Price Rise — Who suffers, who gains?
Mr. Vice-Chairman, Sir, I beg to move the following resolution:
“Having regard to—
the increasing rate of inflation and rapid rise in the price of essential commodities leading to a drastic fall in the real wages and earnings of industrial workers, agricultural labour, salaried employees and others; and
the growing disparity between the prices of agricultural products on the one hand and the prices of agricultural inputs and industrial products on the other, leading to ever-increasing hardships for the toiling millions,
this House is of the opinion that Government should take over the wholesale trade in foodgrains and other essential commodities; ensure remunerative prices to the agriculturist and organise a proper public distribution system for the supply of essential commodities at fair prices.”
The issues I have raised in this resolution are of keen interest to all sections of our population, and all the political parties in the country are feeling very much concerned about it. The galloping inflation, rapidly increasing prices, cut in the real wages, growing disparity in the prices of agricultural produce and industrial products and the need for a proper (Text of speech made in the Rajya Sabha on August 1, 1980.) distribution system are not questions which are being debated only by economists or Government officials, today they are being discussed in every household. The people say that during the election, every party comes before them and promises reduction in prices and supply of essential commodities, but immediately after the elections are over, prices begin rising. Similarly, in every budget, when it is presented the Finance Minister promises that his budget is not going to have any impact on prices. But immediately after the budget is presented, prices begin rising. This happened in the case of Chaudhury Charan Singh’s budget last year. He stated here that the effect of that budget would be a rise of one per cent in price, but it went up in three months by 12 per cent. And this year also, in the case of Mr. Venkataraman’s budget, we have seen, within one month prices have risen by five per cent.
During the last five months, there has been an increase of more than 11 per cent in the prices. We are being told now not to be afraid of this, we are being told that the prices are being levelled up. But the position has become very alarming today. I need not speak about my party journals. If we go through the various newspapers, we find that there are write-ups everyday which are very alarming. I start from June itself. The Economic Times, after the budget, starts by saying :
“Prices of several consumer goods have gone up after the budget though the excise duty has been reduced or abolished on many of them. Wholesalers and retailers are expecting revised price lists for other items on which prices are not increased already.
“Manufacturers of consumer goods say that whatever reduction effected in the excise duty on consumer items will be offset by the rise in cost of production and freight charges that have followed the budget.”
Economic and Political Weekly, in its write-up writes about inflation as under:
“The price situation is threatening to altogether get out of control. Inflation has gathered further momentum after the installation of the present Government in the second week of January. The index number of wholesale prices (base: 1970-71 = 100) had stood at 224.8 at the end of January. Thereafter it has been galloping and by the end of June it had touched 249.9 registering a rise of 25.1 points or 11.2 per cent in the short span of five months. This surpasses the rise last year, when, between January and June, the index had gone up from 188.2 to 204.1, or by 10.1 per cent. Since the beginning of the present bout of inflation in February 1979, in a period of some 16 months, the index has moved up by 35.8 per cent, from 186 to 249.9.”
Even in the report of the Ministry of Commerce and Civil Supplies, it is stated that the situation is alarming. It says:
“The current creeping and persistent inflation has affected a large number of commodities. Thus, in February 1980, the wholesale price index of the major commodities groups had gone up sharply over the year by 19.5 per cent in primary articles, 23.0 per cent in respect of fuel, power, light and lubricants, 26.5 per cent in respect of manufactured products. Both agricultural as well as industrial products have witnessed price increases which include a large number of essential commodities and items of mass consumption. The products the prices of which have gone up significantly include rice, jowar, bajra, maize, ragi, onions, potatoes, meat, kerosene, coke, vanaspati, groundnut oil, mustard oil, gingelly oil, coconut oil, sugar, gur, paper, footwear, tyres, tubes, soda ash, soap, synthetic detergents, matches, electric lamps, tooth brush, salt, etc. However, the wholesale price indices of arhar, masoor, urad, condiments and spices and drugs and medicines were lower in February 1980, in comparison to February 1979”.
