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Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008
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Centre to sell imported pulses at subsidised rates

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: With lesser acreage under pulses this kharif, the Centre will soon make available imported pulses — mostly yellow peas — to States for distribution to ration card holders at subsidised rates on the lines of the sale of imported edible oil.

The proposal is to make available one million tonnes of imported pulses under the scheme to State governments at a 25 per cent subsidy. So far Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh have evinced interest in the scheme. The proposal will come up for approval at the next meeting of the Union Cabinet.

Unlike in the case of edible oils, which will be sold through the Targeted Public Distribution System alone, the pulses under this scheme are proposed to be placed at the disposal of State governments for sale through either the TPDS or cooperative stores or sale-purchase unions or the Consumer Civil Supplies Corporations.

With the inflation rate touching nearly 12 per cent last week and the lull in the monsoon having hit the sowing of pulses in major pulses-growing States, the government is concerned about the price of this essential commodity. Normally India imports 3-4 million tonnes of pulses every year to bridge the gap between demand and supply. With no breakthrough in pulses technology, there is stagnation in the domestic production of pulses.

Rising prices

India imports the yellow peas variety from Canada and 3 lakh tonnes of urad, moong and tur from Myanmar annually. There is some concern about the international price of yellow pea having risen from Rs. 18 a kg last year to Rs. 25 at present, but the government will import the commodity to augment availability and impact domestic prices, which are rising.

Meanwhile, the Group of Ministers that took stock of the availability of foodgrains in the country on Tuesday considered a proposal to allow export of 2 lakh tonnes of non-basmati rice to some African countries. There was no official word on the decision taken at the meeting chaired by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and attended, among others, by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

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