New Delhi:
Home Minister P Chidambaram while addressing a press conference in Bangalore yesterday had made a comment that people were prepared to pay Rs 15 for a bottle of water and Rs 20 for a cone ice-cream, but protest against rise in wheat and rice price.
However today, the Union Minister issued a press statement to clarify his stand.
Below is the full text of that statement.
Shri P Chidambaram, Home Minister, has read the report in the Times of India (page 12) and the box item on page 1 leading to that report. He is shocked and disgusted by the deliberate distortion of the relevant question and answer at the media briefing in Bangalore on 10.7.2012.
The video is available at timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
Answering a question on the burden on the common man, the Home Minister referred to the different segments of the population and the schemes that benefit the different segments. He referred to higher MSP (as benefiting the farmers); MGNREGA (as benefiting the rural poor); mid-day meal scheme (as benefiting millions of children); and he referred to PMGSY (as benefiting thousands of villages). He referred to the price of crude oil and how the Government was constrained to first raise petrol prices and then how it was reduced twice to benefit the middle class. He then said (as can be seen from the exact text of the answer):
"You mentioned high food prices. Yes food inflation is high. But higher procurement prices will reflect in slightly higher food prices. But higher procurement prices benefits millions of farmers. If you increase the price of sugarcane, sugar cannot be cheaper than before. If you increase the price of procured wheat or procured paddy, rice and wheat for the consumer cannot be less. Sometimes, and I have written about this once, we are prepared to pay fifteen rupees for a bottle of water but we will not bear one rupee increase in the price of a kilo of wheat or a kilo of rice. We are prepared to pay rupees twenty for an ice cream cone but won't pay one rupee more for a kilo of wheat or rice."
The Home Minister made a matter-of-fact statement. He did not 'mock' or 'chide' any one. If the interview is viewed, it will be seen that he spoke in a matter-of-fact manner.
The Home Minister used the word "we". He did not use the words "why do they make so much noise about price rise". He did not say "There needn't be any complaint for price rise when things are on the side of poor farmers". The report is therefore a complete distortion of his statements.
However today, the Union Minister issued a press statement to clarify his stand.
Below is the full text of that statement.
Shri P Chidambaram, Home Minister, has read the report in the Times of India (page 12) and the box item on page 1 leading to that report. He is shocked and disgusted by the deliberate distortion of the relevant question and answer at the media briefing in Bangalore on 10.7.2012.
The video is available at timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
Answering a question on the burden on the common man, the Home Minister referred to the different segments of the population and the schemes that benefit the different segments. He referred to higher MSP (as benefiting the farmers); MGNREGA (as benefiting the rural poor); mid-day meal scheme (as benefiting millions of children); and he referred to PMGSY (as benefiting thousands of villages). He referred to the price of crude oil and how the Government was constrained to first raise petrol prices and then how it was reduced twice to benefit the middle class. He then said (as can be seen from the exact text of the answer):
"You mentioned high food prices. Yes food inflation is high. But higher procurement prices will reflect in slightly higher food prices. But higher procurement prices benefits millions of farmers. If you increase the price of sugarcane, sugar cannot be cheaper than before. If you increase the price of procured wheat or procured paddy, rice and wheat for the consumer cannot be less. Sometimes, and I have written about this once, we are prepared to pay fifteen rupees for a bottle of water but we will not bear one rupee increase in the price of a kilo of wheat or a kilo of rice. We are prepared to pay rupees twenty for an ice cream cone but won't pay one rupee more for a kilo of wheat or rice."
The Home Minister made a matter-of-fact statement. He did not 'mock' or 'chide' any one. If the interview is viewed, it will be seen that he spoke in a matter-of-fact manner.
The Home Minister used the word "we". He did not use the words "why do they make so much noise about price rise". He did not say "There needn't be any complaint for price rise when things are on the side of poor farmers". The report is therefore a complete distortion of his statements.
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