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Price rise still a matter of concern: Pranab

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday said it remained concerned over the rise in prices of essential commodities mostly on account of shortage of items, and said the public distribution system needed to strengthen to reduce its impact on common people.

Responding to supplementary questions in the Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said: “Price rise is a matter of concern as it affects the common man the most. This situation is mainly due to shortage of essential commodities like pulses, sugar and edible oil.”

The position was on account of the imbalance in the supply and demand of essential items, and the Centre has already stopped exports of food items and banned future trading on certain pulses for quite some time.

Mr. Mukherjee said pulses are produced by very few countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, and since they also consume most of the produce, there is no scope of exporting them to other countries.

As against the requirement of 23 million tonnes of sugar, only 16 million tonnes was available. The government could import raw sugar without duty to tide over the shortfall but could do little if the international price was high.

At the same time, it was encouraged by the 7.9 per cent growth in the economy during the second quarter.

The Centre was monitoring hoarding and in talks with the States on steps to curb it. However, it was for the States to take action.

Aarti Dhar reports:

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said sugar production in 2009-10 might only be 160 lakh tonnes, against an estimated demand of 230 lakh tonnes.

Replying to supplementaries during question hour in the Lok Sabha, he said that as per the preliminary estimates, the production could be 160 lakh tonnes, and the actual availability would depend on production and imports.

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