Sugar;Export at 12.50Rs and Import for 22-32 Rs!!

BJP demands white paper on price rise

Sanat K Chakraborty | Guwahati -Daily Pioneer

The BJP on Tuesday demanded that the UPA Government publish a white paper on the pervasive price rise and explain to the people of this country how its policies were helping the aam admi.

“Prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing, while inflation has touched double digit, an all time high, which is the highest in the world,” BJP president Nitin Gadkari said, attributing all this primarily to the Govern-ment’s wrong economic policies and bad governance.

“It was wrong economic, agriculture, import-export policy that resulted in horrible food inflation,” he observed.

Gadkari claimed that price rise and inflation always happen whenever Congress comes to power. In 1990/91 during the Congress regime inflation/food inflation was 20.20 per cent, and again in 2009 December it reached 19.95 per cent. This should not have happened at all when there was a huge production of food grains in the country and the Government godowns were overflowing with rice and wheat. In spite of huge buffer stock, prices went up beyond control.

“Why did the Govern-ment not use and release the buffer stock? the BJP chief asked. Instead, the ruling Government resorted to “non-transparent, manipulative export-import policies.”

For example, the Government has allowed export of 48 lakh tonnes of sugar at a price of Rs 12.50 a kilogram, and then later imported sugar from Brazil at double the export price of Rs 22 to 32 per kilogram, which beats all logic and common sense. Take another issue, for example, he said: Why is wheat allowed to rot when it is beyond the reach of ordinary consumer? Who is benefiting from that? He asked adding that: “All this wheat is going to distilleries for making liquor.”

All this smacks of a huge scam, Gadkari asserted, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an economist of great repute, needs to explain.

Gadkari after wrapping up his two-day maiden visit to Assam, told journalists that BJP had asked the Prime Minister 14 questions on all these issues, especially about its ‘scandalous’ export-import policies and ‘manipulative’ commodity exchanges that were benefiting multinationals, big corporate houses and speculators. In fact, he said: “Commodity exchanges have become dens of speculation and manipulation,” and suggested that the essential commodities be taken out of the commodity exchanges.

The BJP chief also expressed grave concern at the increasing rural poverty, as the number of BPL families had risen to 42 crores, according to the findings of the December 2009 Tendulkar Committee from 31 crores cited by the Planning Commission report in 2005.

How can, then, the ruling Government still claim to be working for the aam admi? BJP leader said.

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