Chandigarh, November 3
Poor agriculture production coupled with inefficient government policy for release of agri commodities in the open market has resulted in the prices of most grocery items hitting the roof.
The price of wheat flour, a staple diet in most North Indian homes, has gone up to Rs 20 per kg. The price last week was Rs 18. Sugar, the quintessential kitchen item, is available at Rs 38 a kg, up from Rs 33 around Diwali. Egg prices have soared to Rs 40 a dozen, showing an increase of Rs 5 per dozen, while pulses like moong dhuli, arhar and urd are up by almost Rs 10 per kg.
The price of desi ghee, too, has shot up by Rs 10 a litre. Interestingly, there is a severe shortage of desi ghee in the market and it is now retailing at Rs 250 per kg.
“From wheat flour to sugar, pulses to eggs and vegetables to dairy products, the prices of almost all grocery items have gone up by almost 10 to 20 per cent in the past fortnight. The common man is left with no choice but to curb other expenditures. “It’s extremely difficult for families which are totally dependent on a single-earning member. The ever-increasing food bill has sent the household budget for a toss,” rued Naresh Gulati, a Punjab government employee in Jalandhar.
Agreed Sumita Bhatt, a housewife in Zirakpur: “In the past four months, the monthly grocery bill for my family is up from Rs 4,000 to Rs 7,000 now. We have been forced to make a drastic cut on our entertainment expenditure. It means no outings, no movies and we are not even buying any new goods.”
While prices of pulses, sugar and dairy products like ghee and butter have increased because of low production, the ineffective economic policies of the government has led to an increase in prices of wheat flour. There is no marketable surplus of wheat (wheat available to the flour millers for converting to flour) available even as there was a bumper wheat crop in the last season. A major portion of the wheat produced during the last rabi marketing season (RMS) was procured by the government agencies, the farmers and private traders did not keep enough stocks with them to release in the open market. This, coupled with the fact that the government has fixed a higher price for selling wheat in the open market, has led to a steep hike in the price.
