Patchy News about Indian Wheat Export Ban created perplexity.
Hindustan Bytes
Patchy News about Indian Wheat Export Ban created perplexity.
The heights of confusion can be seen when one media statement can create such muddled narratives which have the potential to delude the stakeholders of the most powerful organization in the world. The best example of the same is the headline "India Bans wheat export". Many newspapers in India published similar headlines, followed by the global media. This whole confusion reached the extent that it gave rise to another headline, "G7 criticizes India decision to stop wheat exports: Germany," which came out of a statement, "If everyone starts to impose export restrictions or to close markets, that will worsen the crisis, we call on India to assume its responsibility as a G20 member," German agriculture minister Cem Ozdemir said at a press conference in Stuttgart". This confusion further rose to the extent that China utilized the opportunity and supported India's decision to ban wheat exports in Global Times. China was not praising India. Instead, it used the opportunity to mock western nations, especially G5 nations and their strong relations with India. China always utilizes such opportunities to ease its frustration of not being tagged as a Superpower. I sometimes doubt that this desire of China to become a world power might take the whole nation into a big mess.
The fact is very different from this; these headlines are not entirely correct; India never banned wheat export; instead, it made necessary changes in the Wheat Export policy. India is regularly supplying to 69 countries in the world. India will continue to supply, and we understand that it's our moral responsibility during the crisis when major wheat-producing countries that produce around 30% of the total wheat quantity in the world are involved in the war. India announced that it was ready to supply wheat and fulfil global demand, but this announcement created a problem in India. Indian private players started storing the wheat to utilize the rising global prices. This supply chain issue could have also increased the price of wheat in the global market and the Indian local market. This supply chain flows hampering triggered the rise of wheat prices in India, where the Government had extra reserves with FCI (Food Corporation of India). Two reasons contributed to this price rise: supply chain blockage and the psychological factor that due to excessive supply, there can arise a possibility of shortage. The Government of India took intelligent steps to slim down both the issues and banned wheat exports by private players. This was done so that the 1.30 billion population of India could enjoy low price wheat, and on the other hand, FCI will export wheat to meet the Global demand.
India has set a target of a record 10 million tons of wheat export in 2022-23, amid rising global demand for grain due to the Ukraine crisis. The ministry has already set up a task force on wheat exports with representatives. Not only this, India has committed to supplying 50,000 tons of quality wheat grain worth Rs 125 crore to Afghanistan, which will be delivered through Pakistan's land route. The grain is getting delivered to the UN agency World Food Programme for supply to Afghanistan people. Thanks to our hard-working farmers, India has been able to supply the people in Afghanistan with good quality wheat as humanitarian assistance.
This communication was misunderstood as a complete export ban on wheat from India and created such confusion that it might take some time to be understood by everyone.
