BY OMKAR DATTATRAY
The inflation is a piece of bad news for everyone. What is experienced and confronted by the common people, policy planners and last but not the least by the government is a combination and admixture of inflation, hyper inflation and stagflation.
All these three phases and forms of inflation are undesirable for the country’s economy and the people in the ultimate analysis and is busting as well as damaging to the economy.
The sky rocketing prices is a major and serious issue concerning the common man and the opposition political parties are serious on this issue and want the control of the prices, bringing these down to a level that the poor man and the middle income group people will be in a position to purchase the goods and services of the daily needs.
The prices are soaring very high and the government says that everything is all right. But the reality is that the prices of all daily need goods and essential services are rising at a very fact rate and robbing the pockets of the common man. The inflation in the country is unprecedented and it is a big problem for the people and the government is keeping stoic silence over the issue of rising price.
The government is overlooking this big problem of inflation and it has perhaps forgotten that India is a welfare state and the welfare of the people should be the top priority of the government, but it is keeping the genuine issue of the price rise under the carpet and disregards public issue as if everything is all-right so far as the question of rising prices of the goods and services is involved.
It is beyond one’s comprehension that why the prices of almost all essential goods of daily use are rising to unimaginable heights and putting to great inconvenience the poor, middle income, the salaried class, and those laborers with meager daily wages.
It has become difficult for the common man to make both ends meet due to the soaring prices. The prices of fuels like petrol, diesel are rising on daily basis and the continuous rise in the prices of petrol and diesel has the effect of increasing the prices of all the goods and this is what is happening in our country.
Therefore it is essential to arrest the trend of continuous increase in prices of petrol and diesel. Therefore the powers should take necessary and required steps to bring the prices of petrol and diesel under control.
It is very unfortunate that the prices of all the goods are rising continuously in India and it is a big problem facing the general public and steps should be taken by the BJP government to control the rising prices.
To put it plainly the prices of domestic /cooking gas are rising very fast and continuously and it has become very difficult for the common consumers to purchase the cooking gas. The government has recently levied and increased GST rates on almost all food products and it is proving a last nail in the coffin, fuelling more inflation.
The prices of flour, rice, wheat, and pluses- the staple food of the common Indian – are rising continuously. Besides, the prices of common salt, detergents, soaps and all vegetables as well as the prices of milk, curd and cheese, and bread have risen considerably.
There is an astronomical increase in the prices of all varieties of the edible oil which has put a great burden on the pocket of a common consumer. One fails to understand as to what has happened to the prices of the edible oils as the increase in their prices is unimaginable.
The prices of all dairy products including ghee and butter are rising. The prices of cosmetics, bangles and tooth paste and tooth powder are also on rise. It follows that the increase in the prices of all essentials of life has overburdened the budget of common man and he is in a tight position.
There is an urgent need to withdraw the GST on food products to decrease the prices of the food products for the benefit of consumers.
The government is unconcerned on the rising prices of all essentials of life. The government of the day is shying away from its duty and is abdicating its responsibility to control the rising prices. It seems that the control of prices of essential items is not on the agenda.
The political parties rightly allege that the this is a government of big corporate. Before 2014, during the rule of the UPA government of Dr. Manmohan Singh, the prices of the goods and services were well under control. The then government of UPA exercised control on the prices of all essentials goods in the interest of the consumers and followed pro poor policies.
Thus before 2014 the prices of all the essential items were under control and the people in those good old days did not facing difficulty. But during the NDA rule the story is totally different as the prices of all the essential goods are rising continuously. The inflation has lowered the purchasing power of the people and thus it has become difficult to buy the daily items.
There is free for all and the unscrupulous businessmen looting the gullible consumers and are indulging in hoarding, black marketing, profiteering and are also indulging in creating artificial scarcity. Thus what is needed is that the government should take all the necessary monetary and fiscal measures through the RBI to control prices in the interest of the general public.
The government should not work on the policy of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The BJP government cannot absolve itself of the responsibility of controlling the prices on the pretext of providing free food grains to the poor.
The common man expects that that BJP government will wake up from deep slumber and take all the measures to control prices.
The Congress is rightly protesting inside and outside the Parliament against price rise but the government which does not believe in dissent and opposition is not allowing genuine protest of the Congressmen. In short, the inflation has broken the back of common man and is busting the economy.
The author is a columnist and social activist
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.