FIGHT AGAINST SKYROCKETTING PRICES!

Abstract

Since the last four years or so, prices of all essential commodities and the food items in particular have been continuously rising, making the life of the mass of the people miserable. The inflation rate (based on wholesale price index) of food commodities have been consistently rising every year since 2006 from 5.09 to 5.60 in 2007, 7.87 in 2008, 12.90 in 2009 and 19.42 in January 2010 and in the week ending January 2011, the food inflation stood at 15.5. The inflation figure every year reflects the ex-tent of rise in the prices of food commodities over the previous year.

The basic feature of the rise in prices during last four years or so reveals a distinct trend. The rise in prices has been continuous throughout the year and year after year with no signs of going down or moderated at any point of time during the entire period. Mere demand-supply gap alone cannot explain such consistent and continuous rise in prices of food commodities striking at the belly of the common man, although that happens to be one of the major long term factors. Since 2006 onward, annual growth rate of food-output has always been a positive one except for the year 2009-10, which along with import of some of the food commodities cannot indicate such major shortage in supply as can justify such continuity and speed in the rise in prices as has been visible during the span of last four years. The phenomenon is therefore a systemic one being consciously promoted by those in the governance of the economy.