Festivals normally are the main cause for prices to flare up for essential commodities. Unlike in edible oils, there are no such reasons for prices of pulses to rise during festivals and their supplies are expected to be normal given the regular monsoons since the past decade. However, farmers seem disinclined to grow more pulses. The government, intending to meet this shortage by imports, needs to recall that its own agency State Trading Corporation of India had burnt its fingers in the early '90s while dabbling in this exercise, abandoned later. While international trade in both these commodities is free, their distribution in the domestic market is governed by the Essential Commodities Act. But instead of invoking the various regulatory clauses of this act to control rising prices, the government thinks it would be wise to import rather than pull up wholesalers and retailers whose profit margins are known to be fat, to say the least.

With the declining rupee and the almost static pulses prices internationally, imports will be more expensive. This has forced domestic traders to temporarily halt any imports of pulses as there is no price parity between imports and local output. If the government proposes to distribute the imported pulses through the public distribution system, it will mean further expenditure. So the government should invoke the ECA and haul up some of the top profiteers in the trade. This will soften prices while avoiding the pitfalls of meddling in international trade.