Diversify agriculture and encourage farmers to grow pulses, Supreme Court tells government
The Supreme Court of India. Photo credit: The Hindu The Supreme Court of India has asked the Union government to revisit its existing policy framework and explore a better substitute under which farmers are incentivised to diversify from conventional crops such as wheat and paddy to pulses. Besides a relook into policy and diversification of crops, the court asked the Centre to convene a meeting of different stakeholders to look into various issues, including the absence of an incentivised minimum support price (MSP), which should be sufficient enough to cover the expenditure small or medium level farmers incur in producing pulses; guaranteed timely sale of pulse products; and fixation of the cost price of yellow peas, which are currently being imported, so that it did not impact the home-grown pulses produced by farmers. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the Centre, through its Ministries of Agriculture, Commerce and Consumer Affairs must put their heads together, and with the aid of subject experts with ground knowledge, mould a framework which would …
