The Politics Of Sugar

The spiralling price of sugar has set the alarm bells ringing in the food and public distribution ministry. With prices hitting the Rs 20 per kg mark, the fear is sugar could become an issue in the three states going to the polls—Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana. According to the sugar trade, the prices could further spiral unless the government acts and checks speculative trading on the national commodity and derivatives exchange. As a first step, food minister Sharad Pawar has hiked the money to be deposited at the exchange by those trading in sugar futures from 6.8 per cent to 8.25 per cent. An additional 4 lakh tonnes of sugar is to be released in the free sale quota during January-March to bring down prices.