The government is planning to procure an additional 4 lakh tonnes of pulses from farmers in the coming weeks. It plans to increase the buffer stock to 16 lakh tonnes, officials said.
According to Consumer Affairs Secretary Avinash K Srivastava, “Since 2016, we have been maintaining a pulses buffer stock of 20 lakh tonnes which is now successfully liquidated, without any wastage. This has helped us maintain the prices of pulses within limits. Now that this has been disposed of, we are building a new buffer stock of pulses in order to ensure that the prices are under check. We have already procured 12 lakh tonnes. An additional 4 lakh tonnes will be procured very soon,”
He added, "The Department is also planning to keep a buffer stock of at least 50,000 tonnes of onions as the prices of the bulbs tend to fluctuate even during the season. The government is promoting contract farming in a big way, the Department plans to remove stock limits on different produce produced under this format, caps were imposed under the Essential Commodities Act."
The Minister also gave an outline of the work to be carried out by the Department during the first 100 days of the new Modi government, and said there are six quality control orders for 11 products, these would be brought under compulsory certification schemes.
Efforts are also being made to get international recognition to the certification by the Bureau of Indian Standards. So that the products made in India need not get a fresh certification from other countries when they are exported, the Minister said.
