New Delhi, April 09: The high- powered core group on price rise failed to chalk out a strategy to provide any immediate relief to the common man who is reeling under the impact of galloping food inflation.
One substantial outcome of the core group’s meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday, however, was the evidence of growing consensus on the Food Security Bill.
At the meeting, the states also prodded the Planning Commission to identify the base of poor who would benefit from the proposed law.
The meeting deliberated mainly on long- term measures to ensure food availability.
Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar hoped that the first signs of decline in prices of essential items were already visible and that the downward trend would continue.
Chaired by the PM, the meeting was attended by the chief ministers of eight states — Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
Tamil Nadu was represented by deputy CM M. K. Stalin and Punjab by its food minister.
The Centre played on the suggestion that the states can help matters by intervening in the market and retailing essential commodities at prices below the prevailing market prices.
But it sounded a note of caution when some chief ministers sought the legal ammunition for doing that. Some states wanted the authority to issue control orders for prescribing a ceiling on retail prices and fixing maximum profit margins while providing for more stringent punishment to the defaulters.
The Centre tersely reminded them that the chief ministers’ conference in 2001 had liberalised the price administration mechanism and, so, the proposal to re- introduce controls needed “ very careful consideration”. “ The Centre has no solution for the rising prices of essential commodities, especially food items. It had no agenda for this during the meeting,” Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi said.
The Prime Minister focused on sustaining productivity gains and adapting strategies specific to states and districts for reducing the gap between potential and actual farm yields.
“ Increased production, while being absolutely essential, is not enough to achieve food security for all. For that we need to look at strengthening of the public distribution system to prevent large- scale leakages and diversion of foodgrains and also to remedy exclusion and inclusion errors in identification of BPL ( below poverty line) and Annapurna Anna Yojana beneficiaries,” Singh said.
It was a signal that the Centre is committed to enacting the food security Bill. The states brooked no objection as the onus of provisioning cheap foodgrains ( rice or wheat at Rs 3 a kg) falls essentially on the Centre.
The Centre’s seriousness was evident also from finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s take. He underlined the government’s resolve to ensure food security to the vulnerable sections.
Mukherjee also stressed on the four- pronged strategy to improve food availability — increased agriculture production, reduction of agriculture produce wastage, credit support to farmers and giving boost to food processing sector.
The meeting also constituted three working groups for indepth study of the issues on the agenda. The group on agriculture production will be chaired by Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The group of consumer affairs will be under Modi and the group on food and public distribution will be chaired by Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Gujarat and West Bengal are understood to have specifically demanded additional supplies of pulses and edible oil to meet the demands.
Pawar stressed that a “ paradigm shift” — bringing agriculture back to the core of the agenda — was necessary for improving the situation.
—Agencies