Tag Archives: Sugar

Cane price arrears came down to Rs 2,700 cr from Rs. 21,000 cr

15 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by in Current Affairs, Economics, Farmers, INDIA, NATIONAL NEWS

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       The measures taken by the Government to improve liquidity of the sugar mills enabling them to clear cane price dues of farmers, have a salutary effect on reduction of cane price arrears for 2014-15 sugar season which has come down from Rs. 21,000 cr to about Rs 2,700 cr as on 12.01.2016, even below the arrears in the corresponding period in last sugar season.

Sustained surpluses of production over domestic consumption in the last five years has led to subdued sugar prices, leading to build up of cane price arrears. During sugar season 2014-15, the peak cane price arrears were Rs. 21,000 cr. as on 15/4/2015

To mitigate the situation and protect livelihoods of cane farmers, the Central Government has, in the last one year, taken several measures to improve liquidity position of sugar mills enabling them to clear cane price dues of farmers i.e. provided incentive on raw sugar export, extended financial assistance in the form of soft loan, fixed remunerative price for and waived off excise duty on ethanol supplied under Ethanol Blending Program (EBP) and more recently a production subsidy to sugar mills to offset cost of cane and facilitate timely payment of cane price dues.

It is also noteworthy that the sugar industry is now active in the Ethanol Blending Program, by supplying 6.82 cr ltrs of ethanol to Oil Marketing Companies during the current sugar season (since October, 2015) as against mere 1.92 cr ltrs supplied during the corresponding period in the last season. Furthermore, the contracted quantity under EBP is at an unprecedented 120 cr ltrs in the current season which a historic high.

66.11 Per Cent Children Possess Abnormal Levels Of Sugar In India

14 Saturday Nov 2015

Posted by in Health

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66.11 Per Cent Children Possess Abnormal Levels Of Sugar In India: Survey

A whopping 66.11 per cent of children possess “abnormal levels of sugar” in their body, found a pan-India survey.

Of the 17,000 children screened over a period of three years, a total of 51.76 per cent male children were found having abnormal HbAlc (an indicator of diabetic control) levels, with the highest prevalence among children in the western zone.

“Western Zone had highest percentage of abnormality with 68.48 per cent while eastern and northern zone had 61.48 per cent and 64.71 per cent, respectively. Among the four zones, southern India showed the lowest percentage of abnormality with 54.95 per cent,” said Leena Chatterjee, Director, Fortis SRL Labs and SRL Strategic Initiatives, which carried out the survey.

The findings of the survey, conducted between 2012-2014, were released today on the occasion World Diabetes Day.

The survey checked the response to diabetes therapy and diagnosis of pre-diabetes and diabetes in the children through HbA1c tests, said Chatterjee.

“Rapid urbanisation, change in eating habits and shifting more focus to indoor activities have resulted in dramatic lifestyle changes leading to chronic condition associated with abnormally high levels of sugar in children,” said Chatterjee.

Chatterjee asked people not to become alarmed with a diagnosis of pre-diabetes citing it is a warning sign and a chance to make changes for the better.

“We understand that it’s pretty difficult to cut out sugar completely, but one can start by skipping it in milk, choosing non-sugary breakfasts, avoiding juice beverages, and limiting bread, pasta and rice.

“It is essential that children and adolescents get themselves tested if they are overweight with body weight exceeding 120 per cent of the ideal weight or they have positive family history among first and second degree relatives and if they have signs of insulin resistance,” Chatterjee said.

According to World Health Organisation, 80 per cent of all new cases of diabetes are predicted to occur in the developing countries by 2025. In 2012, an estimated 1.5 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes and more than 80 per cent of diabetes deaths occur in low and middle income countries.