The Communist Party of India (CPI) will launch a movement against the spiralling prices of essential commodities from August 1 and demanded the government to take measures to bring down the prices to the range as they were six months back, State secretariat member of the party and president of AP Rythu Sangham K. Ramakrishna has said.
Neither the farmer, who produce most of the essential commodities, nor the consumer were benefited with the hike in prices and production, respectively, and it was only the traders and middlemen who cashed in on the situation, he said talking to newspersons here on Monday. The State and Central governments had completely failed in controlling the prices and their attitude only helped the traders.
Citing an example Mr. Ramakrishna stated that the State had achieve the best ever paddy production last year including a bumper crop in rabi season too. But, the farmers had to settle for a price of Rs. 800 to 850 per quintal as against Rs. 930 fixed by the Centre as minimum support price as the procurement agency, Food Corporation of India, refused to purchase the produce on the pretext that the godowns were not empty.
The connivance of traders and government machinery was as it was the traders who purchased the produce at lower rates. After milling the paddy they were selling the rice nothing less than Rs. 30 a kg now and making huge profits. The CPI leader also flayed the remarks of Civil Supplies Minister J. Krishna Rao, who had suggested the people to go for low quality rice. Even in the case of red gram dal the government had played into the hands of traders. Against the annual requirement of 2.4 lakh tonnes in the State the home production was 2.1 lakh tonnes sufficient for about 10 months. However, the consumers were experiencing shortage and price rise of the commodity for the last four months.
Neither the farmer, who produce most of the essential commodities, nor the consumer were benefited with the hike in prices and production, respectively, and it was only the traders and middlemen who cashed in on the situation, he said talking to newspersons here on Monday. The State and Central governments had completely failed in controlling the prices and their attitude only helped the traders.
Citing an example Mr. Ramakrishna stated that the State had achieve the best ever paddy production last year including a bumper crop in rabi season too. But, the farmers had to settle for a price of Rs. 800 to 850 per quintal as against Rs. 930 fixed by the Centre as minimum support price as the procurement agency, Food Corporation of India, refused to purchase the produce on the pretext that the godowns were not empty.
The connivance of traders and government machinery was as it was the traders who purchased the produce at lower rates. After milling the paddy they were selling the rice nothing less than Rs. 30 a kg now and making huge profits. The CPI leader also flayed the remarks of Civil Supplies Minister J. Krishna Rao, who had suggested the people to go for low quality rice. Even in the case of red gram dal the government had played into the hands of traders. Against the annual requirement of 2.4 lakh tonnes in the State the home production was 2.1 lakh tonnes sufficient for about 10 months. However, the consumers were experiencing shortage and price rise of the commodity for the last four months.
0 comments:
Post a Comment