New Delhi:
In a bid to contain spiralling prices of some essential food items, the Centre has called a meeting of all state food ministers today to discuss strategies to jointly combat the crisis. Late
monsoon has pushed up the cost of vegetables and dairy products. (
Monsoon Revives After Weakest Start in Five Years)High on the agenda of the meeting today is a discussion on measures required to check unreasonable increase in prices of some food items, steps to prevent hoarding and plans for distribution of specific essential items through public channels and improving other supply channels.
A review of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act for creating a national common market for food items is also expected to be undertaken at the meeting.
Ahead of today's meeting, the Cabinet met yesterday and decided to place a limit on the quantity of onions and potatoes wholesalers can stock with them to curb hoarding, which is being blamed for the recent spike in prices. Minister for telecommunications and information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad said after the meeting that the states would decide on the cap. (
Will Limit Stockholding of Onions and Potatoes, Says Government)As part of its strategy, the government had ordered a crackdown on hoarding on June 17 to control the rising food prices and imposed export restrictions on certain farm commodities.
India's wholesale price inflation hit a five-month high last month; underscoring challenges facing the government, just weeks after it came to power.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has made controlling inflation a priority since taking office last month, has warned the public that "bitter medicine" was needed to put India's economy back on track.
His government has also prepped a nine-point contingency plan in case of drought, but has withheld details to avoid panic. It believes that rain in Delhi and Mumbai since Wednesday is a sign that the stalled monsoon is now progressing again and it might not need the plan after all. (
How Government Plans to be Drought-Ready)
The monsoon's progress and ground situation will also be reviewed at the meeting today.
Rainfall in July and August is likely to be better than in June, the first month of the four-month monsoon season when the precipitation was 43 percent below average across India. (
Worst Impact of Poor Monsoon Likely to Be in West India: Agriculture Minister)