PULSE REMEDY

Out of all agri commodities which has seen a spike in the price, the pulses scenario is the most worrisome In the post Green revolution period the production of most of the crops has increased except for the Pulses It is shocking to learn that the production of pulses has remained stagnant for the past 45 years since 1965-66 It has moved in the narrow band of 12million tonnes to 14 millin tonnes per year In the past 20 years the growth has been measely o.33% and the important reason is stagnancy in the area under the crops Further there is no major technological breakthrough with certified seeds not available in adequate quantity Usually inferior lands are devoted in this crop and when the land gets irrigation farmers switch over to other crops The government has not showed any interest in augmenting production But now suddenly there is a concerted move to prioritize this important segment which has come very lateThe Government announces the minimum support prices every year and goes for relatively higher prices to give incentive to the farmers to shift towards production of pulses However this has not acted as a catalyst as there is any significant increase in the production As a result of which supplies have remained stagnant and the prices are rising fast And with a rise in population the per capita availability of pulses has decreased from 13.9kg in 1985 to less than 9 kg in recent years Further the per capita expenditure on pulses has decreased Pulses are the only source of protein for most indians and fall in the consumption of pulses will have negative impacts So the urgent need is to augment the production with the government has taken beleted steps in the current budget by allocating higher resources And the productivity of pulses in India is very low-only a 1/3rd of that in China and 1/10th that of France Also the gobal situation is not very welcome World production has increased at a very low rate of 0.48% per annum and that unit value of imports has increased by three times in the past 20 years Consequently supply and prices could become a problem in the international market Seeing this scenario DAAL ROTI KHAO PRABHU KA GUN .... WOULD BE a nightmarish experience Sooner we realise the enoromity of the problem the better it is for us Lets welcome Govts move and sincerely wish it would provide us genuine breakthrough in our production stagnancy