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The government has apparently put the Board on notice by not releasing any fresh funds. No meetings have taken place for the last 5-6 months and the skeleton staff (non-ministerial) has not been paid salary for the last few months.
Talking to delWine, Jagdish Holkar, Chairman of the troubled IGPB says he met Ms. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing along with Rajeev Samant, CEO founder of Sula Vineyards, the leading wine producer, last month to try to move out of the impasse. ‘Though she is very positive and supportive but the Ministry of Finance has raised several objections that may spell curtains for the 6-year old body formed with much fanfare to promote the cause of wine, grapes and raisins,’ he says.
There are two Boards formed under the Ministry of Food Processing Industry- Meat and Poultry Board has already got the axe, says Holkar. IGPB faces the same fate unless some help comes from the ministry. ‘The genesis of the problem lies in the basic document of formation of the Board which presumed that this was a government-industry collaboration wherein 15% of the funds were to be contributed by the private sector. Last year we had got the ministry to sanction the funds of Rs. 300 million for the next 3 years with the government to give Rs. 255 million and the industry to contribute Rs. 45 million. Till date no funds have been contributed by the industry, barring the membership contribution,’ rues Holkar. Talks are going on with the industry but unless the industry agrees, it is unlikely that the government will move forward to hold their hands.
Interestingly, the raisin manufacturers have come forward to support the Board and are willing to chip in with funds. Arguably, the eating grape producers should also be asked to contribute if they are to get some benefits from the Board. India became a member of OIV in 2011 and OIV has grape production also under its wings and offers scientific help in their problems.
Meanwhile, no Board meetings have been held for around 6 months and though there are still about Rs. 10-15 million lying in the Board account, no work is carrying on. ‘Our requests to send scientists to OIV technical committee meetings have been even turned down for funds for their travel and stay,’ he adds. India continues to be a member of OIV through the Board and the Ministry of Food Processing Industry as the membership is for the governments only. One hopes the annual membership charges of around € 14,000 are continued to be paid by the government to avoid international embarrassment.
Wine Laws and Standards
In the meanwhile, IGPB has been working towards advising the FSSAI, the government body entrusted to ensure the wine laws are formed and implemented statutorily - unlike the BIS specs which are not mandatory. As of today, there is no legal definition of wine. ‘We have given our recommendations and our objections to some of the points brought out so far. No matter what the consequence for IGPB existence is, the laws will have to be enforced by FSSAI which has already formed the expert committee consisting of scientific experts.
This committee has to recommend to the labeling committee. After it notifies the standards, the public will be invited to register objections before they are made the law. Holkar is optimistic that the laws will be formulated within 6 months, a visibly impossible task considering the pace at which things move within the government. With the present government itching to show results it is possible that the whole process may be put on a fast track. At any rate, we shall report the progress in June 2015.
Interesting, in April 2013 Business Line had reported after a chat with Jagdish Holkar that, ‘By the next fiscal, importers will find it difficult to dump poor quality wine in Indian market, as the Union Ministry of Food Processing is planning to create standards for wine industry based on global best practices. The standards will help the Indian wine industry create ‘Indian brands’ and reach new markets in Europe, Asia and North America. Standards will codify grape varieties, alcohol content, fermentation processes, hygiene standards and viticulture practices for the wineries.’ The next fiscal started in April 2014 and now we are already talking of June 2015. As of now there is no legal definition of wine.
As explained in the article, the wine standards would be notified by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, while the actual groundwork would be done by Ministry of Food Processing, Indian Grape Processing Board and National Research Centre for Grapes.
One awaits with interest the two important happenings in 2015- the survival of IGPB and the implementation of wine laws both of which are important to ensure progress of the fledgling industry.
Subhash Arora |