Veteran farmers' leader and founder of Shetkari Sanghatana, Vijay Jawandhiya, has written a strongly worded letter to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal demanding immediate imposition of 100% import duty on all varieties of pulses.
Jawandhiya warned that unrestricted imports of pulses at zero import duty are hurting Indian farmers. They are being forced to sell their produce below the Minimum Support Price (MSP), defeating the promise of doubling farmers' income.
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In the letter, Jawandhiya points out the contradiction between the government's repeated assurances of self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds and its actions that encourage cheap imports, undermining domestic prices. He cites the example of tur (arhar) dal, for which the government has announced an MSP of 8,000 per quintal for the 2025-26 season.