WANTED: A PUSH FOR PULSES

Having achieved food security and net agriculture produce exporter status, India must now refocus to make a breakthrough in pulses. It also has to tackle nutritional security, malnutrition among young children

- Ashok Gulati

As we celebrate our 78th Independence day, we need to look back and see how far we have reached, but also look ahead to our goal of Viksit Bharat@2047. The first and foremost duty of any government is ensuring food security for the people. It's as important as ensuring border security. It was Lal Bahadur Shastri who gave us the slogan, Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan'. Faced with droughts in the mid-1960s, India did not have enough foreign exchange to buy food from the global markets. We needed at least 10 million tonnes (MT) to avert mass starvation deaths. The US came to India's rescue at the time by offering 10 MT of wheat under Public Law 480 (food aid) against rupee payment, which was like a grant, as the rupee had no standing in the global markets. Every 15 minutes, a ship was coming to India with food aid, which was distributed through the PDS (public distribution system). India was considered a 'ship to mouth' economy, and many had given up hope of the country surviving as the population was booming and food supplies were lagging far behind.