Does your laddoo for the festive season have local besan or the cheaper imported yellow chickpea flour? This is a question that is bothering consumers shopping for their sweets in this festive season.

Worse, are traders and shopkeepers ‘adulterating’ besan sweets and savouries by substituting the real thing with yellow pea flour?

This, despite Narendra Modi’s pitch last week in his radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat, harking back to Mahatma Gandhi's swadeshi movement in the wake of the 50% tariff imposed by US president Donald Trump. Modi went all out with his mantra for shoppers, 'Make Vocal for Local,' pumping up citizens with his 'Make in India' campaign.

But is Modi really serious about going local or is the latest radio address yet another way of covering up the Modi government’s own import policy on pulses and lentils? Just days ago, the Supreme Court sought the Union government's response on a petition by desperate farmers pleading for curbs on the Modi government’s unrestricted import of yellow peas, widely used as a substitute to desi lentils of arhar, chana and moong, as they were driving down market prices and throwing their livelihoods into despair.

The Kisan Mahapanchayat, a collective group of affected farmers, told the court in its petition that massive duty-free imports of yellow peas began in December 2023, to control the soaring domestic pulse prices by boosting supply. The decision to keep such imports duty free was extended several times, despite assurances from the Modi government that it was a stop-gap arrangement.

The unfettered duty-free imports of yellow peas, mainly from Russia and Canada, was far below the government’s assured minimum support price (MSP) for locally produced lentils. Imported yellow peas were being sold here for Rs 3,500 per quintal and Rs 35 per kilo. Local lentils were being sold for double the price, at Rs 7000-8000 per quintal and Rs 85 per kilo. This was forcing local farmers to bring prices down and the threat loomed large of forced abandonment of lentils cultivation. As the petition read, “In 2024, India imported a record 6.7 million tonnes of pulses, and yellow peas were roughly about 2.9 million tonnes. Yellow peas are primarily used as cattle feed abroad but have become a cheap substitute for Indian pulses.”

While there is no health hazard for humans consuming yellow peas, it has been detrimental to farmers cultivating lentils by driving prices down, and blows the Modi government’s much touted ‘Mission for Atmanirbharta in Pulses’ launched in February 2025, which aims to boost domestic production.

And how has the Modi government dealt with the issue?

In a bizarre play of colliding policies and intentions, several ministries and organisations took up the farmers’ issue, but were finally overridden by the Union government itself.

In December 2023, the Modi government removed the 50% basic customs duty on yellow peas, thus lifting non-tariff restrictions, ostensibly to cool the market prices of local pulses which was hitting record highs and becoming unattainable for the masses. The move was seen to be temporary, though the deadline was moved at least three times, first till March 2024, and then to April, June, October and December, 2024. Then came the deadline of February 28, 2025, which was extended to May 31, 2025. In a stunning move, the government gave its latest and longest extension of a year and more of duty free imported yellow peas to March 2026.

The shock to the local markets over the last two years has been hard and none other than the agriculture ministry itself has raised the red flag. In August, minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed serious concern when he wrote to food minister Prahlad Joshi to bring back the 50% duty charges on imports as it was distorting prices of lentils in the local market. Chouhan was concerned that fewer people would get into cultivating local pulses which would push up prices with low supplies.

As a CRISIL report showed as early as 2017:

"Bumper production and a sharp decline in prices did bring relief to the consumer, but not to the farmer. That's because input costs grew steadily, while output prices fell sharply, negating the benefit of higher production... Profit margins for all pulses, except gram, fell an average 8% on-year in fiscal 2017. The policy focus with regards to pulses, therefore, should not only be on improving production but also on price-smoothening measures. Increasing irrigation coverage and development of markets are long-term remedies. In the near term, however, efforts should focus on effective use of price stabilization fund and ironing out of inefficiencies in the futures market.”

The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) the expert body under Chouhan and which recommends MSP had also recommended a ban of further import of yellow peas.

However, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has extended duty-free import to March 2026, with approval of the minister of commerce and industry.

Among top importers of yellow peas are Adani Warehousing Services Pvt Ltd, the Indore-based Glencore Agriculture India Private Limited, and ETC Agro Processing India Private Limited which is owned by the Patels and has offices from Mumbai to Ahmedabad.

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