Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has written to Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, urging a high-level meeting to address issues concerning Basmati rice and organic cotton production in Madhya Pradesh. Singh emphasized the need for Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and officials from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority to participate in the discussion to tackle challenges faced by farmers and exporters.
Singh highlighted the prolonged demand of Basmati growers in Madhya Pradesh for a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for their crops, stressing that the lack of this recognition has disadvantaged local farmers in both domestic and international markets. He pointed out that without the GI tag, traders from other states have been exporting Madhya Pradesh’s Basmati rice under their own state names, leading to financial losses for the state’s farmers.
The veteran leader also raised concerns about alleged irregularities in the organic cotton sector, alleging that non-organic cotton is being falsely certified and exported as organic through collusion among certain traders, certification agencies, and officials. Singh expressed disappointment over the lack of concrete action taken despite his previous efforts to address these issues through communication with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and relevant Union Ministers.
Singh proposed that the meeting he suggested should focus on discussions regarding granting a GI tag to Madhya Pradesh’s Basmati rice and enhancing monitoring and certification processes in the organic cotton industry to ensure transparency and accountability. He urged the Central government to promptly convene this meeting to find effective solutions, emphasizing the importance of justice for farmers and the need to maintain transparency in the export system.
