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Bid to defame India?
By Gargi Parsai
NEW DELHI, JAN. 21. Is Pakistan raising a bogey against the Afghan-bound Indian wheat for commercial reasons? Having produced a surplus, as India, Pakistan is seeking a market for about 13 lakh tonnes of excess wheat. Sources alleged that by defaming Indian wheat, Pakistan hoped to influence India's global export market. India has in the last year exported 45.34 lakh tonnes of wheat to South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, the Middle East, Sudan and Ethiopia among other countries.
Speaking to The Hindu, the Food Secretary, R.D. Kapur, said no wheat had passed through Pakistan for Afghanistan under the World Food Programme as yet. India is to provide 10 lakh tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan over five years. ``There is hardly any incidence of karnal bunt in the country, although the disease is found in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Iran, Mexico, Syria and even some parts of the United States. Karnal bunt has minimal effect on quality and yield of wheat,'' he said.
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