Lure of catch leads TN fishermen to cross line

Mahalingam Ponnusamy, Jan 27, 2011, 03.32am IST

Article

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Lure-of-catch-leads-TN-fishermen-to-cross-
line/articleshow/7368424.cmsComments
Tags:Tamil Nadu Fishermen Crossing|International Maritime Boundary Line|India Prasad Kariyawasam|GPS
CHENNAI: A combination of factors is behind the failure of authorities from preventing hundreds of Tamil
Nadu fishermen crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) for better catch even as killings
continue on the high seas. 

First is the lack of GPS (Global Positioning System) in mechanized boats and a chain of AIS (automatic
identification system) stations along the TN coast as promised in the wake of the November
2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Then there is the enormous task of monitoring every single boat and trawler, and,
finally the abundant catch available across the IMBL. 

"Right now the new systems are costly but our fisherman also don't have the knowledge to operate GPS,"
ADGP, Tamil Nadu Costal Security Group, PC Lallawm Sahanga, told The Times of India. 

The state has over 10,000 mechanised fishing boats, more than one lakh country boats and more than a lakh of
fibre-reinforced plastic boats. 

According to official data, more than 400 TN fishermen have been killed after 1983, including as many as 118
between 1991 and 2010. But many fishermen say there is no other option "The indiscriminate use of 300-metre
double nets, now banned, has completely depleted fish resources in our waters. There is nothing within our
borders. There is no other alternative for us than crossing the border," Tamil Nadu Fishermen Federation
general secretary S Anbazhaganar told TOI. He alleged that the government was not treating the fishing
community despite it fetching the country over Rs 10,000 crore a year in exports. 

The abundance of brown prawns in seas beyond the IMBL is another reason. "There is nothing to hide. We take
huge risks and cross the border only for prawn. One kilo of prawn costs Rs 500 in the market. Most ship owners
in the state who export the prawn send us out only for prawns," Confederation of Fishermen Associations of
Tamil Nadu and Puducherry general secretary NJ Bose said. 

"The main issue is lack of leadership. The state is not taking the issue seriously," Commodore RS Vasan (retd),
head of Strategy and Security Studies, a think-tank, told Times of India. Government agencies do not appear to
be keen on solving the issue, he alleged. 

The Sri Lankan high commission has denied reports about the involvement of its navy in the recent attacks on
TN fishermen. "The Sri Lankan Navy is not involved and we are equally concerned. The Sri Lankan Navy will
not fire at Indian fishermen even if they cross into our waters," Sri Lankan high commissioner to India Prasad
Kariyawasam had said on Tuesday. 

Read more: Lure of catch leads TN fishermen to cross line - The Times of

India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Lure-of-catch-leads-TN-
fishermen-to-cross-line/articleshow/7368424.cms#ixzz1DHuaoGLjv
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Sep 21, 2007
ePaper

http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2007/09/21/stories/2007092150621300.htm

Decision on milk powder export ban likely on Sept 24

Ministry seeks views of cooperatives, private dairies

Ban code

The ban, in place since February 9, is currently effective till September 30.

It covers all milk powders, including skimmed, whole and infant/baby powder.

Hectic lobbying  on both from those for and against the ban.

Harish Damodaran

New Delhi, Sept. 20 In what could be the precursor to the lifting of the ban on export of skimmed milk
powder (SMP), the Union Agriculture Ministry is convening a meeting of dairy industry representatives
on September 24 to review the present milk situation and the likely scenario in the coming months.

Seeking views

The meeting, to be chaired by the Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries,
Ms Charusheela Sohoni, will take a final view on lifting or continuing the ban on SMP exports. The ban,
in place since February 9, is currently effective till September 30 and covers all milk powders,
including skimmed, whole and infant/baby powder.

“The Ministry has sought the views of both cooperatives as well as private dairies on the matter.
Those attending the meeting include representatives from the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing
Federation (GCMMF) and various other State federations, the National Dairy Development Board
(NDDB) and Mother Dairy India Ltd, Nestle India, VRS Foods, Hatsun Agro Product, Sterling Agro
Industries, Dynamix Dairy Industries, Bhole Baba Dairy Industries and Metro Dairy,” sources
told Business Line.

