The Hindu : National : Pressure mounting on UPA

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Friday, Feb 16, 2007
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National

National

Pressure mounting on UPA

Special Correspondent

Government `squarely responsible' for galloping inflation: CPI (M)

NEW DELHI: Notwithstanding the reduction in the prices of diesel and petrol announced on Thursday, pressure is mounting on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance with even its own coalition partners demanding urgent measures to check the galloping prices.

While the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has held the government "culpable" for the price rise, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) asked the government to get its act together on the issue. "Price rise is the real problem for our government. We should try to contain inflation and control spiralling prices," NCP spokesman D.P. Tripathi told a news agency.

Without naming Mr. Pawar, the Janata Dal (United), however, said placing Agriculture, Food and Consumers Affairs Ministry under one person was not such a good idea. Party President Sharad Yadav also charged Congress president Sonia Gandhi with only paying lip service to the issue of rising prices. "If the government is serious about checking price rise, it should immediately take corrective steps such as scrapping the multi-commodities exchange, banning forward trading of essential items and strengthening the Public Distribution System."

Futures trading blamed

Holding the Government "squarely responsible for the present state of affairs" in its editorial in the latest issue of People's Democracy, the CPI (M) has identified the current dispensation's refusal to reverse the decision of the NDA government to lift all restrictions on futures trading in agricultural commodities as a reason for the rising prices.

Stating that the last three years had registered an increase of over 600 per cent in the total value of commodities traded in the futures market, the party noted that it was not the farmers who were benefiting from futures trading but a handful of big companies and traders.

Referring to the Government's refusal to accept the recommendations of a Parliamentary Standing Committee to ban futures trading in essential agricultural commodities, the editorial said: "Whether it be wheat, dal, sugar or onions, big traders are profiting by speculative trading and the large mass of small and marginal farmers and the consumers are being fleeced."

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