Weak monsoon: Rising pulse prices pinch common man's pockets

New Delhi: It's been months now since Shashi Parihar and her family have dropped pulses from their plates altogether. Her husband, a daily wage labourer in Betul in Madhya Pradesh, hardly makes enough to feed this family of 4.

She tells us, "This is the first year my son has started going to school. Our small budget cannot afford pulses. We have to make tough choices, and we want to be able to pay for his education, so no pulses for us."

It's a sentiment Mahadev identifies with all too well. An auto-driver in Hyderabad, his monthly budget has shot up by 300% though his income has stayed more or less the same.

Mahadev's mother-in-law, Shantamma says, "Now one kg dal costs nothing less than 60-70 rupees. Earlier we would buy two kg of dal, now we buy one kg or half a kg and then dilute the dal, so that we can stretch the same dal from morning till dinner. I know my children need nutrition but what to do."

A deficiency clearly reflected in the spike in prices of pulses, whether it's in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar or Bangalore, where prices of pulses have jumped in the range of Rs.10-15/ kg in just a month.

Here's a look at comparative prices of pulse in different cities:

ARHAR DAL PRICES

CITY                 PREVIOUS MONTH                  CURRENT MONTH

MUMBAI                         60-65                           70-75
BHUBANESWAR            55-60                           76
HYDERABAD                  60                               70
CHENNAI                        60                               75  
DELHI                             60                               70
BANGALORE                  -                                  80
KOLKATA                        65                               75

MOONG DAL PRICES

CITY                            PREVIOUS MONTH                  CURRENT MONTH

MUMBAI                             60-65                                   70-75
BHUBANESWAR 2011         55                                       70
HYDERABAD                      45                                       70
CHENNAI                            60                                       75
DELHI                                 65                                       75
BANGALORE                      -                                         84
KOLKATA                            70                                       80

In fact wholesale prices of domestic pulses have increased 78 percent between 2005-06 and 2011-12.

Till the end of last July, the total area under pulses was 70 lakh hectares. Though there has been some improvement in the last week, the area under pulses is about 40 lakh hectares, which is another major cause for concern.

It was red-flagged just last week by the Prime Minister as a truant monsoon raised worries of a drought-like situation.

Also, the issues of pulses and whether the government should extend subsidy to reintroduce pulses through the Public Distribution System or PDS for families below the poverty line is expected to come up at the meeting of the empowered Group of Ministers next Tuesday, along with worries of a deficient monsoon.

Abhijit Sen, Member of the Planning Commission told NDTV that if the kharif sowing doesn't go completely as per plan, early Rabi sowing could help ease the pressure of pulses. He also felt that the fluctuating prices of pulses was more to do with market speculation.

"What's happening now is similar to what we saw in 2009. Then the rains didn't pick up even till mid-August. But this time the Met dept has said that it expects the monsoon to pick up now. Right now the country has a 22 percent deficit," he said.

Along with pulses, it is expected that prices of vegetables will also be high till there is more clarity on what the monsoon will be like.

Mr Sen added, "I think what the govt is trying to do is to see if it can take the tab of those states that want to distribute pulses through its PDS. And import to cover the gap of what can't be procured domestically."

Experts say the next few days will be crucial to get a clearer picture of how serious our monsoon woes will pinch our pockets in the future.