Industry divide

According to them, there is a sharp divide within the industry between those favouring a lifting and
those seeking extension of the current export ban on milk powder. Those wanting the ban to go
include GCMMF and the State federations of Rajasthan, Punjab, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, besides
private dairies such as Sterling, Hatsun, VRS Foods and Bhole Baba, who have been major exporters
in the past. Those pushing for a continuation of the ban include NDDB and its subsidiary, Mother
Dairy, and also the Kolkata-based Metro Dairy and Nestle India.

“The ones seeking an extension of the ban are mainly large domestic SMP consumers, who would have
to pay more in case exports are re-opened. This is especially so for Mother Dairy and Metro Dairy, who
have limited independent milk procurement networks and rely heavily on purchase of powder,” the
sources added.
Price factors

According to them, there is hectic lobbying from both sides, with those wanting the export ban to go
warning of a sugar-like situation getting replicated in milk. Since July, domestic SMP prices have fallen
from Rs 145 per kg to around Rs 115, forcing dairies to bring down milk prices by Rs 3-4 a litre.

This is even as cost of concentrated cattle feed has gone up from about Rs six to Rs 7.50 a kg, while
that of groundnut cake has risen from Rs 17 to 20 a kg. Dairy farmers have, thus, been squeezed by
rising feed costs, on the one hand, and falling milk prices, on the other.

CII paper

The proponents of the export ban have, in turn, argued their case through a recent ‘paper’ circulated
by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The ‘paper’ had sought an extension of the ban till
March 31, 2008, claiming that SMP exports would push up liquid milk prices, “making it out of reach
for the economically-weaker sections of the society”.

SMP of New Zealand origin is currently quoting at about $4,500 a tonne. In the event of exports being
allowed, Indian SMP would fetch in the region of $4,000 a tonne, which translates into a net
realisation of Rs 150 a kg or so.

Related Stories:
‘Remove ban on milk powder exports’
Ban on milk powder exports set to go
Review of ban on milk powder exports after Sept

Monday, February 07, 09:15 pm IST

UAE lifts ban on import of eggs from India

Published on Sat, Jan 20, 2007 at 11:45   |  Updated at Sat, Jan 20, 2007 at 12:10  |  Source : Moneycontrol.com
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/uae-lifts-banimporteggsindia_262783.html

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For the beleaguered poultry industry, which is facing a severe crisis due to increase in the price of maize
– the most crucial ingredient of poultry feed - there is some good news. The Government of UAE, which
had banned import of eggs from India in February, 2006, following reports of bird flu, has lifted the ban
yesterday.
Lifting of the ban has come about as a result of intensive efforts by National Egg Co-ordination Committee
(NECC). Recently, two delegations of NECC visited Dubai and Abu Dhabi and met Senior Ministers and
Bureaucrats of the UAE Government, explaining the bird flu-free status of India and the need for lifting the
ban, not only for the benefit of the Indian Poultry Farmers but also in the interest of the consumers in UAE
who had to pay a much higher price for eggs from Europe in the absence of imports from India about Rs.
6.00 - Rs. 7.00 per egg .
 The decision to lift the ban was announced within a few days of the visit by NECC delegation. In one of
the delegations Mrs. Rani, Honorable Member of Parliament from Rasipuram, Tamil Nadu also
accompanied the members of NECC.
Dubai is the largest importer of eggs from India. Prior to the ban, about 70 – 75 lac eggs were being
exported every day to Dubai, mostly from Tamil Nadu. Other Gulf countries like Kuwait and Bahrain had
not imposed a ban. Saudi Arabia, which had banned the imports from India, has also lifted the ban a
week ago. With this, the entire Middle East and Gulf region is now open for export of eggs from India.
The news of lifting the ban brought considerable cheer to the poultry farmers, who were apprehending a
crash in egg price, when summer sets in, in a few weeks. With the alternative outlet in the form of exports
now being available, farmers can look forward for stability in price and even better price.
 
0 JUN, 2008, 02.38AM IST, PRABHA JAGANNATHAN,ET BUREAU 

Lessons from Ponni fiasco

 Story
 Comments

NEW DELHI : The fate of the famous Ponni variety of rice, nurtured in the fertile banks of Cauvery river
across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, now registered under the Malaysian Trademark Act by Malaysian
commodities retail giant Syarikat Faiza, has once again exposed India’s weakness in guarding the IPR of
its traditional agricultural produce.  

