In a bid to control the prices, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday decided to double the import of pulses like tur and other dals from Mozambique to 2 lakh tonnes per annum in next five years. The meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also approved law Ministry’s proposal to change the names of three High Courts — Calcutta, Bombay and Madras – to its native area names. Centre also approved the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme having an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore with a target to train 50 lakh apprentices by 2019-20.
“In a revolutionary decision, we have done Government-to-Government arrangement with Mozambique. Private and Government sectors will do trading. We will help them grow crop and buy that. This is a big decision to address the shortage of pulses in India,” Union Minister Ravi Shankar told the media.
Although India is the world’s largest producer of pulses, it faces shortfall of 6-7 million tonnes a year to meet its domestic demand. The decline in domestic production in view of drought has resulted in sharp rise in retail prices, which is ruling as high as Rs 200/kg.
“The Cabinet has approved a long-term contract by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mozambique for import of pulses either through the private channels or Government-to-Government (G2G) sales through State agencies nominated by the two countries,” an official statement said.
Prasad further said Calcutta, Bombay and Madras High Courts will be renamed as Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai High Courts, as per the proposal of the Department of Justice in the law Ministry’s new Bill – The High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill, 2016. The National Apprenticeship Promotion scheme would be implemented by Director General of Training
(DGT), under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), he said. It is for the first time a scheme like this has been designed to offer financial incentives to employers to engage apprentices.
In addition, it also supports basic training, which is an essential component of apprenticeship exercise.
Fifty per cent of the total expenditure incurred on providing basic training would be supported by the Government.