New Delhi, April 09: Seeking greater involvement of states to combat shooting prices of agri commodities and ensure effective nationwide distribution of foodgrains, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today set up three working groups of chief ministers.
The decision to set up the working groups was taken after about a four-hour long marathon meeting of the core committee comprising 10 chief ministers, senior Cabinet ministers and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The meeting was chaired by Singh.
The Centre has decided to involve the states in dealing with the price situation at a time when the both are blaming each other for rising food inflation, which soared to 17.70 per cent.
Briefing the media after the meeting, Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar said the first working group on agriculture production will be headed by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and will comprise chief ministers of Punjab, West Bengal and Bihar.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will head the working group on consumer affairs. It will have Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh chief ministers as members.
“It seems that the Government of India has not got any concrete solution to check rise in prices,” Modi told reporters after attending a four-hour long.
Modi also said that giving only rice, wheat and sugar to BPL families is not sufficient and they should also be provided with pulses and edible oil.
The third working on food and public distribution will be headed by Ahluwalia and will include chief ministers of Chhattisgarh, Assam and chairman of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) C Rangarajan as members.
The working groups will submit their reports in two months.
The PM is reported to have asked for creation of advanced storage facilities for food grains. He also said that the rate of food production has to match the demands of the population.
Modi told reporters after the meeting that he had asked the Centre to provide sugar and pulses to the states to fight the crisis.
Pawar said the retail prices of commodities like sugar had considerably come down.
The over four-hour long meeting recommended more involvement of Panchayati Raj (village bodies) institutions in working of the PDS.
“For this, introduction of modern technology such as computerisation of PDS operations and the use of global positioning system to track vehicles carrying PDS commodities, smart cards of PDS beneficiaries and display of PDS related information on internet in consumer friendly manner have to be encouraged,” the prime minister’s core group recommended.
Thursday’s meeting came against the backdrop of India’s annual food inflation based on wholesale prices rising to 17.7 percent for the week ended March 27 from 16.35 percent the week before.
Over the past 52 weeks, pulses have become costlier by 32.6 percent, milk by 21.12 percent, wheat by 13.34 percent and rice by 8.8 percent, while the prices of potatoes and onions have started easing.
The core group was set up in February with the CMs of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattishgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal as members.
However, the CMs of Punjab and Tamil Nadu skipped the meeting. Punjab was represented by its food minister and Tamil Nadu by its deputy Chief Minister.
According to officials, six main issues were discussed during the meeting:
– How to raise the country’s farm productivity
– How to bridge the gap between prices at farm-gate and retail market
– How can the Essential Commodities Act be strengthened to prevent hoarding
– How to ensure better delivery of food and strengthen the public distribution system
– How the warehousing network in the country can be augmented, and
– How to ensure better seeds and fertilisers at fair prices to farmers
The core group decided to augment warehousing and storage capacity and build cold chains in the country, a major programme for building up storage capacity has to be taken up, a statement from the agricultural ministry said.
—–Agencies