The Government of India has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Prof. Ramesh Chand, former Member of NITI Aayog, to examine issues raised by sugarcane farmers and recommend appropriate measures for addressing their concerns.

The constitution of the Committee follows the decisions taken during a meeting of representatives of sugarcane farmers from Karnataka and Maharashtra with the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

The Committee will examine the demand for an increase in remunerative returns to sugarcane farmers, taking into account cultivation costs and other relevant factors. It will also examine the demand for revision of the ex-mill Minimum Selling Price (MSP) of sugar in the context of sugar production costs, market realisations, and the financial viability of sugar mills.

Other key areas of examination will include existing mechanisms for testing and reporting sugar recovery, measures to ensure transparent verification of recovery, and prevailing sugarcane weighment practices at sugar mills, including the adequacy of calibration, inspection and verification mechanisms.