Request to keep Kabuli chana out of the scope of storage limit order I
25-Jun-2024 03:34 PM
ndore. Kabuli chana Traders Association has sent a letter to the Cabinet Minister of Madhya Pradesh Government Kailash Vijayvargiya requesting to remove the storage limit (stock limit) imposed on Kabuli chana by the Central Consumer Affairs Department from 21 June 2024.
The association has also given many reasons, logic, and statistical evidence for this. According to the association,
Kabuli chana is traditionally considered different from the category of pulses and pulses by the government. In the year 2021, the Central Government had exempted Kabuli chana from stock limit restrictions. Earlier in the year 2006, when the Ministry of Commerce had banned the export of all pulses,
Kabuli chana was not included in it because its condition is somewhat special. The association has said in its letter that although the annual production of Kabuli chana is between 4-5 lakh tonnes, but it is only 1-2 lakh tonnes more than the total annual domestic demand (consumption) of 2-3 lakh tonnes.
The country gets foreign exchange equivalent to about 10 crore US dollars by exporting this surplus stock, while it does not have any negative impact on the availability, supply and prices in the domestic sector.
Kabuli chana is mainly produced in Madhya Pradesh (Malwa-Nimar region), Maharashtra (Vidarbha - Khan Desh), Gujarat (Rajkot, Gondal, Porbandar) and Telangana etc. and due to high prices,
farmers get attractive income. The association has said that Kabuli chana is not a pulse but a bean because dals are not made from it and it is used in whole form only.
Apart from this, it is not considered a food item for daily use and it is mostly used on special occasions. Kabuli chana is actually a product of the category of rajma, chaula, lobia and moth etc.
Apart from desi chana, it has been assigned an independent HS code (07132010). In view of the above facts, the government should declare Kabuli chana to be kept out of the purview of stock limit order.