The central government to sell whole gram and lentils under the ‘Bharat’ brand
New Delhi| The central government expanded its program to provide subsidized pulses to the common people to include whole gram and lentils under the ‘Bharat’ brand. Their retail sale will be in an effort to provide relief to the common people from rising prices.
Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi launched the second phase of the Bharat brand. He said that whole gram will be sold in retail form through cooperative network NCCF, NAFED and Kendriya Bhandar at the rate of Rs 58 per kg and lentils at Rs 89 per kg.
“We are selling our buffer stock held under the Price Stabilization Fund at subsidized rates”, Joshi said The government has allocated 3 lakh tonnes of gram and 68,000 tonnes of moong to the cooperatives. Ministers of State for Food and Consumer Affairs BL Verma and Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhania were present on this occasion.
NCCF Managing Director Anees Chandra Joseph said distribution will initially start in Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. There are plans to retail Bharat brand products under the scheme nationwide within 10 days. “Soap gram has been included under the subsidized sale programme as there is huge demand for it”, he said. We’re in talks with e-commerce platforms and retail outlets to increase access”
The first phase of this scheme was launched in October 2023. During that time, retail sale of rice and wheat flour as well as gram dal, moong dal and whole moong was done by the government at affordable rates. Under the first phase, the price of wheat flour of Bharat brand is currently Rs 30 per kg (above Rs 27.50), rice Rs 34 per kg (above Rs 29), chana dal Rs 70 per kg (above Rs 60), while moong dal and whole moong are priced at Rs 107 per kg and Rs 93 per kg respectively.
The government is making onions available to the people at Rs 35 per kg and tomatoes at Rs 65 per kg to interfere with the rising prices in the market. The Union Minister has expressed hope for better production of pulses this year, as the government has significantly increased the support price of pulses.
