Government coaxes Eastern India to grow pulses, oilseeds

KOLKATA: The government has asked the eastern states of the country to start cultivation of pulses and oilseeds to help increase domestic production of the crops and reduce dependence on imports. With the prices of pulses rising and oilseed production declining, the Narendra Modi government has decided to include both crops in the Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI) scheme and will fund their cultivation.

West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, eastern UP and Assam are covered by the BGREI scheme, under which crops such as paddy and wheat were being grown. At a recent meeting with the eastern states, the Union agriculture ministry asked them to start cultivating pulses and oilseeds.

“The government will allocate funds to grow these two crops in the eastern Indian states that are covered under BGREI scheme,” Trilochon Mohapatra, director of the Cuttack-based Central Rice Research Institute, told ET. “It is likely that funds under BGREI scheme will be redistributed for growing oilseeds and pulses.” The CRRI director said oilseed and pulses will be grown after the harvesting of paddy and wheat. “Not the entire area under paddy and wheat cultivation will be used fo r pulses and oilseeds cropping — a portion of it will be used,” he said.