PM calls meet on cotton ban.

NEW DELHI: Under pressure from the Congress and Sharad Pawar's NCP, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been forced to convene a meeting to sort out the contentious issue of ban on cotton exports.

Singh has convened a meeting on Monday amid pressure from Congress representatives from Gujarat, led by Ahmed Patel, and Pawar, who want exports to continue, while the commerce and textiles departments, both under Anand Sharma, are pushing for a ban, citing inadequate stocks for mills. So far, the issue was being dealt with at the level of a group of ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee but now the PM has been forced to wade into the dispute.

While the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) had banned exports on March 5, within four days it was forced to partially lift the ban to permit registered consignments till it completed the verification process. The GoM stepped in get the gates opened partially following a representation by a delegation led by Patel and accusations by Sharad Pawar that he was kept in the dark.

While pointing to the "retrograde" cotton export curbs, Pawar in his letter to Prime Minister had said that "Indian cotton farmers should not be asked to bear the burden of subsidizing the textile mills."

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com