(a) whether it is a fact that the Government is keeping a close watch on the prices of all essential commodities;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) whether it is also true that the Government will take action at appropriate time when the prices of essential items go up?
THE MINISTER OF STATE
CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRI DANVE RAOSAHEB DADARAO)
(a) to (c) : The Price Monitoring Division (PMD) in the Department monitors retail and wholesale prices of 22 essential food commodities from 114 price reporting centres across the country. The items covered include rice, wheat, atta, gram dal, arhar dal, moong dal, urad dal, masoor, dal, tea, sugar, salt, Vanaspati, groundnut oil, mustard oil, milk, soya oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, gur, potato, onion and tomato. Based on the information provided by the reporting centres, prices of these items are brought out daily by the PMD. These commodity prices are available on the website of the Department which is update daily.
These prices and availability situation of essential commodities is regularly reviewed at the highest level including at the level of Ministers, Committee of Secretaries, Inter Ministerial Committee, Price Stabilization Fund Management Committee and other Department level review meetings. Based on the deliberations, Government takes various measures from time to time to stabilize prices of essential food items which, inter-alia, include appropriately utilizing trade and fiscal policy instruments like import duty, Minimum Export Price, export restrictions, imposition of stock limits and advising State for effective action against hoarders & black marketers etc. to regulate domestic availability and moderate prices. Besides, Government also utilises the buffer of agri-horticultural commodities like pulses, onion, etc. built under Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) to help moderate the volatility in prices.
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