A year into the six-year Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses, no research project has been approved against its Rs 500 crore allocation, and the Agriculture Ministry says it will speed up sanctions.

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• The Union Cabinet approved the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses on October 1, 2025, and the Prime Minister launched it on October 11, 2025.
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had first announced the mission in her Budget speech on February 1, 2025.
• It runs for six years, from 2025-26 to 2030-31, with an outlay of Rs 11,440 crore.
• The mission targets raising pulses production from 242 lakh tonnes in 2023-24 to 350 lakh tonnes by 2030-31.
• It also seeks to expand area under pulses by 35 lakh hectares to 310 lakh hectares, targeting rice fallows, and lift yield to 1,130 kg per hectare.
• India imported a record 72.56 lakh tonnes of pulses worth 5.48 billion dollars in 2024-25, which prompted the push for self-sufficiency.
• The strategy covers research, seed systems, area expansion, procurement and price stability, implemented through clusters across 416 focused districts.
• Cabinet Secretariat officials noted that no project has been sanctioned under the mission's Rs 500 crore research component.
• The Agriculture Ministry received 419 research proposals, including 125 from ICAR institutes, and a national-level committee is appraising them.
• The Agriculture Ministry has said it will expedite the process.
• Breeder seed production is supervised by ICAR, so stalled research holds back the new varieties the mission depends on.