Oppn attacks govt over price rise

The Opposition in Rajya Sabha today got together to take on the NDA government over the issue of price rise, with some accusing it of "fudging" numbers and calculations on inflation to suit itself.
Initiating a short duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha, TMC leader Derek O'Brien said it is worse to be vegetarian in India than a non-vegetarian because even though prices of meat and fish seems to be under-controlled, the prices of vegetables and dals have also sky-rocketed.
He said though the government rode to power on the slogan of "achhe din", a large percentage of the population has been left out of it.

Without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, O'Brien said that a former Chief Minister of a western state had tweeted about price rise during the UPA government and had expressed hope "that the person in his new role would be as concerned about price rise as before".
Noting that the people will not go by the inflation figures given out by the government, he said "fudging of numbers and calculations is not what people of India want".
He said the NDA government should be held responsible for the price rise while submitting the rates prevailing at over 30 vegetable markets across the country.

O'Brien said the government came in with good luck because the international oil prices had fallen drastically but the benefits were not transferred to the people.

Congress leader Ranjani Patel slammed the government over the rise in prices of essential commodities and dubbed the Modi government as "a government of slogans".
She said today was the fourth time when Rajya Sabha was discussing price rise since the Modi government took over two years ago.
Prabhat Jha of the BJP defended the government claiming that contrary to opposition's allegations, price rise was prevalent in the 10 years of UPA rule.
Citing figures, Jha said the Modi government has taken a number of steps to bring down the prices.

Naresh Aggarwal of the Samajwadi Party, in a lighter vein, said while he would have preferred to hear from the Finance Minister, he was glad that he could hear from the "would be finance minister" Jha.
He also took a dig at LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan saying that he hoped the Union Minister will remember his politics favouring the dalits and the poor and not give a reply on the price rise with a "capitalist mindset".
S R Balasubramoniyan of AIADMK asked the government to
reduce tax on petrol and diesel and give subsidies to farmers to encourage them to grow pulses.

Attacking the government over its inability to control the rise in prices of food and other essentials, Harivansh (JD-U) said the escalation was steeper in the rural areas.
Dilip Tirkey (BJD) suggested formulation of a long term policy to address rising prices especially those of essential commodities.
Nominated member Narendra Jadhav suggested that the Centre and states need to crack down on speculators.
"The government also needs to monitor trading in commodity derivatives, ramp up infrastructure of post harvest management as well as increase offtake through the public distribution system," he added.
R S Bharathi (DMK) attributed the main reason for the escalation in prices to the rising rates of fuel.

He too sought steps to check hoarding of essential commodities, improving storage facilities for foodgrains and organising farmers markets in every district across the country.
Taking a jibe at the government, Pramod Tiwari (Congress) said that when the ruling BJP-led dispensation goes back to the people for votes, there are two main issues -- terrorism and price rise -- and on both, they (government) are a "zero".
He attacked the government for levying taxes like the Swachh Bharat cess and increasing service tax.
Referring to the story of Nero playing the flute as Rome burnt, Tiwari said while the country is facing the fire of price rise, the Prime Minister was playing drums abroad.

"What a situation has come that chicken is cheaper than pulses and potatoes are costlier than eggs," he said.
Attacking the Congress for not acting on rising prices for the last 40 years, Shwait Malik (BJP) said the opposition party is now worried about price rise.
He also elaborated on the steps taken by the government to control prices, which, he claimed, were bearing fruits.
Blaming the government's policy for the rising prices,
Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) asked the government to immediately ban the futures and forward trading in all essential items and stop cess and excise duty hike in order to provide relief to common people.

He said rise in prices of essential items was not solely due to blackmarketing and hoarding, it is also because of several kinds of cess and increase in excise duty on petrol and diesel by the central government.
"This (price rise) is a relentless burden imposed on our people. ...This is not only due to blackmarketing which needs be curtailed. But this is not the sole reason," he said.
"What needs to be done immediately is to curtail speculators, ban immediately futures and forward trading in all essential items and stop cess and excise duty hike to provide relief to consumers," he said.

