A few weeks ago Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary of the Congress Party, raised the issue of rising food prices with the Prime Minister. Mr Gandhi was justifiably anxious as to the political repercussions of rocketing inflation, its impact on poorer sections of society and effectively on his party’s political constituency. Apparently, the Prime Minister assured him that his government would examine this matter with the utmost urgency, but little in the form of a fitting response to a potential political nightmare, seems as yet evident. Ministries continue to haggle and blame each other, in a now familiar buck-passing phenomenon. Prices of food articles rose 20% in December 2009, with sugar taking the lead through a 54% hike, pulses 42% and potatoes 125%. The WPI, a key indicator of inflation, rose 7.4% in December. Alarmingly, Pronab Sen, the Government’s Chief Statistician believes this will touch double digits in a matter of months, unless the issue is tackled with paranoiac concern.
This blog contains Adit's commentaries on business, politics and the economy in addition to other personal musings. #AditJain