India supplies 65,000 MT of urea to economically deprived countries

As India faces the worst economic crisis in its post-independence history, it has guaranteed that Sri Lanka will immediately supply 65,000 metric tons of urea to avoid the turmoil in the country’s paddy cultivation.

Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner Milinda Moragoda met with New Delhi’s Fertilizer Director on Thursday to discuss the supply of urea needed for Sri Lanka’s current Yarra cultivation season. Saturday.

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In a message from the High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi, Moragoda thanked Chatulvedi for India’s decision to supply the 65,000 tonnes of urea needed for Sri Lanka’s current Yarra cultivation season.

In a statement, the Sri Lankan High Commission decided to immediately supply this amount of urea to Sri Lanka at the request of the Government of Sri Lanka, despite the ban on the export of urea from India. ..

High Commissioner Moragoda, in consultation with the High Commissioner of India in Colombogo Parva Gray, was personally involved in the approval and logistics arrangements needed to supply Sri Lanka with 65,000 metric tons of urea. Thanks to Secretary Veddy.

In contrast, Chaturvedi said that in line with India’s “neighborhood priority” policy, his department is always ready to support Sri Lanka and the required amount of urea is state-owned from the nearest port to Sri Lanka. He said he was preparing to ship through the company. Come under his authority.

The High Commissioner and Secretary also discussed methods and means of ensuring a continuous supply of fertilizers from India to Sri Lanka on existing credit lines and beyond.

India has promised more than US $ 3 billion in loans, credit lines and credit swaps to debt-bearing Sri Lanka since January this year.

Yarra is the season for paddy cultivation in Sri Lanka and lasts from May to August.

Sri Lanka aims to boost the agricultural sector in order to avoid the turmoil in the agricultural market following the decline in paddy cultivation in the Maha session.

Last year, the Sri Lankan government banned fertilizers as part of a phased transition to organic farming. A lack of adequate supply of organic fertilizers has affected agricultural production, especially rice and tea, and the government has recently lifted a ban on several major crops.

Sri Lanka’s annual fertilizer import value is US $ 400 million. Farmers across Sri Lanka are intensifying their protests as they run out of fertilizer and have to abandon their farmland.

According to the online news portal, the ban on fertilizers combined with bad weather has reduced yields, inflation reached a high of 8.3% for 47 months in October, and food inflation reached 11.7%. ..

There are more than 2 million farmers in Sri Lanka, and up to 70% of the 22 million people depend directly or indirectly on agriculture.

The economic crisis in Sri Lanka is partly due to a shortage of foreign currency, which means that the country cannot afford to pay for staple food and fuel imports, leading to serious shortages and very high prices.

The crisis has triggered widespread protests calling for political reform and the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

On April 1, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa imposed a state of emergency and lifted the state of emergency five days later. The government re-imposed a state of emergency on May 6, after police fired Tiagas and arrested a student protesting near Congress, which was postponed until May 17.

The protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, but police shot deadly the protesters on April 19, using Tiagas and water cannons against them several times. Authorities have made numerous arrests and repeatedly imposed a curfew.

The political crisis was triggered in late March, people were hurt by long blackouts, and there was an essential shortage of demanding government resignation on the streets.

President Rajapaksa dismissed the cabinet and appointed a young cabinet in response to a request to resign. Continued protests against his secretariat have now continued for over a month.

On Monday, his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as prime minister, paving the way for the president to appoint a provisional all-party government. Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the new prime minister of the country on Thursday.

India looks forward to working with the new Sri Lankan government, which has been formed according to a democratic process, and states that New Delhi’s commitment to the people of the island nation will continue.