Ponni has not been registered for GI in India. Ironically, the trademark grant would allow Faiza to package
any variety that even remotely resembles Ponni, use the brand name and sell it to consumers in the
absence of the real Ponni variety in the market in the last few weeks. In the long run, this could damage
the Ponni rice brand among its expat consumers and leave the field open for different rice varieties to
compete for the brand name. 

India’s weakness on this front was exposed first after a patent (and not trademark or GI as in the case of
Ponni rice) was awarded in 1997 to the US-based Ricetec for the world’s best known premium aromatic
rice, basmati. A loophole in the US patent law allowed patent to a product whose novelty was established,
even if it were a discovered, and not invented, product.  

It took three-and-a-half years, up to June 2000, for the Indian government to get its act together and fight
to reverse the patent. But there could be a twist in the story this time: the requirement under the WTO that
countries should dismantle canalising of rice by 2010.  

Kuala Lumpur’s decision to grant the Ponni trademark could have been dictated by the fact that its state-
owned canalising agency has to go out of business soon. It makes sense, then, to grant the trademark to
Faiza and route Ponni imports into the country, the biggest Ponni consumer in the world, through it.  

The trademark controversy has added immensely to the burden of south Indian rice exporters. They have
appealed to the commerce ministry and the Tamil Nadu government to contest the patent — given the
existing ban on all non-basmati rice exports. “Ponni rice was selling globally at $1000/tonne before the
ban. But there is every likelihood that the price will plunge to $700/tonne by the time the export ban is
lifted. 

All the more so if other similar varieties of rice are passed off as Ponni by anyone who holds the
trademark in southeast Asia and the rest of the Ponni consuming expat world. Worse, it could seriously
work to the detriment of the Ponni brand of rice from the Cauvery delta,” points out a Chennai-based rice
exporter. 

The best way to contest the trademark issue, according the S I Rice Exporters Association, is to work at
establishing the historical roots of the Ponni variety. “This has to be fought under Intellectual Property
Rights laws. 

Our contention is that Ponni is a generic term for all rice grown in the region and therefore, it is not a
trademark issue but a GI issue. The name Ponni for this variety of rice, meaning gold, is itself derived
from the Cauvery delta and refers solely to the richly fertile soil of the region and its rains and the entirety
of its climate that is invested in each grain of the Ponni rice. It is this the USP for Ponni among south
Indian expats the world over. 

Exports of Ponni rice fetch around Rs 400-500 crore annually. Out of the total output of about 2 million
tonnes, some 50,000 tonnes are exported each year. According to estimates, around 35,000 tonnes of
export orders have been lost this year. Annual growth in the last five years for Ponni rice exports has
been pegged 14%. Exports are primarily to Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the US,
Canada, Japan, UK, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, besides Malaysia.  

The commerce ministry has yet to chart a blueprint for the battle ahead. It may take some time to
accumulate the necessary documentary evidence to contest the trademark issue by establishing the
specific south Indian origins of the premium non-basmati rice and getting its GI registered here.  

For the present, the onus rests heavily on the south Indian rice exporters to put all the essential evidence
together. Use of a GI (name, sign) may act as a certification that the product possesses certain specific
qualities, or enjoys a certain reputation, due to its geographical origin.  

Last week, the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU) announced its decision to contest the trademark
issuance in Malaysia. It was TNAU that, in the 80s, released the hybrid white Ponni (grown in AP and TN)
for use by farmers in the Cauvery delta and, in the 60s, the Sona Masoori Ponni. On the face of it,
therefore, it would be natural to expect TNAU to be best armed on the subject.  

But India may not find it that easy to defend its claims and ask for a reversal of the trademark this time
round. Traditional or indigenous Ponni rice varieties from the Cauvery delta have undergone much
transformation and its popular versions are much hybridised by now. GI or trademark registration for the
indigenous varieties, though, is not the core of the current contest. According to patent experts, there are
in-built problems. 

Key among the TNAU and the Indian government’s problems would be the parentage of the most
commonly used hybrid varieties of Ponni, which reflects Japanese, even Taiwanese, origins. Faiza for
instance, imports Sona Masoori Ponni, released in the 60s by TNAU in the Cauvery delta, has the
Taichung65 and Myang Ebos 6080/2 varieties for its parents.  

