Govt likely to roll back stimulus

NEW DELHI: The rollback of fiscal stimulus is one of the options the government is considering to control inflation . In response to a Parliament question, minister of state for finance Namo Narain Meena said that rolling back of fiscal stimulus and RBI's policy measures to curb excess liquidity would help the government pin down high inflation.

The Centre has also instructed state governments to take necessary action under the provision of the Essential Commodities Act and the Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, to prevent hoarding and blackmarketing of essential commodities.

To enable the state governments to take such measures , the Centre had also empowered them “to impose stockholding limits by keeping in abeyance some provisions of the central order dated February 15, 2002 in respect of pulses, edible oils, edible oilseeds, rice, paddy and sugar for the period up to March 31, 2011,” Meena said. As a result of the crackdown on blackmarketers, at least 250 people had been detained in 2010 and 147 in 2009. The highest such cases were reported from Tamil Nadu (232) in the last two years followed by Gujarat.