Asserting that fuel prices and several kinds of cess have burdened consumers, Yechury attacked the Centre for raising excise duty on petrol and diesel and not passing the benefits of the fall in global crude prices to consumers.
"This government has hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel nine times and people are paying more... This is causing price rise. This is the Centre's responsibility," he said.
Yechury further said imposition of several types of cess and hike in service tax to 14 per cent has led to inflationary situation in many essential items.
"All cess put together, these are extra burden on the consumers, leading to price rise," he said, noting that the NDA government was earning revenue from cess and excise duty on petroleum items.

He sought to know at what cost this revenue has been earned, even as India has earned "brownie points" internationally for managing its fiscal deficit.
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Endorsing points raised by CPI-M leader, D Raja (CPI) said the debate on price rise should not end as "ritual" and it should lead to "real action" by the government.
"Price rise is an issue which should be addressed on priority," he said while asking the government to ban futures trading in essential items and universalising the Public Distribution System (PDS).
Stating that cost of living has gone up but labour wages have not increased relatively, Raja said "it is a fact that prices of all essential commodities are increasing. Even cost of education, healthcare and housing has gone up. ...But there is no increase in wages of people relatively."

There has not been an increase in the price of labour. "The purchasing power of people is not growing. How is the government going to address this issue," he asked.
He also talked about Food Law and also raised questions on the linking of Aadhar cards with ration cards.
Praful Patel (NCP) said the rise in prices of essential items was a matter of concern and the government should find appropriate solutions to address this issue.
"Inflation is a national problem and we should find solution," he said, adding that even farmers who are also consumers are affected by this.

Patel said the import of pulses and its sale at cheaper rates through selected outlets will not help much.
"Farmers' income must increase. ...Food Processing has to improve. Certainly, programmes have been implemented to boost food processing but the pace is not fast enough to benefit farmers," he said.
Attacking the government for not solving the price rise issue, Patel said "the biggest problem is unemployment. Net addition of job is not there."
Expressing concern over not finding solution to address the price rise issue, Balwinder Singh Bhunder (SAD) said "we debate this issue every year. There are protests held ...But nobody thinks of a solution to this."

Maintaining that he would not blame anyone despite his party being an ally of the NDA government, he said "there is no magic wand to address this issue. Everyone wants prices to be under control, but we never talk about farmers. Onions were selling at 50 paise per kg in wholesale markets of Maharashtra last year, while it is sold at Rs 100/kg in retail markets."
Rajeev Shukla (Cong) asked the government to take steps
to curb inflation as prices of not only essential food items have risen but cost of electricity, education and other necessary things have also increased.

To control food inflation, he asked the government to ban futures trade in essential items, timely announcement of minimum support price of crops and check on speculation by middlemen and traders besides creating job opportunities.
He also said that "chanting Modi slogans" alone will not not help the government.
Admitting that price rise is a burning issue concerning the entire nation, Ram Vichar Netan (BJP) blamed the erstwhile Congress-led government for the situation. "Congress is most responsible for price rise as the party ruled maximum and framed such policies," he said.
He said the NDA government has taken several steps in the last more than two years to address the price rise, which was "unseen before". "The steps taken by NDA government will go a long way. .. In future, we will certainly see fall in prices. Prices of vegetables like tomato are seasonal...," he said.

Netan said that there was no point levelling "allegation and counter allegation" on this issue and "we should go with positive approach" to deal with this problem.
Countering him, Narendra Budania (Cong) said the NDA government has not taken any effective steps to rein in prices and has "failed completely" on this front.
"You do not have guts to act against black marketeers. You have given free hand to traders to loot," he said, adding that this problem could be solved by increasing production and for that farmers need to be supported.
Ripun Bora, also Congress, said that prices have gone up sharply in last two and half years of the Modi government and charged it with increasing the purchasing power of corporates and not the poor people. He asked the government to implement the food law effectively.

Hussain Dalwai of Congress said the pulses prices have increased more than three times in last two years. He also raised question about the quality of imported pulses.
"Pulses and mutton" have become unaffordable for people bacuse of high prices, he said, quickly adding that he was against "cow slaughter". Dalwai asked the government to supply pulses through public distribution system.
Sanjay Singh (Cong) said while prices of essential food items have increased under this government and farmers do not have access to water, fertilisers, power and market, Vijay Mallya has fled the country taking Rs 1,000 crore.
Stating that farmers are not getting right price for their products, Singh said there is a need to bridge the price gap between farm and kitchen.

Viplove Thakur (also Cong) said that prices would not come down by visting foreign countries.