Govt Panel to Consider Hike in Minimum Support Price, Bonus for Pulses Cultivation

Govt Panel to Consider Hike in Minimum Support Price, Bonus for Pulses Cultivation
A customer browses pulses at a market stall in the Kalupur Road area of Ahmedabad (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

The government will set up a committee to evaluate a long-term policy for pulses, in an effort to control prices, which have risen to nearly Rs 200 per kilogram.

The committee will re-examine the minimum support price (MSP) for pulses, and consider a bonus which will incentivise cultivation, Union Minister of Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan said, after a meeting with the finance minister.

The committee headed by Chief Economic Adviser has been asked to give its recommendations in one to two weeks.
Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister of Food and Public Distribution

To offset price fluctuations, the government has increased the buffer stock to 20 lakh tonnes from 8 lakh tonnes earlier, Paswan said.

A buffer stock is a reserve of a commodity which is used to offset its price fluctuations.

He also said the government expects a production of 20 million tonnes this year from 17 million tonnes in 2015-16, which will narrow the gap in supply and demand, easing prices.

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