Gulbarga district in Karnataka is the largest producer of toor dal in India. Out of the 9 lakh tonne production of toor dal in Karnataka, Gulbarga alone produces 4 lakhs tons.
But the farmers in the district are in distress year after year. So far there has not been a proper system of MSP in place. The state government fixed a minimum support price of Rs. 6918 per quintal which itself is a low price compared to the production coast of Rs. 5000 per quintal. But the Central government has fixed it at Rs. 5450. When the MSP is low, the market price also goes down; the farmers are being forced to sell the product at Rs. 3500-4000 this year, an amount lesser than the production cost. Many farmers have also refused to sell their crop and have stocked them, unsold.
On the other hand, the central government has imported 18 lakh tonne of toor dal in 2017-18, 57 lakh tonne in 2016-17 and 62 lakh tonne in 2015-16. This massive import of dal has started after the BJP government came to power. The India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) signed an agreement with Adani port under which the Adani group handles the pulse import in to the country with zero percentage import duty.
The BJP government’s nexus with corporate companies has already resulted in 50 suicides in 2017-18 in Gulbarga.