India: Govt may sell moong dal to tame prices

New Delhi: As part of the Union government’s efforts to tame food inflation, the Centre is now planning to sell moong (green gram) in the retail market at a discounted rate. As part of the plan, the government, through its co-operatives such as the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF), will use 5% or 30,000 tonnes of raw moong from the existing central pool stocks and sell it at a discounted rate, a senior official said recently. At present, the Centre has around 500,000 tonnes of moong in its stock as against the 100,000 tonnes norm. This follows a similar strategy adopted for sales of chana (Bengal gram), atta (wheat flour) and onions at discounted rates. In recent times, the government has taken a series of preventive measures, including imposing an export ban and stock holding limit on essential commodities, among other measures, to contain food inflation, which is at 6.61% and ...