ERSTWHILE Himachal Pradesh chiefminister Shanta Kumar's refusal togive formal commitment to the WorldBank on withdrawing the state'sapple subsidy has cost the state Rs150 crore in World Bank aid on integrated horticulture development.
Though Kumar withdrew the subsidy in spite of opposition from thestate's apple growers, he felt givingin to the World Bank would makehim vulnerable to Congress chargesthat he had bowed to World Bankpressure. The recent dismissal of hisBJP government has thrown the ballin the Congress court.
Kumar reportedly was willing tolock horns with the World Bankbecause he had hopes of reachingagreements with France and Italy onfinancing apple marketing and processing in Himachal. The French hadput in their proposalalmost three years agoShanta Kand had even conducted a survey. Frenchreluctancembassy sources claim,"We are still waiting forstate Rs 1feedback from the stategovernment. "
Shanta Kumar'shesitation in puttinganything on paper possibly stemmed fromfears of a political back-for lash. The apple lobbycrucial votebank. In fact, Shimlaand Kulu witnessedwidespread unrestwhen the subsidy was withdrawn,with the opposition Congress protesting the World Bank's terms and conditions.
The support price for apples hasbeen drawing attention mainlybecause of the huge sums involved '.The support system first came intoeffect in 1975-76 when, due to a glutin the market, prices crashed.Widespread hailstorms resulted inthe piling-up of huge, low-grade,culled apple,stocks, which worsenedthe situation. Culled apples are damaged apples that are not market-worthy, but are used, among other things,for producing juice. Under the subsidy, the apples were bought at 80paise per kg, with Himachal PradeshProduce Marketing and ProcessingCorp (HPMC) acting as the nodalagency for apple procurement.
Since then, the support price hasbeen fixed at varying rates, as electioneering in the apple belt hasalways revolved around the fruit.Shanta Kumar's Congress predeces-sor, Virbhadra Singh, also exploitedthe issue to his advantage by raisingthe support 1price of apples to Rs 2.75a kg just days before the 1991 elections.
In fact, just before the withdrawalof the subsidy, then Central agriculture minister Devi Lal announced amarket interventionprogramme to sharethe losses incurred bycost the apple-growers withthe state government.However, this fellcrore through and led to adrastic cut in Centralsubsidy, prompting Shanta Kumaraid finally to withdraw-it. justifying thedecision, state agriculture secretary,develop- Attar Singh commented, "The appleindustry can lookafter itself."