Centre proposes law to control distribution, price, quality of fertilisers
New Delhi(PTI): The Centre has proposed a law that empowers it to fix the maximum selling price of fertilisers and control its quality as well as distribution.
The Department of Fertilizers has sought comments from all stakeholders on the draft Integrated Plant Nutrition Management Bill, 2022, by February 26.
It also seeks to establish an 'Integrated Plant Nutrition Management Authority of India'.
"It is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that the Union should take under its control the distribution, price and quality of standards of fertilisers," said the draft document posted on the department's website.
The proposed law is aimed at promoting the development and sustainable use of balanced fertilisers, including bio-fertilisers, bio-stimulates, nano-fertilisers and organic fertilisers.
It seeks to simplify the process for the manufacture, production, distribution and price management of fertilisers in India, which will, in turn, improve the ease of doing business.
"The Central Government may, with a view to regulating the equitable distribution of fertilisers and making fertilisers available at fair prices, by notification in the Official Gazette, fix the maximum prices or rates at which any fertiliser may be sold by a dealer, manufacturer, importer or a fertiliser marketing entity," the draft stated.
It also aims to empower the Centre to fix different prices or rates for fertilisers having different periods of storage or for different areas or for different classes of consumers.
"No dealer, manufacturer importer or fertiliser marketing entity shall sell or offer for sale any fertiliser at a price exceeding the maximum price," the draft said.
It further said that no person can manufacture, sell, import for sale, or market without obtaining the appropriate registration.
According to the document, the Central government can also prescribe the manner in which fertilisers are to be moved from one state to another.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