The report says about consumer prices:
“The trend in the movement of the wholesale price index has been reflected in the consumer price index for industrial workers. In February 1980, the consumer price index for industrial workers stood at 369 in comparison to 332 in March 1979, indicating an increase of 11.1 per cent in the first eleven months of 1979-80.”
“Over the year, this index in February 1980 was 12.2 per cent higher. Similarly, the consumer price index for agricultural labourers moved up from 310 in March 1979 to 361 in February 1980, showing an increase of 16.5 per cent. This index was higher by 15.7 per cent over the same month last year”.
But, the Minister and the Government try to explain this in relation to a world phenomenon, that not only in our country but also in the world, in other countries, this impact is there. In his reply in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Venkatarman admitted that inflation was a national problem, and the inflationary pressure in the economy was pretty high; with the likely increase in the crude oil prices and imported equipment and machinery, the threat of imported inflation was also high.
The same report also states the following about the imported inflation:
“Implacable inflation has beome a global phenomenon and has emerged as the important problem confronting the comity of nations. In recent weeks, resurging inflationary forces abroad have been observed. The recent reviews made by IMF, OECD and the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe foresee rising inflation, unemployment and economic stagnation in 1980. The Indian economy cannot remain unaffected by these global trends and developments”.
So, we are told in the end that since inflation is there everywhere in the world, we cannot remain unaffected by it. This is the advice which is given, though everyday we are told that they are making all efforts to put a check on the rise in prices.
I would not agree that inflation is a world phenomenon. No doubt, in the capitalist system, they are today very much affected by the inflationary pressures. But there is another world also, the Socialist world, which is not affected by inflation at all, where the prices are stabilised, where the standard of living is rising and where there is no unemployment. That is why, when we talk of the world, we only talk of the capitalist world, and the capitalist world also feels proud of it.
Only today, one American has written an article about trade relations of India with the Socialist countries and the USA. He has stated that if you compare the trade relations of India with them—we are linked with the capitalist system —and the Socialist countries, the ratio is 4:1, that is, one with the Socialist countries and four with the capitalist countries.
If we go into the issue of prices as a whole, it is not proper to say that it is a world phenomenon And if we say that it is a world phenomenon and that prices are rising everywhere, then it means that we are trying to find cover behind it, that they cannot be checked, they will go on alarmingly high, they will go on squeezing the common mass Of people.
If we look at recent prices, the trend is very clear. It is stated in all the reports that in June, the wholesale price index stood at 244.7 which is 2.9 per cent higher than in May. It is the highest rise in a month in the last ten years. During the first quarter of 1980-81, the prices increased by 20.3 per cent over the corresponding period of 1979-80.
If we go through the papers, again we find that the picture is very alarming. There is one study, a survey conducted by a Correspondent of The Times of India. He met many people, but I will quote one instance:
“A telling story was narrated by one Lal Bahadur, a chowkidar, in a public sector company guest house. He is not entitled to accommodation but gets a house rent allowance. In his efforts to find a shelter for his wife and two children, he moved from one quarter to another. A small room of ten feet by 12, with an asbestos roof in Jamrudpur, Greater Kailash, cost him Rs. 110 per month. Yes, it did have a light and I did not have to pay extra for the electricity, he said, but we shared a common bathing place and toilet with ten other families. And I could hardly afford to pay this rent. My total salary, with allowances is Rs. 400. But I get Rs. 385 in hand, as Rs. 15 is deducted for the provident fund.
