After the slogan of “Arhar Modi” shot down prospects of the BJP in Bihar polls, the Centre has seemingly released three varieties of khesari (grass pea) dal in a hurry for cultivation without waiting
After the slogan of “Arhar Modi” shot down prospects of the BJP in Bihar polls, the Centre has seemingly released three varieties of khesari (grass pea) dal in a hurry for cultivation without waiting for completion of safety exercise by the Food Standard Safety Authority. “Three varieties of khesari dal, namely ratan, prateek and mahateara, have been released for cultivation in traditional growing area of the country,” Union minister for agriculture and farmers’ welfare Radha Mohan Singh said in a media statement. He claimed that these varieties having low toxicity (0.07 per cent to 0.1 per cent) are “safe for human consumption”. However, the ministry of agriculture apparently has shown unusual hurry to release the three varieties for cultivation without waiting to listen to the views of the stakeholders. “The ICMR has submitted its report on the three varieties in which it has stated that they do not have toxicity. The FSSAI will now bring a draft notification which will be made public for various stakeholders to give their views,” said Mr K.L. Sharma, joint secretary of the ministry of health, which was approached by the FSSAI to give a view on the safety aspect. Incidentally, the stakeholders, who need to give their views include the state governments, NGOs, health professionals, and the people at large.
While the prices of pulses have defied all moves by the government to bring them down, officials in the the ministry of agriculture said that the government has taken the “easiest options to give sanctity to khesari dal”, which was banned in 1961 because of its high toxicity causing neurological disorder leading to paralysis.
