The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Look high above, that is the price line you see

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 02, 2008
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Look high above, that is the price line you see

Raghava M. and Chitra V. Ramani

While some people can afford the increase in prices of commodities, there are those who are leading a hardscrabble existence

Several people are just able to make it through the day
Mechanism to check price rise has not been set up

Tough life: Spiralling prices have put essential commodities out of reach for many people.

BANGALORE: R. Subhashini, a resident of Cox Town, has just returned to the city after the Christmas holiday. Unpacking over, she went to the milk booth and was taken aback when told she would have to pay another Rs. 60 as add-on to the coupons she had already bought in advance. “The price of milk has increased by Rs. 2 a litre,” the booth owner informed her.

“Initially I protested… but, as it always happens, we have to put up with what is imposed on us,” said Ms. Subhashini, pointing out to the vulnerability of the consumer. “In an ideal situation, we the customers should be consulted regarding prices of milk, petrol, domestic gas and so on. But this does not happen,” she adds.

B. Nagini, a homemaker from J.P. Nagar, does not find the increasing prices extraordinary. Over the years, prices have been rising. “Take the case of gold. When I got married 30 years ago, the price of one tola (10 grams) of gold was about Rs. 200. Today it is around Rs. 10,000,” she said. “As the prices have gone up as have the conveniences,” she said referring to the availability of fresh vegetables right next door.

Okay with it

P. Velu, who runs a hair salon on Kamaraj Road, does not have much of a problem either. “It is not like that TV commercial where the man buys up all the onions expecting a possible increase in onion price,” he points out, “Whatever may be the price, I have to purchase groceries needed for the month.”

He spends about Rs. 2,000 every month on milk and groceries, but says corresponding to the increase in prices there has been an increase in his earnings. “I was happy when I was earning 10 paise for every haircut in my younger days. Now I charge Rs. 25,” said the 35-year-old, adding, “Unlike other professions, I have to work for long hours to earn an income necessary to maintain my family.”

The other half

But for Jayamma Nataraj, a daily wage construction worker who earns just enough money to buy a little rice, some vegetables and masala from the local grocer at Sanjayanagar, it is a hardscrabble existence. Things have become so bad that she sent her children away to her mother’s village in Tumkur. “It is just the two of us — my husband and I — here. With what we earn, we cannot afford to raise our children. We get just enough to buy little food on a daily basis,” she said.

There are hundreds of people in the city, who are just able to make it through the day. Take Noor Mohammed Ismail, for instance. He has been driving an autorickshaw for the past 22 years but still does not own one. “I take one on rent. I have to pay Rs. 150 to the owner every day. Whatever is left, which is usually around Rs. 100 to Rs. 150, is my earning for the day. How can anyone manage with such a paltry sum?” he asks.

Hard life

“My children often ask for treats and it hurts me to repeatedly tell them that we cannot afford it. Even with both me and my husband working, we are almost always out of money by mid-month. Vegetables are so expensive, so is rice, dal, wheat flour. Times are bad for people like me,” says Uma Venkatesh, who works as domestic help.

Uma works in three houses while her husband Venkatesh R. works as an attender in a private firm. “We have a BPL ration card. Sometimes even that does not help us. The rice is of poor quality. We cannot feed the children with that. So, we buy good rice just for them. What is the use of telling you all this? We will remain like this while the rich get richer and the Government will continue to pay no heed to the problems of people like us,” says Venkatesh.

Need for transparency

Y.G. Muralidharan, Director of Consumer Rights Education Awareness Trust (CREAT), lamented that the market-driven economy has kept consumers out of the pricing mechanism.

The regulatory mechanisms, one of the modes for checking price rise, have not been set up in many departments.

“Those which have been set up are not effective,” he added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka