The Union government ’s consumer affairs department is planning to procure 500,000 tonnes of lentils at market rates, an official aware of the matter said, after failing to procure enough lentils at the minimum support price (MSP). The agriculture ministry has already procured 69,000 tonnes of lentils against the season’s target of 334,000 tonnes. With this, central stocks have touched around 70,000 tonnes; plus 800 tonnes under PSF from last year. The government is trying to shift the consumption of some pulses like pigeon peas to lentils and gram amid lower production of pigeon peas