India is likely to register a record production of 16.5 million tones of pulses this year. This was announced by the Union Agriculture Minister Mr. Sharad Pawar while addressing Agriwatch Global Pulses Summit in New Delhi today. Mr. Pawar said though India imports a large quantity of pulses at present, the use of new production technologies and government support will lead to self sufficiency. The Agriculture Minister said that more aggressive promotion of available technology is being done under the accelerated pulses production programme. He added minimum support price has been doubled in the last three years for pulses with an quantum jump of over fifty per cent this year. He said the pulses procurement mechanism has been strengthen. The Minister added that the government is in process of evolving a mechanism to work out regular tenders on the import of pulses through state agencies to ensure their availability and keep a check on their prices. The two-day summit is being attended by all stake holders to address the issues of concern in this sector of agriculture and ensure greater productivity.