“Now my wife has found a job with a family and they have given us a quarter in place of wages. So we have left Jamrudpur. The most important item in the family budget is food he says. ‘My children are still young. My son, Raju, is 12 and the daughter is almost three. I try to buy one litre of milk from the Mother Dairy, which costs me Rs. 2.20 a day, i.e., Rs. 66 a month, and Rs. 60 per month on vegetables, as nothing costs less than Rs. two per kg. The lintels are dear and I spend about Rs. 60 a month on dais alone. Atta and rice for the four of us comes to Rs. 100 per month, and we buy from the ration shop. Then there is mustard oil which is now Rs. 13 per kg. when I take my own tin. We use 12 litres of kerosene a month for stove and that is Rs. 90. Soap for washing our clothes is Rs. seven per kg. and we use two kgs. a month. The cheapest bath soap is Rs. 1.70 per piece and we use at least two cakes. All this leaves hardly anything for clothes, shoes and medicines.” So, this is the position, which he is speaking of. Having taken care of food and shelter, parents wish to provide the best opportunity of education. Then he says: “Rs. 2.50 a month for fees and then for books and other things. For a pair of shoes and other things he is not left with anything and he has to undergo debts every month, to provide for the minimum requirements of his family.”
Again on July 27, The Times of India very categorically states something about prices, which everyone of us knows: “Prices continue to rise from day to day and from week to week in the capital. In just one month there has been a two to four per cent increase in the price of essential consumer items like vegetables, edible oils, pulses, atta, and the price of sugar alone has gone up by 30 paise. Bread is already a scarce commodity. Atta costs 20 paise more per kilo. Rain-soaked vegetables are selling very dear. Ladies finger is Rs. four to Rs. five a kilo and tomatoes are selling Rs. five to Rs. six a kilo, and these are more expensive than the king of fruits, the mangoes. The post-budget inflation, combined with seasonal monsoon shortages, have played havoc with the budget of the poor and middle class families. Fair price shops remain more of a myth in this period of crisis. The much talked about Civil Supplies Corporation has not yet been set up. What little the fair price shops supply is not of good quality.” In the end it is stated, “In the post-budget period the expenditure of an average family of five members has gone up by Rs. 50 if the family does not have transport, and Rs. 60 to Rs. 70, if it does have a vehicle.”
A well-known statistical organisation, which does not wish to be identified had worked out the details. “The biggest increase in expenditure is in edible oils, Rs. 15 a month, if the family requires two kgs. of oil, sugar Rs. three if two extra kgs. have to be bought, and if the family maintains a scooter, it will have to spend Rs. 21 extra on 30 literes of petrol. With the price of cigarettes going up 25 paise to 45 paise per packet, there is an increase of another Rs. ten to Rs. 20. The budget goes up like this.” Not only these papers, all the papers have commented in the same manner. Then, the value of the rupee, it is estimated has gone down to 19 paise. This is perhaps on the basis of wholesale prices. If you go into the retail market, the rupee will not be even of the value of ten to 12 paise, if you go to purchase certain things. Now, what is the assurance given? Even in this background, instead of taking some serious steps about finding a remedy, what is being suggested to us is, yes, shopkeepers will be asked to display price-tags and stern steps will be taken soon.
They say that the price rise is mainly in three commodities—petroleum products, fertilisers and chemicals—and that prices will be levelled up. See the complacency of the Finance Minister when he states that there is only a ten per cent rise in the prices of consumer articles. This is how the matter is being treated. There is no talk of lowering the prices but only of curbing or levelling up. We do not understand the meaning of all this. Nobody says that the prices will be brought down. What is happening today is that everything is being justified. If we talk about taking over the stocks of sugar and organising them properly through the public distribution system, they say, “No, we cannot do it. We get the levy sugar at a price below the cost.” So they allow them to make up for it. It is as if the sugar manufacturers should be allowed to loot as much as they can for the levy sugar that they supply. This is the policy which the Government is following and putting before us. It is stated, “We are serving the poorer sections by supplying the levy sugar through the fair price shops.” That also the people do not get in the rural areas. They live on jagari and the price of jagari has gone so unprecedentedly high, which was not the case earlier. At the time of the harvest season, the poor people would sell their jagari in the market. Now it has become so costly that it is being sold at Rs. five per kg., and the poor people are not in a position to purchase it. Instead of finding a remedy to it, it is being argued by the Goverment that the prices in Pakistan and Bangladesh are very high and that our prices are much lower than those prices. Perhaps the Government wants to take the prices up to that level and then only would they find a solution to it. Why refer to Pakistan and Bangladesh? Why not refer to China of Chiang Kai-shek? Perhaps they are leading the country to the position when the rupee has no value. This is the position.
