About the Cotton Ban
Strange are the ways of this government led by Manmohan Singh. India is the worlds second largest cotton producer. (US is number one). On 5th March the Commerce Ministry declared a ban on cotton exports. Did anyone bother to check with the exporters who had committed delivery’s? Was there a check done to ensure that India’s reliability in the international market does not go down? This decision had international effects. Countries like Pakistan and Australia celebrate the decision. The cotton futures in NYSE went up by 6%. Surprise of surprises – The Agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, expressed ignorance about this decision and also declared that he had not been consulted. This is spectacularly comic that a senior minister is not informed of a decision taken by another ministry and they declare this in public! A week after this decision was declared the Commerce minister issued another release and declared that the decision was revoked! This has been happening far too frequently from