Centre sets up a committee under Prof. Ramesh Chand on sugarcane farmers and the sugar sector

15 October 2026

The Government of India has constituted a committee to examine issues relating to sugarcane farmers and the sugar sector, announced in a release of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. Prof. Ramesh Chand, former Member of NITI Aayog, is the chairman. The members are the Agriculture Commissioner in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the Joint Secretary (Sugar) in the Department of Food and Public Distribution, and the Joint Secretary (Legal Metrology) in the Department of Consumer Affairs. The terms of reference include examining farmers' demand for higher remunerative returns, the demand to revise the ex-mill Minimum Selling Price of sugar, the existing mechanisms for testing and reporting sugar recovery, sugarcane weighment practices at mills including calibration and verification, and the weight deductions applied to mechanically harvested sugarcane and their effect on cane prices paid to farmers. The committee may consult farmers' representatives, sugar mill associations, State Governments and other experts, and is to submit findings and recommendations to the competent authority as early as possible.