The entire argument for a reversal of the trademark would, therefore, have to be pegged heavily but
cogently on the GI logic. “The traditional Ponni variety has been celebrated as far back as during the time
of the Chola dynasty from the 9th to the 12 Century, even if not conclusively to the Pallava period. The
argument would not be pegged on the parentage alone but primarily on the name Ponni and its origins in
the Cauvery delta,” emphasises a sector analyst.  
Failing to get the trademark reversed would be disastrous for Ponni exports. The central government
should recognise this as a golden opportunity to codify and register the GI for our traditional produce
before the world does so and gets away with it.

Ennore iron ore terminal awaits end of export ban in

Karnataka
The new terminal was slated to start operations in August; port gave developer time until November

Posted: Fri, Nov 26 2010. 1:00 AM IST Published on page 7

http://www.livemint.com/2010/11/25210140/Ennore-iron-ore-terminal-await.html?atype=tp

P. Manoj, p.manoj@livemint.com 

India’s biggest iron ore loading terminal at the Union government-owned Ennore port in Tamil Nadu is ready for operations, but the
drying up of supply from Karnataka has stalled the unit.

Sical Logistics Ltd has a 74% stake in the venture while the rest is held by MMTC Ltd, both of which have floated Sical Iron Ore
Terminals Ltd to develop and operate the Rs.500 crore, 12 million tonnes (mt) annual capacity terminal for 30 years.

“The terminal is ready to load cargo, but unless the ban on export of iron ore is lifted by Karnataka and cargo movement is there,
we are not in a position to start operations,” said a top executive at Sical Logistics, who did not want to be named because of
regulatory reasons as the company is in the process of being acquired by the Café Coffee Day group, promoted by V.G. Siddhartha.

“The terminal is being built only for loading iron ore and it is completely dependent on the commodity originating from the Bellary-
Hospet belt for its survival,” the executive said. “There is nothing definite that is happening as far as Karnataka is concerned.
Unless cargo comes in from there, we can’t do anything about it.”

From 26 July, Karnataka has banned the export of iron ore in a bid to curb illegal mining in the mineral-rich  Bellary-Hospet belt.
Karnataka is the second largest producer of iron ore in the country at 46 mt, of which it exported around 20 mt in the year to
March. India’s overall iron ore production was 226 mt in 2009-10, of which 117 mt was exported.

The new terminal was slated to start operations in August, but Ennore port gave the developer time until November, hoping that
the ban would be lifted by then. But the Karnataka high court recently upheld the ban.

“It is very unclear when the ban will be lifted. The situation is out of our hands. We don’t know how Ennore port is going to view the
delay in opening the terminal, whether there will be any penalty,” the executive said.

Spokespersons at Sical, MMTC and Ennore port declined to comment.

The terminal has state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities, including elaborate rail siding and a large stockpile capacity. Initially,
the terminal will handle dry bulk ships that can load up to 150,000 mt of iron ore; after increasing the water depth, the terminal will
be able to handle ships that can carry up to 250,000 mt of cargo.

With approximately 25% of India’s iron ore mined in Karnataka, the ban has resulted in a significant decline in Indian ore exports—
which go almost entirely to China. Iron ore exports to China were 4.75 mt in September, the lowest since November 2008.

“Indian iron ore exports have decreased steadily since the ban was put in place. Going forward, the export ban will continue to
cause China to source a large amount of its iron ore from Australia and Brazil,” Commodore Research and Consultancy, a New York-
based firm that focuses on maritime trade of dry bulk commodities, said in its latest weekly report.

Sical Logistics, meanwhile, has emerged as the highest bidder to develop and operate a Rs.300 crore new multipurpose cargo (other
than liquid and containers) berth at Gujarat’s Kandla port, also owned by the Union government.
“We are waiting for the port to give us a letter of intent for developing the project,” said the executive at Sical cited earlier.

Sical has agreed to share 38.1% of its annual revenue with Kandla port. Cargo-handling contracts at Union government-owned
ports are decided on the basis of revenue share: The bidder quoting the highest revenue share wins the contract.