Madhya Pradesh has launched a formal probe into irregularities in the government's moong procurement process, following serious allegations that the state purchased pulses from individuals who were not genuine cultivators. The investigation was triggered after complaints emerged that a significant number of transactions involved farmers who had never grown moong on their land, yet managed to sell substantial quantities to the government at minimum support prices.
The issue came to light through field-level scrutiny of procurement records maintained by the state's food and civil supplies department. Officials found discrepancies between the acreage reported by certain sellers and the actual output claimed during sales. In several cases, farmers registered multiple purchases under different names, while others appeared on vendor lists despite having no cultivable land or no history of pulse farming in the region.
Sources within the administration indicated that the anomalies span multiple districts across central and northern Madhya Pradesh, though a complete list has not yet been released publicly. The scale of the irregularities is still being assessed, and officials have warned that the final figures could be significant.
Moong bean is one of the important pulses procured by the state government under its agricultural marketing schemes, alongside tur and urad. Farmers sell these crops to government-designated collection centers, and the state subsequently distributes the grains through the public distribution system. The procurement program is meant to ensure fair prices for growers while maintaining food security for vulnerable populations.
Critics argue that such procurement fraud directly undermines both programs by diverting funds meant for genuine farmers into the pockets of intermediaries. The state government has now directed the audit wing and local law enforcement agencies to examine the full chain of transactions, including the role of commission agents and warehouse operators who facilitated the purchases.
This is not the first time Madhya Pradesh has faced scrutiny over pulse procurement practices. Similar investigations into wheat and rice purchases have been conducted in previous years, highlighting persistent weaknesses in verification systems at collection centers. Activists have called for stronger digitized land records and mandatory Aadhaar-linked biometric verification to prevent fictitious entries in procurement databases.
