Here's how you can buy Centre's affordable chana dal

The Centre maintains buffer stock of five major pulses - chana, tur, urad, moong, and masur - under the Price Stabilisation Fund.

In order to control retail price of pulses and make them more affordable, the Centre has been selling chana dal under the brand name Bharat Dal at Rs 60 per kilogram. It is currently sold at all physical and mobile outlets of Kendriya Bhandar, NAFED, and NCCF, and is being expanded to other cooperative and retail outlets.

In a statement, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said, “The introduction of ‘Bharat Dal’ is a major step taken by the Central Government towards making pulses available to consumers at affordable prices by converting chana stock of the government into chana dal. The milling and packaging of chana dal is undertaken by NAFED for distribution through its retail outlets in Delhi-NCR and also through the outlets of NCCF, Kendriya Bhandar and Safal.”

Also read: Chhattisgarh govt to provide free rice to poor families for next 5 years from Jan 2024

The Centre maintains buffer stock of five major pulses - chana, tur, urad, moong, and masur - under the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF). The stocks are released in the market in a targeted manner to control prices. Stocks of chana and moong from the Price Support Scheme (PSS) and PSF buffer are released in the market to moderate prices. Apart from market disposal, pulses from the buffer are also being supplied to the states for their welfare schemes, and to the Army and Central Armed Police Forces.

According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, import of tur and urad are to be kept under 'Free Category' till March 31, 2024 and import duty on masur has been reduced to zero till the same date to augment domestic availability and moderate the prices of pulses.

Stock of pulses held by entities such as dealers, importers, millers, and traders are continuously monitored through the online stock monitoring portal of the Department of Consumer Affairs. A senior official told Mint that the Centre may soon sell Bharat rice at discounted rates to contain rising cereal prices ahead of 2024 polls.

The decision came amid a significant surge in the all-India average retail price of rice, reaching Rs 43.3 per kilogram, reflecting a 14.1 percent increase from the previous year.