Omkar Dattatray
The shy rocketing prices is a major and serious issue concerning the common man and the opposition political parties especially the congress is serious on this peoples issue and wants the control of the prices and bringing these down to a level that the poor man and the middle income group people will be in a position to purchase that goods and services of the daily need. The prices are souring very high and the government says that everything is all right so for as the prices are concerned. 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 BJP government is keeping stoic silence over the issue of rising prices which is a public issue. The BJP government is overlooking this big problem of inflation and the government has perhaps forgotten that India is a welfare state and the welfare of the people should be the top priority of the government, but the government is keeping the genuine issue of the price rise under the carpet and disregards public issue as if everything is ‘OK’ so for as the question of rising prices of the goods and services is involved. It is beyond ones comprehension that why the prices of all most all essential goods of daily use are rising to unimaginable highest and troubling and putting to great inconvenience the poor and middle income and the salaried class and those laborers ‘eking their living on meager daily wages. It is a matter of grave and serious concern that the prices of all the essential goods and services are rising and it has become very difficult for the poor and the salaried people to purchase their daily requirements. It has become difficult for the common man to make his both ends meet due to the soaring of the prices of all essential goods and services. 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 and troubling all the consumers and therefore it is essential to arrest the trend of continuous increasing of the prices of petrol and diesel.. The steep rise in the prices of the fuel like petrol and diesel badly affects the daily commuters and it also leads to the increase in transport charges which has the effect of increasing the prices of the goods. Therefore the powers should take necessary and required steps to bring the prices of petrol and diesel under control so that it will not affect adversely the prices of the goods which consumers need daily. It is very unfortunate and against the people that the prices of all the goods and necessaries of life are rising continuously in India and it is a big problem facing the general public and steps should be taken by the insensitive BJP government to control the rising prices for the interest of the common consumers and give some relief to him from the rising prices. To put it plainly the prices of domestic /cooking gas are rising very fast and continuously and it has become very inconvenient and difficult for the common consumers to purchase the cooking gas but he has no choice but to purchase it at very exorbitant prices which his budget does not permit but he has to purchase it. The government has recently levied and increased GST rates on all most all food products and it has is proving a last nail in the coffin of rising prices of the food items and it is fuelling more inflation which is against the interests and welfare of the consumers. The prices of flour, rice, wheat, all pluses which is the staple food of the common Indian is rising continuously. Besides this the prices of the common salt, detergents, soaps and all vegetables as well as the prices of milk, curd and cheese and bread have risen considerably and it is a concern to the common man who has been left in lurch by the BJP government. There is phenomenal and astronomical as well as unprecedented increase in all varieties of the edible oils which has put a great burden on the pocket of the 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 and is a grave and serious concern to the consumers as they are forced to purchase the edible oil at very high prices. The consumers are unable to understand as to what has happened to the prices of the edible oils and what has propelled its prices so high as to become very difficult for the common man to purchase the edible oil for consumption but he has to purchase it whatever is its cost. The prices of all dairy products including ghee and butter are rising and it puts to trouble its daily users. The prices of cosmetics, bangles and tooth paste and tooth power are also on the rise. It follows that the increase in the prices of all essentials of life has overburdened the budget of the common man and he is in a tight position to purchase the daily need items and the food products. There is urgent need to withdraw the GST on food products to decrease the prices of the food products for the benefit of the consumers. The BJP government is unconcerned on the rising prices of all essentials of life as if it is none of its business. The BJP government is shying away from its duty and is abdicating its responsibility to control the rising prices to give some relief to the consumers. It seems that the control of prices of essential items is not in the agenda and is not a priority for the government and thus it has allowed the price rise which is beyond imagination. The political parties rightly allege that the BJP government is the government of the big corporate and hence it does not think it proper and necessary to control prices to please the corporate lobby.
Before 2o14 when there was 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 and controlled the prices in the interest of the consumers.
Thus before 2014 the prices of all the essential items were under control and the people in those good old days did not fell any difficulty in purchasing goods and services as the purchase of the goods was within the means of the common man. But during the BJP rule the story is totally different as the prices of all the essential goods of life are rising continuously and it is beyond the capacity of the people of little means to purchase daily need items.
The inflation has lowered the purchasing power of the people and thus it has become difficult to buy the daily used items. There is free for all and the unscrupulous businessmen are looting the gullible consumers and are indulging in hoarding, black marketing, profiteering and are also indulging in creating of artificial scarcity which all are against the good trade practices and the government does not pay any attention towards all this with the result the prices of the goods and services are continuing the upward trend which is against the consumer interests.
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 BJP government is taking and making the excuse that the prices of the essential goods are increasing because the government is expending huge amounts of money on the provision of free food grains to the power.
The government should not work on the policy of robbing the Paul to peter to pay Paul. The BJP government cannot absolve its responsibility of controlling the prices on the pretext and excuse of providing free food grains to the poor The common man expects that that BJP government will woke from the deep slumber and take all the measures to control prices of the goods and services and give a proof of their pro poor and pro common man image.
The congress is rightly protesting inside and outside the parliament against the price rise but the BJP government which does not believe in dissent and opposition is not allowing the genuine protest of the congressmen and are putting hurdles on their protest and are even arresting the congressmen who are protesting against the price rise. In short it can be surmised that the inflation has broken the back of the common man.
(The author is a columnist and social-activist).
