What India loses as lentils disappear from plates

Rural Indians ate about 34 gm of pulses a day in the late 1970s, but by 2023-24 intake had fallen to 25 to 27 gm, about half a small bowl of dal. Writer Mridula Ramesh links the shift to cheap urea, irrigation and procurement, noting pulse fibre helps release the gut hormone GLP-1 and that dal remains among the cheapest, most climate-friendly proteins.