Not only that. Certain things are not at all available in the open market. Take, for instance, cement. Prices of other things have also gone up, and not only of those things which the Finance Minister mentioned. Prices of consumer articles have gone up. But there are certain things which are not available in the market, as I said. They are available in plenty, but you can purchase them only in the blackmarket. A bag of cement today is being sold at Rs. 75/80. You cannot get it in the open market. You can get it only in the blackmarket. Like that there are many items which you can find only in the blackmarket. Go into the prices of other articles. In The Hindu of July 3, it is stated that the price of groundnut oil in the Madras market has gone up from Rs. 790 last year to Rs. 1050 per quintal. The price of coconut oil in the Bombay market has gone up from Rs. 223 to Rs. 303 per tin of 16 kgs.; and gingelly oil from Rs. 750 to Rs. 1200 per quintal. This is the position. And this is not taking into account the effect of the increase in prices of petroleum products, about which the Finance Minister spoke. That effect is going to be felt later. Only now have the State Governments started raising bus-fares. It is yet to be seen what effect there will be of these things. The effect of other things is not yet concretly seen.
I do not want to go deeper into this because everyone knows that the prices have gone very high. All the papers are taking up this question and all the political parties are seized of the matter. I do not want to go into the details. What I want to ask is: who benefits from this inflation? It is Big Business, the big traders, the landlords who benefit out of inflation.
The major sufferers are the teeming millions of agricultural workers, industrial workers, the employed, unemployed and under-employed. Wages usually lag behind the prices under inflationary conditions. This wage lag constitutes an important source of gain for the industrialists, the capitalists. The situation is much worse in the unorganised sector. If we go into the details, if we go into the profits, in this period of inflation, not only in this year, but during the last so many years, what has happened there? This is what we find. It has been stated in the draft Plan document, 1978-83, itself.
What has happened due to the inflationary tendencies? It says that attempts have been made to measure the distinct effect of Poverty in India and depending upon the norms used, it has been found that 40 to 60 per cent of the population fall below the minimum acceptable standards. This is as per a recent estimate. Using the norms of caloric consumption the percentage of population below the poverty line in 1977-78 may be projected at 48 per cent in the rural areas and 41 per cent in the urban areas. The total number of poor so defined would be about 290 million. I am referring to the plan document. The situation is much worse today. Their total number would be much more than 50 per cent. It goes on to say that in the same year, there was enormous concentration of wealth and resources in the hands of a small minority, the monopolists. The total assets of India’s 20 large houses owning assets of more than Rs. 100 crores rose from Rs. 3576 crores in 1972-73, to Rs. 4966 crores in 1975-76—by 41.2 per cent. Their net worth to assets rose to Rs. 2012 crores from Rs. 1431 crores in 1972-73, that is, at the rate of 40.6 per cent. The big landlords, speculators, foreign capitalists and so on were the other partners in this loot, forcing 60 per cent of the Indian population below the poverty line. This is the fact. This shows who have gained and who have been adversely affected.
