Prices of pulses continue to remain high across the country.
As prices of pulses continue to remain high across the country, the government has claimed to have taken a number of proactive measures to ease the crisis.
This includes having steadily increased the minimum support price or MSP at which it buys the produce from farmers, so it can sell it at a cheaper rate to consumers.
However, government data shows how the Food Corporation of India (FCI) only procured 0.3 per cent of the total production of pulses in India in the 2015-2016 Kharif period.
Officials in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs told NDTV the small percentage is because this is the first venture of the government in procuring pulses.
However, it is not just the Centre to blame. State governments have also contributed to dal inflation by not being proactive in picking up the pulses allotted to them by the Central government, meant to be sold at subsidised rate.
Data on the FCI website indicates that only 17 per cent of pulses have been lifted by states while a massive 83 per cent continue to remain in godowns. Had this dal hit the market, it could have helped reduce the skyrocketing prices of pulses.
The states who have not lifted any dal yet are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. This despite dal prices remaining very high in all those states.
Andhra Pradesh is the only state to have picked up 60 per cent of the allotted produce.
Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan said in parliament on Wednesday that the central government was already playing its role by providing dal to state governments at subsidised rates. Ram Vilas Paswan said, "We are selling dal at Rs 82/Kg for Urad and Rs 66/Kg for Tur, the Central government has played its role, now why are the states not picking up the allotted dal?"
We contacted officials from state governments who said the delay was due to multiple reasons.
Officials from Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu food corporation said the price at which the government was selling dal to them while capping the retail amount made it unviable for millers who aren't able to make up for other costs. Officials from Maharashtra said that the lifting of pulses has not begun yet but it is under process, and that tenders for processing unmilled dal have been given out. Officials from Chhattisgarh said they've been asked to lift pulses from Central government godowns but are yet to form a policy on the distribution pattern.
The government is looking outside India's borders to grow and import dal, from as far away as Mozambique, while thousands of tonnes of dal remain stuck in its godowns.