PMO to set up body for reforms implementation
New Delhi - The Centre may soon appoint an implementing agency under the Prime Ministers Office to ensure that the lagging economic reforms gather steam.
The agency will report to the Prime Minister directly and will take up for resolution some of the critical issues that have been stuck, including labour reforms, disinvestments, decentralisation of foodgrains procurement and dismantling the administered price mechanism in oil.
The final decision on the formation of such a body will be announced after the meeting of the Economic Advisory Council of the Prime Minister and that of the Council for Trade and Industry later this week.
The idea of forming such a body is part of a series of measures being planned by the government to demonstrate its keenness to fight the economic slowdown.
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Exporters propose to challenge Ricetec with improved basmati
New Delhi - In the face of the emergence of US technology firm Rice Tec as a global competitor to Indian basmati rice, Indian exporters of basmati say they will use their resources to produce better quality basmati rice.

In view of this the All India Rice Exporters Association, jointly with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, has decided to set up a Basmati Development Authority to make available and promote use of best basmati varieties by farmers. "
Gurnam Arora, former president of AIREA and MD of Satnam Overseas, one of the major exporters of basmati rice, said
that traders and exporters who do not like backward linkages with farmers and prefer to go to the market and pick up the stock according to their needs, have supported a move to go in for seed development in alliance with Apeda. This alliance will enable the exporters to have a small role to play in the pre-and post-harvest development and marketing of high quality basmati, Arora said.
This body has been actively funding efforts to protect misuse of basmati as a trademark overseas and also against Rice Tec that had tried to get a patent on basmati on 20 counts but was ultimately given only on three.
India is the only country in the region to have around a dozen traditional varieties of basmati, which while having a low yield are highly priced for their unmatched quality, claim traders.
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