Finger On The Pulse

Despite having immense nutritive and medicinal properties, the rice bean is a lesserknown pulse

- Chitra Balasubramaniam

WHEN I recently visited the Kisan Mela at the Pusa Institute in New Delhi, I met Soumyadipta Roy of Lunar Agro Products from Tinsukia, Assam. I had interacted with him earlier for an article. “I am trying to promote naga dal,” he said. He took me to his stall and pointed to a basket of beans, which looked like rajma, but was few shades paler. Rinita Thiyam of Green Foundation, Imphal, who was also at the mela, said it was rice beans.

Roy, an erstwhile pilot, has been working in remote areas of the North- east to promote agro-products. He was marketing the rice beans for Paul Longsaola, who owns the brand Poumai. She works out of a small town called Senapati in Manipur. Usually the beans are available only in the local market as it is not known outside the area. Due to little awareness, Roy had to dispose of about 2 metric tonnes of this rice bean as there were no buyers.

The bean has a number of varieties, which are different in colour and size. It is known by different names— rice bean (Vigna umbellate), climbing mountain bean, mambi bean, oriental bean and chakhawai in Manipuri. In Nepal, it is called masyang, and in Uttarakhand, it is known as naurangi dal. But the size of the