Editorial
India's thoughtful gesture
Pakistan, US, EU and other international response has been a tower of strength
PRODUCTION in the major rice exporting countries in the world has been low this year. As a result, many such countries including India had imposed export restrictions on rice to be able to meet their own deficits.
The scarcity of rice reached such a state that even with enough cash a country has had difficulty buying it. Set against the backdrop of two successive floods and cyclone Sidr, the projected rice deficit, up to June, is 31 lakh tonnes. Until November 3, the government and private sector had imported 12 lakh tonnes, leaving a deficit of 19 lakh tonnes to be met either by import or food grants. WFP has plans to feed twenty-two lakh of the affected people for six months.
The donor community was, however, willing to pay cash to buy rice rather than provide cereals in outright grants. On a different plane, EC wanted money to be given to WFP to buy rice for us.
In such a complicated situation, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's announcement in Dhaka that India would export five lakh tonnes of rice to Bangladesh comes as a markedly significant gesture of goodwill and friendliness. In his words, it is as an exception to Bangladesh being in a distressful condition that India has lifted the ban on rice export, otherwise applicable to different countries. India had already waived rice export restrictions for Bangladesh by providing her with 70,000 tonnes as immediate post-cyclone relief. The other important point to note about the promised consignment of five lakh tonnes, it would be exported at cost price.
In the same spirit, we appreciate Pakistan's prompt despatch of medical team and relief goods, the UK's useful assistance package and the USA's elaborate arrangements to provide purified water and extensive medical help.
We are grateful to all of them.
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