Budget 2025-26: Centre announces six-year pulses mission for self-sufficiency

A key target handed down to Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is to end India’s dependence on imports to meet the country’s pulses demand by 2029.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a new six-year mission in the Union budget 2025-26 to boost the output and help achieve self-sufficiency in pulses, with special focus on three key widely consumed varieties.

The programme will see the development of climate-resilient seeds, remunerative prices for growers and post-harvest management as well as storage, according to the mission’s key objective laid out in the Budget.