New Delhi, April 8
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his core group of Chief Ministers and Central Ministers today decided to tackle the price rise issue by appointing three high-powered working groups on agriculture production, food and public distribution and consumers affairs.
An important recommendation at the meeting was use of technology and global positioning system to track vehicles carrying essential commodities for better management of the public distribution system (PDS). Smart cards for beneficiaries and display of PDS-related information on the Internet were also discussed.
The working groups were formed at a marathon meeting on inflation at the Prime Minister’s 7 Race Course residence on the day Left parties held countrywide protests against the price rise. The meeting also comes against the backdrop of food inflation based on wholesale prices rising to 17.7 percent for the week ended March 27 from 16.35 per cent the week before.
The group on agriculture production will be headed by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the group on food and public distribution by Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendera Modi, who will chair the group on consumer affairs, later expressed dissatisfaction over measures taken by the government. The working groups have been asked to submit their reports within 30-45 days, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said.
Hooda’s team will have Chief Ministers Parkash Singh Badal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Nitish Kumar.
Narendera Modi’s group has Chief Ministers K Rosiah, Ashok Chavan and M Karunanidhi. Ahluwalia will chair the panel that includes Chief Ministers Raman Singh and Tarun Gogoi and Prime Minister’s Advisory Council Chairman C Rangaranjan.
Stressing on the food production, the Prime Minister told the core group: “Our food production needs to grow at a higher rate not just to keep pace with our population growth but also to satisfy the food and nutritional needs of the country to pull its people out of hunger and malnutrition,” he said, adding that the primary concern of the government was to “insulate the poor and vulnerable from the rapid rise in prices of essential commodities.
He also asked for advanced storage facilities to be constructed fast and not to allow any foodgrains to lie in open.
Sources said non-Congress Chief Ministers were particularly sceptical of the Food Security Act. They specifically asked the number of poor in the country to be ascertained as soon as possible. They also wanted the allocated food to include items like pulses and sugar, besides wheat and rice, to maintain nutritional value.
