In a rebuff to the agriculture ministry, the Prime Minister?s Office has changed the agenda for the chief ministers? meeting on Saturday on price rise. The meeting, to be addressed by both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, will now deal with the situation arising out of the price rise.
The change is meant to convince the states the extent to which the Centre has committed resources to ease prices of foodgrains. This week, the food and the finance ministries have agreed on a 33% rise in food subsidy for this fiscal to Rs 70,000 crore to push grains into the public distribution system.
The agenda notes originally circulated among the chief ministers was a more general ?reasons, measures and issues related to the rising prices of commodities?. But the PMO felt this was too diffuse and was not geared to take on criticism from the states over the Centre?s handling of the situation. The changes, a high-level source in the food ministry confirmed, were made in a meeting on Wednesday between Singh, Pawar and Pranab Mukherjee.
The sustained rise in prices of food and other essential commodities on the eve of the Budget Session of Parliament has become a major concern for the UPA government.
Singh on Friday told a Congress Working Committee meeting the spate of price rise will be ?controlled? soon. Party spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi told reporters after the meeting, the Prime Minister said the results of the steps taken to control price rise would be visible within the next few weeks. The Prime Minister told the meeting that necessary steps have been taken in consultation with the chief ministers.
On Saturday, the states will brief the Centre in detail the steps they have taken to cushion the impact of the price rise that has pushed the latest weekly food price inflation to 17.56%. The day-long meeting will be kept out of bound for media because of the sensitivity of the issues involved.