Centre of Indian Trade Unions expresses concern over change in base year for CPI-IW

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions has expressed concerns over the change in the base year of consumer price index for the industrial workers (CPI-IW) from 2001 to 2016, saying the exercise is arbitrary and deliberately designed to suppress the real impact of the price rise of essential items for human survival.

“Entire exercise made by the labour bureau functioning under the ministry of labour on this matter has been thoroughly arbitrary, deliberately designed to suppress the real impact of the price rise of essential items for human survival and also to deprive the workers of their entitlement for legitimate DA,” Tapan Sen, secretary general of CITU said in a statement on Friday.

According to Sen, the government ignored the fact that even in the midst of economic slowdown, the prices of essential items, food items in particular were on the rise. “They did not hesitate to arbitrarily as well as drastically reduce the weight assigned to food items in the standard consumption basket from 46.2% to 39% for the purpose of computation of consumer price index,” CITU said.


The union alleged that the data has been manipulated with a dubious intent. “Manipulation by the government with a dubious intent does not end here,” Sen said. CITU said the linking factor of 2.88 for converting the numbers of 2016 to 2001 series equivalent will suppress the impact of actual price rise.

CITU said till July 2020, the exercise of base revision was being done with the idea of 2013-14 as the base year. “Changing it to 2016 is an afterthought by the Modi regime as the same year, the notorious demoetisation was undertaken affecting negatively the price-level of the items in standard consumption basket for CPI-IW owing to virtual collapse of the economic operation in the country in the last quarter of 2016,” it said.

“CITU denounces such anti-worker pro corporate steps by the BJP Govt and calls upon the workers and unions to protest and oppose such moves of the government,” it added.