Now, in the case of the employees, in the case of the workers, one would like to know what are the wages which are being fixed today. It is alarming that even in the public sector industries, especially the mining industries, the minimum wages which are being fixed, even the revised minimum wages which are being fixed, are such that no worker would be able to live on such wages. Now, I would give the details in regard to the earlier minimum wages and the revised minimum wages for the unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers. In the case of the mining industry, in the case of the gypsum mines, it was Rs. 5.80 for unskilled workers, Rs. 7.25 for semi-skilled workers and Rs. 8.70 for skilled workers. Now, this is being proposed to be increased to Rs. 6.65 in the case of unskilled workers, Rs. 8.35 in the case of semi-skilled workers and Rs. ten in the case of skilled workers and clerical staff. In the case of the bauxite mines, it was Rs. 5.80 for unskilled workers, Rs. 7.25 for semi-skilled workers and Rs. 8.70 for skilled workers. Now, the same rates are being proposed as in the case of gypsm mines. This is the case in the mining industry, in all the mines, whether they are chromite mines or silica mines or mica mines. Everywhere, this is the case.
So far as the effect is concerned, I have said that even these wages which at the present moment are very low, are going to be affected. They are going to reduce the real wages further. The real wages are going to be further reduced— what to talk of increased wages—because of the inflation and high prices. There are certain types of workers who are eligible for the adjustable DA and those for whom the wages are fixed under the Minimum Wages Act. Both suffer losses in real wages, but the second category is the worst sufferer, and much worse is the position of the unorganised sector.
Coming to the wholesale price index it stood at 240 in 1970-71. It has risen alarmingly. According to the All India Working Class index, it stood at 369 in February. And it jumped to 382 in May 1980 according to the figures supplied by the Simla Bureau. Both these figures show a 9.1 per cent rise in these short periods. What is the effect of this on the workers? The wage earners of Rs. 400 or below have suffered a loss in real wages to the extent of Rs. 38 between December and June. All workers drawing more than Rs. 260 who are eligible for variable DA at Rs. 1.30 per point have suffered a loss in real wages due to the ceiling on D.A. neutralisation by the Bureau of Public Enterprise despite all the grants of adjustable DA. The loss between February 1980 and May 1980 works out to Rs. ten per month despite increase in the DA.
Because of the time factor I am not going into the consumer price index, but what I want to say is the way this index is worked out, the way the prices are calculated, it has been called in many respects a fraud. Even based on that, there is going to be a reduction in the real wages. I do not want to take the time of this House about how the agricultural labour has adversely been affected. All the documents provided to us go to prove that the money wages of the agricultural workers have increased three times as compared to 1960, but the real wages have come down. This has been proved by many reports, survey reports and also A Planning Commission documents. So, these are the real sections of the population which have been adversely affected.
The second point is about the prices of agricultural commodities. There is a great disparity. Not only is there disparity, but no justice is done to the agriculturists in fixing the prices. Neither the increase in the cost of production is compensated, nor the real support price is given. It is always low as compared to the market price. When it comes to the question of a bumper crop, sufficient financial support is lacking to enter into the market. There also the smaller agriculturist is the sufferer. The other day the Minister had stated here that peasants would be compensated for the rise in the price of fertilizers, but, when they come to the implementation part of it, they do not do it. There was a debate on the fixing of price for paddy. In fixing the price of paddy, whatever the calculation that was made, they said that the price would be increased from Rs. 95 to Rs. 100. That also was based on the supplementary report of the APC. The APC originally never thought of doing this. Earlier they had recommended the same price of Rs. 95. They had neither taken into consideration the increase in the cost of production of paddy nor had they given thought to other factors during the last one year.
But even now, is it that Rs, five can compensate the rise in the cost of production of paddy? I am not going into the original price, but the basis of fixation of the price. It is calculated that the per quintal rise in the cost of production due to fertilisers would be not less than Rs. 11.50 But no effort is made to compensate it. In fixing the prices, a lot of injustice is done.
