'Centre's economic policies responsible for price rise'

Congress-led UPA government?s external supporter, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), has accused the Centre of playing a key role in the soaring prices of essential commodities

Kolkata: Congress-led UPA government?s external supporter, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), has accused the Centre of playing a key role in the soaring prices of essential commodities by not doing anything about its neo-liberal economic policies that are resulting in inflation.

In the party?s first politburo meeting after the politburo was revised during the Coimbatore party congress last month, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said that the party is extremely displeased with the Centre?s “callous” attitude towards price rise, and warned the UPA government that the party would go to any extent, if the government did not revise its economic policies.

Addressing the media after the meeting in Kolkata today, Karat said “The Centre?s neo-liberal economic policies are causing price rise and inflation in India. So many people are suffering because of this, and we have urged the Centre to take certain measures to check price rise. However, if the Congress leadership allows Manmohan Singh government to go ahead with its economic policies, people are not going to tolerate it.”

Karat added that the party will do whatever is needed to be done, if the government does not do anything to check the price rise. “So far, the government has failed to check the inflation. It has a callous attitude towards the suffering of the people, and if they do not take any effective measure to solve the problem, we will do whatever is required”, said Karat.

He said that price rise in the country was related to the Centre?s policies of agriculture, food, forward trading and foreign investments in the commodities market. Accusing the Centre of holding a biased attitude towards big businesses and trading companies, Karat said that Centre?s refusal to stop private companies from buying food grains, and prohibiting forward trading in 25 agricultural commodities showed that the Centre is not thinking about the interests of the common people.

Reacting to the Centre?s allegation that West Bengal government is not procuring adequate food grains, Karat said, “It is the job of the central government, and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to procure food grains and supply them for the Public Distribution System (PDS). It is a known fact that FCI has curtailed its procurement lately. On the other hand, private companies are procuring food grains from farmers.” He said that the targeted PDS should be replaced by a Universal PDS.

He demanded to know how much rice had FCI procured in West Bengal so far. He said, “We want the Centre to tell us how much FCI is procuring in the state. The procurement target set by the government is 17 lakh metric tonnes of rice, while FCI has procured only 6 lakh metric tonnes so far.” He also said that the Centre was aware of the fact that West Bengal supplies 3 lakh tonnes of rice to Bangladesh, but was not doing anything about the procurement. “Food policy and the question of food security cannot be the responsibility of one state”, he said.

When asked about BJP?s protest against price hike, Karat snubbed the party saying that it was the NDA government which had amended the Essential Commodities Act and allowed forward trading in commodities.

Karat also announced the party?s intensified agitation against the UPA government?s failure to combat price rise, by launching a country-wide mass picketing campaign on May 15, with the participation of over 10 lakh people. However, Karat said that the party had exempted West Bengal and Karnataka from the campaign, as the assembly and Panchayat elections would be going on in these two states.

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