New Delhi:
With the prices of essential commodities reaching worrying levels, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday held a high-level meeting to find ways to tackle inflation, particularly of food items.
The meeting was attended, among others, by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
"Another round of discussion may be held on Wednesday," a source said.
Food inflation rose to 18.32 per cent for the week ended December 25, due to rise in prices of food items like onion, milk and meat.
Retail price of onion continues to rule high at Rs 55-60 per kg in major parts of the country due to sluggish supply.
Onion prices declined only marginally despite the government announcing three weeks ago that it was taking several measures to increase supply, including through import.
However, Agriculture Minister Pawar said on Monday that there was not much the government could do in regard to vegetable prices.
"...vegetable prices are high and on that we do not have any control," he said, hoping that prices would come down "eventually".
Even arrivals of new onion crop could not make much impact on its prices which remained at Rs 55-60 at the retail level.
Measures like Income Tax raids on traders, slashing import duty on onion and tight monetary policy by the Reserve Bank have not helped ease the situation.
To some extent, global spike in commodity prices are also being blamed for inflation, which has become a main concern for the government.
On the import front, there seems to be no immediate hopes of Pakistan resuming onion exports to India with its local traders deciding to sell the contracted 3,000 tonnes of the vegetable into their local market.
BJP targets PM on rising prices
Taking the attack on the ruling dispensation a notch higher, the BJP today accused the Prime Minister of leading the "most corrupt" government in the country's history and said the UPA II has little idea on how to deal with the various problems plaguing the country.
"People used to say, PM does not have political experience, but they admired two other qualities in him. One that he is a good economist and that he is an honest man. His admirers would say that he may not be a politician but at least he has these two good qualities. We have now found out what kind of an economist he is. And how honest is he, if he is the Prime Minister of the most corrupt government," said Arun Jaitley, Senior BJP leader. (Read: BJP slams Prime Minister on corruption, prices)
The meeting was attended, among others, by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
"Another round of discussion may be held on Wednesday," a source said.
Food inflation rose to 18.32 per cent for the week ended December 25, due to rise in prices of food items like onion, milk and meat.
Retail price of onion continues to rule high at Rs 55-60 per kg in major parts of the country due to sluggish supply.
Onion prices declined only marginally despite the government announcing three weeks ago that it was taking several measures to increase supply, including through import.
However, Agriculture Minister Pawar said on Monday that there was not much the government could do in regard to vegetable prices.
"...vegetable prices are high and on that we do not have any control," he said, hoping that prices would come down "eventually".
Even arrivals of new onion crop could not make much impact on its prices which remained at Rs 55-60 at the retail level.
Measures like Income Tax raids on traders, slashing import duty on onion and tight monetary policy by the Reserve Bank have not helped ease the situation.
To some extent, global spike in commodity prices are also being blamed for inflation, which has become a main concern for the government.
On the import front, there seems to be no immediate hopes of Pakistan resuming onion exports to India with its local traders deciding to sell the contracted 3,000 tonnes of the vegetable into their local market.
BJP targets PM on rising prices
Taking the attack on the ruling dispensation a notch higher, the BJP today accused the Prime Minister of leading the "most corrupt" government in the country's history and said the UPA II has little idea on how to deal with the various problems plaguing the country.
"People used to say, PM does not have political experience, but they admired two other qualities in him. One that he is a good economist and that he is an honest man. His admirers would say that he may not be a politician but at least he has these two good qualities. We have now found out what kind of an economist he is. And how honest is he, if he is the Prime Minister of the most corrupt government," said Arun Jaitley, Senior BJP leader. (Read: BJP slams Prime Minister on corruption, prices)
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