We do not know how the APC worked out the cost of production. But the various State Governments also have worked out the cost of production. The Tamil Nadu Government has stated that the cost of production in their State comes to Rs. 124 per quintal. The Andhra Pradesh Government has stated that the cost of production comes to Rs. 125.46 per quintal. I do not want to go into details, there is a dissenting note by Ch. Randhir Singh, a member of the APC, who has, because of his understanding of the prices, been taken back into the APC, in which he says that the method of working out the cost of production by the APC is absolutely wrong and he has stated that the Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and other State Governments have worked out the cost of production of paddy at Rs. 116, Rs. 117 and Rs. 149. That was two years ago. Like that he has quoted about Rajasthan, Kerala, etc. And he has said that the price as worked out by the APC cannot be a scientific price, but the real price which should be taken into consideration is the price which the State Governments and the various universities have worked out.
Secondly, in working out the price, the risk element is never taken into consideration. That is why the peasants have always to suffer.
So far as the question of parity is concerned, every Government and every party go on repeating that there should be party. When votes are required, they always tell the people: “Yes, we assure you parity in the prices of agricultural produce and industrial goods”. But here two Ministers have made two different statements. One does not know which is the Government’s statement and which is not the Government’s statement. One statement made by the Finance Minister was on July 7 in this House. In reply to the debate he assured the members that “the Government would do its best to bring about parity in the prices of agricultural and industrial commodities. Measures will be instituted at the appropriate levels with that end in view”. The other statement was made by the Agriculture Minister, which is a different statement. He said, “No, I cannot assure parity. This cannot happen. We will try to increase the price of paddy. We cannot assure the parity at all”. So two different statements have been made by two Ministers. We can go through the records. There are two different statements. I would very much appreciate if the Government sticks to the position of bringing about parity-in the prices so that justice is done to the peasant. But so far nothing is done.
I only want to quote some figures about cotton. What is the parity there? Last year I tried to work out the statistics. Assuming Rs. 300 per quintal as the price of standard staple cotton (which The Government never assures) and Rs. 250 for lesser varieties (which is around what the grower is getting) the mixture of standard, serles and lower varieties used for production of cloth should cost Rs. 275 a quintal. Ten and half quintals of kapas is needed to produce 360 kgs of cotton lint and also give 650 kgs. of cotton seed, etc. I have tried to work out that the price of cloth is much higher. Whereas 45 per cent component in the production of cloth is cotton, its price remains below Rs. 300, and the price of cloth which we have to purchase has gone up many times during the last few years. The difference between the price of cotton and the cotton cloth is three times. So there is no question of parity. Similarly about sugar. I have not much time, but we see that the price of sugarcane earlier also was Rs. 16 or 17 on the basis of 8.5 per cent recovery, when sugar was being sold at Rs. three to Rs. 3.50 a kilo. Even now the peasant is being paid the same price when the price of sugar has gone up much higher. The Government is taking the plea that they have to compensate the millowners because of the levy sugar, so they have to give them this promise. When the crop comes, it is the magnates, it is the industrialists who are allowed to squeeze the peasants The peasants are not helped at all. Today, we have seen a news-item about the price of jute. The news-item says: “Forty lakh jute growers in West Bengal are again facing a disaster because the price of raw jute has started crashing. The protection price of raw jute has been fixed at Rs. 160 a quintal, although West Bengal Finance Minister Ashok Mitra had pleaded for a minimum price of Rs. 250 per quintal. At the moment raw jute is selling at between Rs. 115 and Rs. 130 a quintal. According to official and non-official sources, so far there has not been any attempt by the Jute Corporation of India to make raw jute purchase from the market”.
It is not in relation to jute alone. This has happened with the cotton growers also. Whenever the common peasants, the poorer sections, bring cotton to the market, the CCI does not enter into the market. They allow the Birlas and the big cotton magnates, the textile magnates, to purchase the cotton at low prices. They only enter after the poorer sections have gone into the market and sold their stocks. The same thing has happened in the case of jute. It is to help the jute magnates that today the Jute Corporation of India is not entering the market. The Government has fixed a price Rs. 160 which is much below the cost price as worked out by the West Bengal Government—i.e., Rs. 190 per quintal. It is not only very low, but even at that price nobody is purchasing it. The price today is Rs. 115 to Rs. 120 per quintal, thus harming the peasantry of West Bengal, Assam and all those regions which produce jute.
