In the wake of rising prices of food, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday held a high-level meeting with Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present at the meeting.
The reasons for the spike in prices and possible options available to check the same were discussed at the meeting, said sources, adding the supplies were short of demand of about 70 lakh tonnes.
Among the options discussed were releasing more pulses from the buffer stock whenever there is a demand from the States as well as importing pulses from Myanmar and Africa to deal with the price rise.
They also discussed the creation of a buffer stock and lifting of stock by State Governments for retail distribution at subsidised rates.
“In the meeting, the pulses issue was discussed in detail. Our department was told to procure more pulses for buffer stock,” Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said.