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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Pulse rate triggers alarm -Piyush Kumar Tripathi

Pulse rate triggers alarm -Piyush Kumar Tripathi

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published Published on Oct 30, 2015   modified Modified on Oct 30, 2015
-The Telegraph

Satyanand Singh, a grocery store owner at Aneesabad, is selling arhar dal at Rs 200 per kg, while Ashiana Nagar-based shopkeeper Deepak Kumar sells the same at Rs 190 per kg.

Mohammad Rafi of Boring Road has been selling arhar dal at Rs 190 per kg and the rate for the same at Vishal Mega Mart on Fraser Road is Rs 194 per kg.

As soaring prices of arhar dal (pigeon pea) continue to pinch people's pockets, traders in Bihar are fixing its prices according to their will.

The skyrocketing dal prices have also led to an overall reduction in the demand of the same in the city.

A large number of people, especially homemakers, claimed they have curtailed the consumption of this essential north Indian staple owing to its astronomical prices.

Acknowledging the steep rise in prices of arhar dal staring from July-end, the food and civil supplies department in neighbouring Jharkhand fixed the prices of the same at Rs 145 per kg last Sunday.

In Bihar, however, no such exercise is being contemplated despite the varying dal prices. Officials in the food and consumer protection department claimed that there is no supportive legal framework based on which they can do the same.

"We don't have any act, rules, guidelines or any other legal framework based on which we can fix an official price of dal or any other edible commodity in Bihar. However, we are keeping a tab on the prices by taking efforts such taking action against illegal hoarders. Raids are being conducted on frequent basis whenever we are getting information on illegal hoarding," said Pankaj Kumar, secretary, food and consumer protection department.

Under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, the food and consumer protection department has put a limit on storage of arhar dal , dalhan and other pulses by traders staring from July 29.

According to the corresponding notification, the limit for dal stocks with individual traders has been fixed at 750 quintal in municipal areas and 500 quintal at other places.

Though the officials claimed that raids are being conducted in pursuance of such norms, traders are claiming that they are still getting the reduced supply of arhar dal at higher rates forcing them to increase the prices even further.

"The supply of arhar dal has been constantly low for the past three-four months, which is basically owing to poor yield of the same in the last season. We are forced to sell dal at higher prices because even the wholesale prices are quite higher. I am purchasing arhar at around Rs 149 to Rs 149.25 per kg from the supplier and selling the same at Rs 150, thus making a profit between 75 paise and Rs 1 per kg," said Anil Singh, a wholesale trader of dal at Mithapur vegetable market.

As the demand for arhar dal in Bihar is mostly met by its supply from other states and its overall production in the country has fallen this year, officials in the food and consumer protection department claimed that the central government has been requested to support the state with imported dal till the next yield of the same hits the market in early 2016.

Acknowledging the fall in dal output this year, the Government of India is importing additional 5,000 tonnes of arhar dal from Africa.

"We have requested the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation to supply us arhar dal imported by the central government in the wake of fall in its production in the country," said food and consumer protection department secretary Pankaj.

Harvest crisis

The prices of dal soared across the country starting from July-end following the fall in its domestic output by two million tonnes in 2014-15 owing to scanty monsoon rainfall.

According to the fourth advance estimate of foodgrain production, the overall production of pulses this year was pegged at 172 lakh tonnes, indicating a deficit of 20.5 lakh tonnes over previous year's figure.

Anil Jha, an expert in the agriculture department, said cultivation of pulses, including arhar dal starts from June-July with the onset of monsoon season and its harvesting is done around February-March.

"The harvesting of arhar dal is done on around 25,000 hectares in Bihar. With an average of 1.5 tonne yield per hectare, its total output of arhar dal is around 37,000 tonnes in Bihar. However, such a production is insignificant when compared to the demand for the same in the state, hence a large quantity is imported from other states," said Jha.

Even though official figures are not available, market sources said Bihar needs around 1 lakh tonnes of dal every year.

The Arhar production areas in Bihar include Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai, Munger, Darbhanga, Madhubani and Samastipur among others.

The Telegraph, 30 October, 2015, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1151030/jsp/bihar/story_50395.jsp#.VjNNWCs1t_k


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