So, nobody bothers about the peasants. This happens here also. When the wheat production was much higher, the FCI did not enter the market at that time. They allow the peasant to sell at low prices. The private traders have been allowed to enter the market. The FCI allows them to purchase at a very low price and afterwards, immediately, the prices go up. The consumers have to pay more and the grower does not get anything. This is the policy of the Government. Neither the prices fixed are enough to compensate them in meeting the cost of production plus some margin, nor is the risk element taken into consideration in fixing the prices, nor is there any guarantee by the machinery set up by the Government—the FCI, JCI or CCI. In your State of Maharashtra, the Government had to resort, seeing the working of the JCI, etc., to their own scheme of monopoly procurement of cotton. That scheme ensured the peasants comparatively better prices than what was being paid in the rest of the country. The figures worked out by the Government are also different about the cost of production. These vary from area to area. It will be different in Punjab. In Haryana it will be different and it will be different in areas which are rain-fed. There the production is much less and they have to do much hard work. In fixing the prices, the different areas are not taken into consideration and this also does work against the producers.
Coming to the rise in prices, the prices of inputs have risen by 37.5 per cent. And what is the rise given to the peasants? In the case of wheat, it is Rs. two—which is not even two per cent. In the case of paddy, it is Rs. five, which is around five per cent. And the argument advanced is that if we increase the price, then we will have to increase the issue price also. Why? Why not tax those big houses which have amassed so much wealth? I have quoted about 20 monopoly houses. Why not tax them to compensate these people? Even if you pay Rs. 20 extra, the total subsidy will come to Rs. 200 crores if you have to maintain the present distribution system at the present issue prices. Already the Government is spending Rs. 600 crores. If Rs 20 more is given for paddy, it will come to Rs. 200 crores because the total quantity which we distribute through the public distribution system is ten million tonnes. That is the average it comes to. That is about the prices. What I am saying is that so far as the peasants are concerned, they are cheated, they are not given things at fair prices. The whole effort is to throw the burden on the peasants. They are the worst affected. They will be protecting the interests not of the peasants but of the monopolists. That is how they are going to level up the prices.
Finally, I come to the distribution system. All the parties have assured the people that they will be supplied consumer articles at the fair price shops. That assurance has been given to them. But what has happened? It was in the beginning of July 1979 that the public distribution system was started. Then it was stated that they would add on some more articles to the ones that were being made available. At that time it was estimated that whereas 2.4 lakhs of villages were initially covered by this scheme, their number would be increased to 3.5 lakhs. But as per the latest figures printed by the Ministry, today there are 235,565 fair price shops in the country as a whole. And they had also made a promise that some new articles will be added. This was a statement made by the present Government. The additional commodities recommended to be brought under the public distribution scheme were edible oils, match-boxes, tea, coffee, exercise-books and so on. Not to say of the new commodities, even the old ones are getting rare, apart from the question of their prices. In the superbazars also they are not available. Then where are they available? Even the commodities that are supposed to be sold through the fair price shops are not available. Only yesterday in the papers it was pointed out that the West Bengal Government was saying that it did not have sufficient stocks of foodgrains to maintain the public distribution system because of the problem of movement of wagons and improper planning. It says that it has stocks only for one month. All these things are going on. Even to maintain the present distribution system, it is very necessary that the Government takes drastic steps. Unless the Government takes such drastic steps, it will have to go on repeating the same thing. The Government may be taking drastic steps, but they are not drastic from the point of view of the common man. The drastic step will be to take over the stocks of consumer articles wholesale and not retail. Take them over and organise a proper public distribution system by which you make available these articles to the common people. Only then can the people have some relief. Otherwise, the continuing price rise and inflation will remain a big problem. There is no corner of the country where this is not being talked about and it is leading to great discontentment in the country. Something must be done about it.
its these words, I move my resolution.
