India to create a buffer stock of pulses: Nirmala Sitharaman -Governance Now

India to create a buffer stock of pulses: Nirmala Sitharaman

The Indian government eventually wants to create a buffer of eight lakh tonne of pulses

GN Bureau | June 20, 2016

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The Indian government is negotiating with countries like Mozambique, Malawe, Canada and Myanmar, to buy pulses to end the chronic and recurring price rise, said Nirmala Sithraman, commerce and industry minister.

Talking to members of the Indian women’s press corps (IWPC), Sithraman said that the government has decided to create a major buffer stock of pulses to bring down prices. For this, talks with Myanmar are on, she said. Earlier too, Myanmar had helped the Indian government when the prices of pulses soared. “The government eventually wants to create a buffer of eight lakh tonne of pulses,” she added.

India produces 17 lakh tonne of pulses as against the requirement of 23 lakh tonne. “The Modi government is working on a strategy to bridge this gap,” she said.

"We are already in talks with these countries and hope to make government-to-government arrangements so that whenever market prices of pulses rise the government is able to infuse its stocks in the market to stablise the prices,” she added.

On the rising food prices, she said that India would continue to face inflation of seasonal perishables foods for a long time. “At the moment the prices of tomato are very high and onion are low. This effectively means that the onion farmers are not getting their due,” she added.

Read: We respect Raghuram Rajan’s decision: Sitharaman

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