Lok Sabha Question No. 3257 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-09
Subject: Increase in Prices of Pulses
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil

## Government of India

## Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3257

TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.08.2023

## INCREASE IN PRICES OF PULSES

## 3257.  SHRI SHRINIWAS PATIL:

## Will  the  Minister  of CONSUMER AFFAIRS,  FOOD  AND  PUBLIC  DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the increasing price of pulses in the country;
- (b) if so, the details of the pulses for which there was a sharp increase in price in the last financial year i.e. 2021-22;
- (c) the reasons for the inflation in the price of items of basic necessity and food items; and
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to reduce the costs of essential food items?

## ANSWER

## miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k jkT; ea=h ( श्री अश्विनी कु मार चौबे )

## THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a) to (d) :  The Department of Consumer Affairs monitors the daily prices of 22 essential food commodities, including five major pulses, namely chana, tur, urad, moong and masur. The all-India average retail prices of chana dal, tur dal, urad dal and masur dal had recorded slight increase in financial year 2021-22 over 2020-21 while the retail price of moong dal had decline in 2021-22 over 2020-21.

Prices of essential food commodities are volatile as they tend to get affected by several factors, such as mismatch in demand and supply due to seasonality in production and consumption, supply chain constraints, rise in international prices, artificial shortage created by hoarding and black marketing etc. Sometimes slight disruptions  in  supply  chain  or  damage  due  to  heavy  rains  leads  to  spike  in  prices  of  agri-horticultural commodities.

Government takes various measures from time to time to augment domestic availability and stabilize prices  food  commodities.  These  steps,  inter-alia,  include  releases  from  the  buffer  to  cool  down  prices, imposition  of  stock  limits,  monitoring  of  stocks  declared  by  entities  to  prevent  hoarding  as  also  requisite changes in trade policy instruments like rationalization of import duty, changes in import quota, restrictions on exports of the commodity etc.

In order to check the current increase in prices of tomato and make it available to the consumers at affordable prices, the Government has started the procurement of tomatoes under Price Stabilisation Fund and is  making  it  available  at  a  highly  subsidised  rate  to  consumers.  The  National  Cooperative  Consumers Federation (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) are continuously procuring  tomato  from  mandis  in  Andhra  Pradesh,  Karnataka  and  Maharashtra  and  making  it  available  at subsidised  prices  in  major  consuming  centres  in  Delhi-NCR,  Bihar,  Rajasthan,  etc.  to  the  consumers.  The tomatoes  have  been  disposed  initially  at  retail  price  of  Rs.90/kg  which  was  reduced  to  Rs.80/kg  from 16.07.2023 and further reduced to Rs.70/kg from 20.07.2023. Till 04.08.2023, a total of 843 MT of tomato had been procured by NCCF and NAFED with continuous disposal in major consumption centres of DelhiNCR, Rajasthan, UP and Bihar.

In order to check the volatility in prices of onion, the Government maintains onion buffer under the PSF. The buffer size has been increased from 1.00 LMT in 2020-21 to 2.50 LMT in 2022-23. The onions from  the  buffer  are  released  in  major  consumption  centres  during  the  lean  season  from  September  to December in a calibrated and targeted manner to cool down prices. The onion buffer for 2023-24 has been enhanced further to 3.00 LMT.

To augment domestic availability and moderate the prices of pulses, import of tur and urad have been kept under 'Free Category' till 31.03.2024 and import duty on masur has been reduced to zero till 31.03.2024. Import duty of 10% on tur has been removed to facilitate smooth and seamless imports.

Further,  to  prevent  hoarding,  stock  limits  has  been  imposed  on  tur  and  urad  under  the  Essential Commodities Act, 1955 on 2nd June, 2023 for a period till 31st October, 2023. Disposal of 50,000 MT of tur from the Price Stabilisation Buffer has been undertaken in a targeted and calibrated manner to augment the availability of stocks for milling into tur dal for the consumers.

Stocks of chana and moong from the Price Support Scheme (PSS) and Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) buffer are continuously released in the market to moderate prices. Chana is also supplied to the States at a discount  of  Rs.15/kg  for  welfare  schemes.  Further,  the  government  has  also  introduced  the  mechanism  to convert  chana  stock  into  chana  dal  for  retail  disposal  under  the  brand  name  of  'Bharat  Dal'  at  highly subsidized rate of Rs.60/kg for 1kg pack and Rs.55/kg for 30kg pack in order to make pulses available to consumers at affordable prices by converting  chana stock of the  government into chana dal. Bharat Dal is being distributed through retail outlets of NAFED, NCCF, KendriyaBhandar and Safal. The chana dal, under this arrangement, is also made available to state governments for supplies under their welfare schemes, police, jails,  and  also  for  distribution  through  the  retail  outlets  of  state  government  controlled  cooperatives  and corporations.

The Department of Consumer Affairs has launched in 2022,  a  grand  challenge for development of technologies for primary processing, storage and valorization of onions with the overall objective of ensuring availability  of  onion  to  consumers  at  affordable  prices.  The  606  ideas  submitted  by  various  categories  of participants had been evaluated by team of experts and 11 ideas have reached prototype development stage. Prototype  development  is  in  progress  on  ideas  pertaining  to  improved  storage,  pre-harvesting  treatment, primary  processing  and  valorisation  of  onion.  On  a  similar  line,  Tomato  Grand  Challenge  has  also  been launched  on  30.06.2023  to  invite  ideas  on  comprehensive  and  focused  area  interventions  in  tomato  value chain, from cropping and market insights for the farmers to improved packaging, transportation and storage. The Tomato Grand Challenge is open to students, research scholars, faculty members, industry individuals, Indian start-ups, professionals etc.

In  order  to  manage  the  overall  food  security  of  the  country  and  control  the  increasing  prices  of foodgrains,  the  export  of  wheat  has  been  prohibited  w.e.f.  13th  May,  2022  and  from  12th  July,  2022  the export of atta (wheat) has been subjected to the recommendation of Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Export of Wheat. To prevent hoarding and unscrupulous speculation, the Government of India has imposed stock limits on the Wheat from 12th June 2023 for a period till 31st March, 2024. The Government is also continuously  offloading  the  wheat  from  central  pool  under  Open  Market  Sale  Scheme  (Domestic)  (OMSS (D))  2023  to  flour  mills/private  traders/bulk  buyers/manufacturers  of  wheat  products  through  e-auction  to control retail prices of wheat.

Further, the export of broken rice has been banned w.e.f. 9th September, 2022 and the export of nonbasmati White Rice prohibited w.e.f. 20th July 2023 to check the increase in prices. The government is also continuously disposing rice under the OMSS to augment availability in the market and control the prices.

In order to control and ease the prices of edible oils in the domestic market, the Government of India has taken the following steps:

-  The basic duty on Crude Palm Oil, Crude Soyabean Oil and Crude Sunflower Oil was reduced from 2.5% to Nil. The Agri-cess on Oils was brought down from 20% to 5%.
-  The basic duty on Refined Soybean oil and Refined Sunflower Oil was rationalised on 15.06.2023 by reducing it from 17.5% to 12.5% in line with the basic duty on Refined Palm Oils which was reduced from 17.5% to 12.5% on 21.12.2021.
-  The import of Refined Palm Oils under free category has extended untill further orders.
-  Regular meetings are conducted with leading Edible Oil Associations and industry wherein they are being advised to pass on the benefits of decrease in the international prices of major edible oils to the domestic end consumers.

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