By IANS
Kathmandu : Two weeks after India decided to ban the export of non-basmati rice, Nepal has begun to feel the sting of the curb with a UN programme for Bhutanese refugees becoming the first casualty.
On Oct 9, India’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs decided to ban exports of non-basmati rice, citing reduction of stocks.
Along with Bangladesh, the decision has now also hit Nepal, which imports about 200,000 tonnes of rice every year, with the cheaper varieties coming from India.
Media reports Saturday said that over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees, who have been living in camps in eastern Nepal under the supervision of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have become the first casualties of the ban.
The food provided to the camps by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) includes the Indian usina rice, which used to be imported from India.
WFP contractors, who had been importing the rice from Bihar and West Bengal, are now in dire straits, the Kathmandu Post daily reported.
Bohra Industries, one of the contracting firms, told the Post that they had not been allowed to buy the cheap variety of Indian rice even after opening a line of credit.
“If India does not revise the notification, we will not be able to provide adequate rice to the refugees after two weeks,” the contractor said.
There are about 108,000 Bhutanese living in seven closed camps in eastern Nepal’s Jhapa and Morang districts.
Evicted by the Bhutan government nearly two decades ago, they have been allowed by Nepal to reside in the camps but are not permitted to work or run businesses, which puts them entirely at the mercy of the UNHCR for food, clothing and shelter.
Nepali contractors buy about 1,300 tonnes of rice every month from India to feed the refugees. They say that despite opening LoCs for buying nearly 800 tonnes, they have not been able to get the rice.
While the refugees are the immediate casualties, an extended ban would eventually affect all of Nepal.
Despite being an agrarian state, rice cultivation in Nepal suffered this year due to floods. The absence of the grain from India would eventually push up prices in the local market.
Ironically, India is one major reasons why the refugees who want to go home have not been able to do that.
After negotiations between Bhutan and Nepal for the repatriation of refugees broke down, desperate refugees have tried frequently to stage marches back home. However, to reach Bhutan they have to move through Indian territory. Every time they attempt it, Indian police push them back.
This year, use of force by Indian border police on unarmed refugees resulted in the death of two and led to international condemnation.
India, Bhutan’s major trade partner and foreign affairs advisor, has been supporting the Druk government’s decision not to allow the refugees – who are of Nepali origin – to return home.
India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee angered refugee leaders when he said the return of the refugees could create an ethnic imbalance in Bhutan.