Help farmers shift from paddy to pulses, SC suggests to govt | India News

NEW DELHI: Suggesting a major reboot in agriculture policy, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the central government along with domain experts and stakeholders to work out a remuneration structure to encourage farmers to shift from traditional wheat and rice crops to pulses. During the hearing of a PIL questioning the government’s wisdom in initially importing yellow peas without import duty, which is currently fixed at 30%, Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman told a bench of CJI Surya Kanth and Justices Jayamalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi that there was a production shortfall of 302 tonnes out of 302,000. 2024 forced the government to import yellow peas to stabilize prices and protect consumer interests. CJI Kant, a member of a farming family, said the government has paid minimum support price (MSP) for wheat, rice and millets but not for pulses. “The moment you ensure that farmers are getting remunerative MSP for pulses, whose production from a given area is less than that of rice or wheat of the same area, production will automatically increase. Otherwise, small farmers will not take the risk of growing pulses as they are not sure whether it will bring their investment and labor costs,” said CJI Kant. “Please ask your agriculture ministry to consult people who understand the pulse of farmers and not foreign degree holders,” he said, adding that not only a guaranteed price of pulses but also a guaranteed space for selling pulses produced by farmers would be given to the policy to encourage growth of pulses. Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Prashant Bhushan said the views of the CJI were a statutory body attached to the Ministry of Agriculture, which recommended MSP for 22 crops and Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugar. In its order, the bench said, “There needs to be better coordination and understanding between various ministries of the central government under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and a system should be put in place to promote pulses as an alternative to wheat or rice in North and Central India and as an alternative to some other crops in South India.” “In the absence of an incentivized MSP for pulses, the price paid should be sufficient to cover the cost of pulse cultivation to small farmers,” the SC bench added.