Rising inflation in the country has already spoiled the budget of the common man's kitchen. From milk and vegetables to gas oil, everything has become expensive. Although oil prices have come down in the last few days, now the pulses have taken over. The rise in the prices of pulses has increased the pocket money of the people. According to government data, the prices of urad and tur have increased by 15 percent in just 6 weeks.
Generally, in addition to vegetables like potatoes or tomatoes, pulses are also found in the daily food in people's kitchens. In such a situation, the increase in their prices directly increases the cost of the kitchen. If we look at the latest sowing data released by the Ministry of Agriculture, the area under tur has decreased by 4.6 percent compared to a year ago, while the area under urad has seen a decrease of 2 percent.
According to the data presented by the Ministry of Agriculture, the prices of tur dal and urad dal have increased by more than 15 percent in the last 6 weeks alone. Concerns about damage to crops due to rain and waterlogging have also increased.
The rise in prices can be gauged from the fact that the ex-mill price of good quality tur dal in Latur, Maharashtra, which was selling at Rs 97 per kg a month and a half ago, has now increased to Rs 115 per kg.
According to Harsha Rai, the importer of pulses in Maharashtra, at present, the fundamental strength is visible in tur and there is no big carry-over stock. He said that we are expecting a consignment of 5,00,000 tonnes from Africa in August/September. Experts say that excessive rains can cause more damage to the urad crop. However, due to the possibility of imports, there is little scope for supply pressure.
Not only in the prices of pulses, but there has been a tremendous increase in the prices of food items in the last year. Despite all the efforts of the government, the prices do not seem to be coming under control. The situation is that whether it is milk, curd, salt or wheat, flour, or rice, the prices of all have increased throughout the year. Even the price of salt increased.
According to the data of the Consumer Ministry, the average price of rice was Rs 34.86 a kg a year ago, which has now gone up to Rs 37.38. Wheat rose from Rs 25 to Rs 30.61, while flour from Rs 29.47 to Rs 35 per kg. The price of milk has increased from Rs 48.97 to Rs 52.41 a liter. According to the estimates of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the rate of retail inflation will remain above 6 percent.
