(a) whether the Government has made/ is making some lists of essential foodgrains, fruits and daily essential eatables which need special monitoring to avoid any irregular inflation almost every year;
(b) if so, the details of those products and if not, the reasons therefor;
(c) the main reasons identified for rise in price of each product under frequent inflation; and
(d) the Government plan for future course of action?
THE MINISTER OF STATE
CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)
(a) & (b) : The Government is monitoring the prices of 22 essential food commodities on daily basis. These includes rice and wheat in cereals; chana, arhar, urad, moong and masoor in pulses; groundnut oil, mustard oil, Vanaspati, soya oil, sunflower oil and palm oil in edible oils; onion, tomato and potato in vegetables; and other items covering sugar, gur, milk, tea, atta and salt.
(c) : Rise in the prices of essential food items are due to various factors such as shortfall in production, increased transportation costs, supply chain constraints like lack of storage facilities, increase in demand because of rise in population and per capita income and change in food habits. In addition, speculation, cartelization, black-marketing/hoarding also put pressure on prices.
(d) : Prices and availability of selected essential food commodities are reviewed regularly at high level committees such as Committee of Secretaries (CoS) headed by Cabinet Secretary, Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) comprising of various stakeholders as well as other Departmental committees for timely and appropriate policy intervention.
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