central government had been reducing the import duty on edible oils over a period of time in the hope of bringing down prices. But even though the price would go down for a while, it would pick up within a short time. For example, palmolien imported from Malaysia was priced at Rs.40 a kg immediately after a duty cut, but within a few months it went up to Rs.67 or 69. It is almost as if the importers lobby is utilising the reduced tariffs to sell at a premium in the local markets, he says.
However, according to a senior Food and Civil Supplies Department official, the most important concern for the State now has to be food security. Today, the State produces less than 20 per cent of the rice it needs. In fact, Keralas public distribution system (PDS) evolved in the 1960s as a result of the extreme food scarcity that followed arbitrary restrictions on foodgrain movement imposed by other States, which provided an opportunity for private traders to make exorbitant profits. Since the late 1990s, the Central governments policies themselves have become a threat to the well-run PDS in Kerala. The Centre has cut allocation of rice to the Kerala PDS by around 80 per cent, leaving the majority of the people to the vagaries of the open market, he said.
R. KrishnakumarCOMMents
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