Learning a lesson from its earlier experiences, the government is mulling to allow export of lentils as a step to provide better support price to farmers.
The proposal in this regard has been moved during a recently held inter-ministerial meeting, which was headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Other ministers who were present at the crucial meeting were Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Consumer Affairs Minister Ramvilas Paswan.
According to sources, members present in the meeting discussed different ways to save farmers from getting affected by price crash when there is a bumper harvest of the crop.
"On the introduction of the proposal, Sitharaman supported it by saying that it could be opened. The Agriculture Minister also gave his nod in favour of the proposal, while the Consumer Affairs Minister objected the idea say that it would encourage hoarding," the source said.