Dhaka, Nov. 30 - New Delhi will allow cyclone-battered Bangladesh to import half a million metric tons of rice from India, a visiting Indian minister said Saturday, easing an export ban on the food staple.
The announcement by Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee came after neighboring Bangladesh appealed for international help earlier in the week to prevent a food crisis in the impoverished nation following the Nov. 15 storm.
Mukherjee, on a one-day whistlestop tour of cyclone-hit areas, said the "magnitude of the natural calamity" prompted India to remove the ban on rice exports to Bangladesh.
"India has decided to waive the ban on export of rice to Bangladesh for an additional 500,000 tonnes of rice," Mukherjee said.
India, the world's third-largest rice exporter, clamped a ban on rice exports two months ago in a bid to reduce soaring domestic prices of the food staple that were causing anger among consumers.
Bangladesh on Wednesday asked for half a million tons of food aid from the international community as fears mounted over possible shortfalls to feed thousands of people after the cyclone wiped out thousands of villages, damaged crops worth hundreds of millions of dollars and killed over 3,200 people.
India was also willing to help rebuild 10 devastated villages, Mukherjee said.
New Delhi had earlier promised 50,000 tons of food aid to Bangladesh and announced a waiver of ban on export of rice to Bangladesh for 50,000 tons.
India backed Bangladesh in its 1971 war to win independence from Pakistan.
But ties have seesawed since then over claims by India that it is being swamped by illegal Bangladeshi migrants, and charges by both sides of sheltering fugitives.