The Centre on Friday said that it has been working in coordination with the state and UT governments to stabilise the prices of pulses across the country, and the prices of Tur, Moong and Urad are now showing a downward trend. The average increase of prices of the three pulses between April 1, 2021 and June 16, 2021 as compared to that between January 1, 2021 and March 31, 2021 has been 0.95 per cent, which is much lower as compared to the 8.93 per cent witnessed in the corresponding period of 2020 and 4.13 per cent witnessed in the corresponding period of 2019.
The Department of Consumer Affairs has initiated the process of stock declaration and monitoring of stock pulse to ensure availability to consumers at affordable prices and to bridge the demand and supply gap, a government release said. Under the initiative all states and UTs were asked to direct the stockholders, including the millers, traders and importers, to declare their stock of pulses on an online portal, created by the government.
Within less than a month of the launch of the portal, stocks worth 28.66 lakh MT have been declared and 6,823 registrations were done by various categories of participants, which is approximately 20 per cent of the total stocks presently held in the country after taking in to account stocks held by NAFED.
The government analysed the stock details furnished on the portal with reference to prices prevailing in each state, and sensitised the states where the prices were higher than the national average. The states and UTs were also asked to take steps for verification of stocks to ensure regular movement of pulses and check hoarding.
The Centre also raised the targeted size of pulses buffer to be maintained in the current year (FY 2021-22) under the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) to 23 LMT. Procurement of Chana,Masur, and Moong is ongoing.
Pulses from the Central buffer were also released for various welfare schemes, while 1.18 LMT was provided to states for the same and 75,000 MT supplied to Army and Central Para-Military Forces. Meanwhile, a total of 14.23 LMT of milled pulses were distributed under PMGKAY through the PDS system between April to November, 2020.
Further, Moong, Urad and Tur were offered to the states and UTs at a discounted rate for supply through retail outlets such as FPS, Dairy and Horticulture outlets, Consumer Cooperative Society outlets. Till date about 2.3 LMT of the three pulses have been supplied to the states and UTs for retail intervention, and 2 LMT of Tur was released through open market sales.
Thus, the upward pressure on retail prices of Tur, Moong dal and Urad has stabilised in 2021 and is on a stable or declining trend, the release said.
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