Despite being the world's largest producer, India remains a major importer of pulses. Examine the structural causes and evaluate whether the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses addresses them.

India produces, consumes and imports more pulses than any other country. In 2023–24 it imported 47.38 lakh tonnes [2]. The gap comes from long-standing supply-side weaknesses. The ₹11,440-crore Mission (2025–26 to 2030–31) targets most of them, but it does not fully solve them [1].

Structural causes

• Low, unstable yields: most pulse land is rainfed, and Indian yields are below the global average [3].
• Price risk: MSP-backed rice and wheat look safer to farmers. Output stayed at about 14–15 million tonnes for years [3].
• Idle rice fallows: over 11.68 million ha lie unused after paddy, mainly because the soil lacks moisture [3].
• Demand outpacing supply: demand rises with income, yet intake is still below 85 g/day [2].

How the Mission responds

• Yield: 126 lakh quintals of certified seed, SATHI seed traceability, and a target of 1,130 kg/ha [2][1].
• Area: +35 lakh ha, mainly rice fallows, through clusters in 489 districts [1].
• Price assurance: 100% procurement of Tur, Urad and Masoor by NAFED/NCCF under PM-AASHA's PSS [2].
• Value chain: 1,000 dal mills with subsidy of up to ₹25 lakh each [2].
• Early results: output reached 274.09 lakh tonnes and the import bill fell 31.52% in 2025–26 [1].

Gaps that remain

• Procurement window: assured buying ends in 2028–29, two years before the Mission ends. Only 4.69 of 7.74 lakh registered farmers had benefited from NCCF buying by June 2026 [1]. PSS sets a price floor; it does not promise to buy every grain [4].
• Yield pace: about 35 kg/ha must be added each year, more than the record gain of 31 kg/ha [1].
• Rice fallows: only 9.25 lakh seed kits reached these areas in year one [1]. The constraint is soil moisture, not seed alone [3].
• Demand side: the import fall is by value, which also reflects world prices. NITI Aayog's advice to put pulses into PDS and Mid-Day Meals is not yet built in [2].

The Mission tackles supply-side causes (seed, area, price and processing) more fully than any earlier programme. Its main gaps are the length of the price guarantee and the demand side. Extending procurement to 2030–31, timing seed delivery to the rice harvest and linking procured stock to PDS would turn self-reliance into lasting nutritional security, in line with SDG 2.