Sir, I know that the nominations representing several interests such as labour, consumers, trade etc, are being made by the {Government}. Till now, the coffee growers used to elect their representatives to the board. They had the right of franchise and used to elect representatives in whom they had confidence. But this bill contemplates to deprive the planting community even of their elementary right of electing their representatives. What is the object and background of this amendment, I want to ask? The hon. Minister was pleased to say this board is on the analogy of the tea baord and all that. There are three boards now the coffee board, the rubber board and the tea board. The functions of this board are different from the functions of the other two boards. You cannot place the functions of the coffee board on an equal footing with those of the tea board or the rubber  board. The same rules as can be applied to the rubber board cannot be applied to the coffee board. Sir, with a view to earning more and more foreign exchange, our government are exporting more and more coffee. With that object in view, they have closed almost all coffee houses in India. Now, we have neither the home nor the external market for our coffee. The prices obtaining in the external market are lower than the prices obtaining in India. Sir, the coffee industry is now facing a great crisis. The prices of coffee both in the internal as well as in the external markets are going down from year to year and the cost of production is on the increase. The cost of manure and estate implements has gone up beyond limit. The increased labour wages, introduction of provident fund and bonus and several other provisions of the labour act are standing in the way of development and progress of the coffee industry. The money was put in the share market, capital market and there took place insider-trading. The other day in Rajya Sabha, big names had come who are engaged in insider-trading not only Satyam. Today there is a news item that in the IPO scam.
