The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Central Government on a petition seeking to stop the import of yellow peas. The petition of the institution named Kisan Mahapanchayat states that farmers are suffering from imports of yellow peas used as an alternative to pulses. The court issued a notice and said that it is important to take care of the interests of the common consumer in this case. If domestic production is inadequate, then pulses will become expensive.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, presented for the petitioner organization, said that yellow peas are being imported at the rate of about Rs 35 per kg. It is overshadowing pulses grown in India like pigeonpea, moong and urad, because their minimum support price is Rs 85 per kg. Expert Committee and NITI Aayog of the Ministry of Agriculture have also recommended to stop the import of yellow peas. It discourages the income of Indian farmers by affecting the income.
Bhushan said that yellow dal has been freed from import-duty. This has a direct impact on the farmers. They have to sell soybean, peanuts, urad, moong and tur dal on less than MSP. The Agricultural Costs and Price Commission had recommended banning yellow peas in March this year and increasing import duty on other pulses. This recommendation should be considered.
Justice Surya Kant, who is presiding over the bench of 3 judges after a short hearing, said, ‘You have cited the reports of official and responsible institutions, so we are issuing notices, but we have to see whether domestic production is sufficient or not. If imports are stopped and production is reduced then consumers may suffer losses.
The court said, ‘Farmers must grow pulses, but they sell it. Someone else storage the lentils. Prices will be expensive if domestic production is reduced. This will be the cause of consumers’ problem, so there is a need to balance in this matter. During the hearing, Bhushan said that the yellow peas feed the cattle in Australia. On this, the court asked whether there was any study about the nutrition of this pulses? Bhushan said that according to his information, this pulses can cause health problems.