New Delhi, August 28
Even as basic food items continue to become dearer for the “aam aadmi”, the Cabinet Committee on Prices (CCP) has not met even once to take stock of the availability and prices of essential commodities.

Headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the 10-member panel was set up around mid-June with the express purpose of monitoring the price situation in the country.

The committee comprises Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar, Murli Deora, Mamata Banerjee, Ambika Soni, BK Handique, Anand Sharma and MK Azharagiri.

Besides monitoring the price situation, the panel has been mandated to take appropriate corrective measures, assess the internal availability of essential and agricultural commodities and, accordingly, decide on their exports. The committee has been asked to make the public distribution scheme (PDS) more effective and enforce the Essential Commodities Act.

For some unexplicable reasons, the panel has failed to meet even once since its formation although prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing. This is in sharp contrast to the earlier UPA dispensation when a similar panel met periodically to take stock of prices and the rising inflation.

Since the panel has not met even two months after its constitution, several of its members, when contacted, had virtually forgotten about the existence of the committee.

Confirming that the panel had not held even a single meeting so far, sources in the Prime Minister Office (PMO) said a probable reason could be that the official inflation figures have declined sharply. Besides, the Prime Minister had set up an empowered group of ministers (EGOM) under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that had been entrusted with the function for tackling drought situation in the country and suggesting measures to minimise its damaging impact on prices.

A number of Congress leaders, including ministers, were surprised over the failure to convene a meeting of the CCP. “With prices of basic food items soaring, such a meeting will send out a political signal that the government is serious about tackling the problem,” said a senior Cabinet minister.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar have convened a number of meetings of agriculture secretaries, ministers and chief ministers to review the drought situation.

Worried over the adverse fallout of the spreading drought conditions, Congress president Sonia Gandhi called a meeting of the party’s working committee last week where members expressed concern over rising food prices. She had even written to the Prime Minister urging him to take effective and speedy measures to keep a check on prices of essential commodities.

There is a growing fear in the Congress that its “aam aadmi” image would take a severe beating as there are indications that the real impact of drought will be felt in the coming months when prices of essential commodities might go up even further.

Only yesterday, Pranab Mukherjee had said that the country’s farm production in the kharif season could fall by 15-20 per cent because of the poor monsoon that resulted had in drought conditions in 252 districts across 10 states.