On a day when official data showed food inflation rising to 17.7% for the week ended March 27, the core committee on prices constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to form three working groups to improve food supply and distribution. Two groups will be headed by chief ministers and the third by the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. They will submit their recommendations to the core committee within the next two months.
The working group on enhancing agriculture production will be chaired by Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and include chief ministers of Punjab, West Bengal and Bihar. The second working group on consumer affairs will be headed by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu will be the other members of this group.
The third group on food and public distribution will focus on revamping PDS. It will be headed by deputy chairman of plan panel Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Chief ministers of Assam , Chhattisgarh and chairman of PMEAC C Rangarajan are other members of this group.
In a statement after a meeting chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee that lasted for four hours, the core committee said it took note of the recent fall in prices of essential commodities. ?The gap between farm gate and retail prices should be bridged and states, on their part, should start retailing essential commodities at below-market prices,? food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar told reporters after the meeting. Food inflation, which had neared 20% last year, has triggered a crisis of sorts for the ruling UPA government as a determined opposition took to the streets to drive home their point.
On Thursday, members of the Left parties and their leaders courted arrest across the country, demanding concrete measures to tame price rise. Meanwhile, sources said that during the meeting, deputy chief minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin asked the central government to start biometric identification to eliminate bogus cards to improve the PDS system.