Manmohan Singh to hold meeting on price rise

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday will preside a meeting here and review the latest market situation over spiralling food prices resulting in inflation over 18 per cent affecting common people in the country.

The Prime Minister office said some of his cabinet colleagues, including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Alhuwalia, and his assistants are going to attend the meeting.

Prises of many essentials have been going up unbridled for past months causing huge holes in the pockets of middle class and poor people.

Onion prices show no sign of climbing down even as the three-week deadline set by Sharad Pawar ended.

The commodity is still hovering around Rs 60-70/kg and garlic Rs 300 for a kilo pushing prices of other essentials and vegetables nearly out of reach of millions of people. This has pushed food inflation at 18.32% for the week ending Dec 25.

Sources said the unbridled price rise has forced the PM to call a meeting to discuss steps to calm prices and bring relief to millions of households.

On Dec 21, after retail onion prices quadrupled suddenly, Pawar had said the prices would remain high for three weeks and then show a declining trend.

Measures like to curbing hoarding have not been working at all, while income tax raids on traders in Nashik and Delhi have backfired.

Angry traders have gone on strike even as there is a slowdown in the arrival of onions from Pakistan. This meant that retail rates of onions were ruling at Rs 60-70/kg across the country.

The PM is expected to review the overall price situation, which will include an assessment of all factors driving up prices and possible remedies.