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Steps to check inflation too little, too late: BJP

NEW DELHI: To effectively curb inflation the government needs “to manage” both demand and supply, but so far it has tried to “manage demand.” The measures announced by it are “too little and too late,” the Bharatiya Janata Party has said, using much the same words used by Communist Party of India leader D. Raja.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said the government needed to take a holistic view of the price situation. Half-hearted steps would not give relief to the common man. He was also critical of the government for blaming it on surging crude oil prices and soaring prices of edible oils and foodgrains in the international market.

Mr. Raja accused the government of not doing anything to streamline the public distribution system or to ensure supply of essential food items at affordable prices. He warned that his party would go ahead with its planned nationwide agitation against rising prices in mid-April.

The BJP pointed out that although the government regularly and repeatedly blamed the high prices of international crude for the inflationary impact, this had become an avenue for increased revenue receipts. The government’s income in 2004 from taxes on petroleum products was Rs. 70,000 crore and in four years this had risen to Rs. 1,70,000 crore, Mr. Javadekar said.

The buffer stock had been mismanaged, partly as a result of the government’s decision to allow private players to buy grain; the public distribution system had been “systematically destroyed”; the quality of grain supplied through the PDS was poor; and there was not enough action taken against hoarders.

Like the Left parties, the BJP too has planned anti-price rise demonstrations in State capitals as well as in New Delhi.

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