Govt taking steps to control price rise, tomatoes being imported from Nepal: FM Nirmala Sitharaman
New Delhi, Aug 10: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government is taking steps to control inflation and as part of the measures tomatoes are being imported from Nepal to meet the demand and check prices.
"Lot of steps have been taken to contain inflation. Group of Ministers has been taking timely steps to control prices which are hitting common people," Sitharman said while participating in a debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.
Sitharaman said Tur dal is being imported from Mozambique, Urad dal will be imported from Myanmar, while around three lakh tonnes of onions have been procured to create a buffer stock.
She said tomatoes are being procured from Maharashtra and Karnataka, and distributed in Delhi-NCR, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) and other cooperative societies.
National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Ltd. (NCCF) has distributed 8.84 lakh kg of tomatoes in these states.
"This will continue, and be increased," she said, adding that the wholesale prices of tomatoes in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are coming down.
"We have allowed imports from Nepal by removing import restrictions. The first lot will reach Varanasi, Kanpur, Lucknow this week," she said.
NCCF is also planning a mega sale of tomatoes in Delhi NCR region at a subsidized rate of Rs 70 per kg this weekend, the minister said adding that more such steps will be taken.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
