Poor may get imported edible oils cheaper
In a bid to quell the rising inflation, the government on Tuesday said that it is considering selling imported edible oils at subsidised prices to below poverty line (BPL) families
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: In a bid to quell the rising inflation, the government on Tuesday said that it is considering selling imported edible oils at subsidised prices to below poverty line (BPL) families. This is even as the prices of mustard oil and vanaspati have come down in April.
���The government is considering subsidised distribution of imported edible oils to benefit consumers, particularly belonging to BPL families, through state governments,��� minister of state for finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
Assuring the House that containment of inflation was high on the agenda of the government, he said the Centre has been continuously reviewing the need to import wheat and edible oil to ensure adequate availability and prices. Replying to several queries on inflation, he said that the country has imported about seven million tonnes of wheat during the past two years to take care of the needs of the public distribution system, welfare schemes, natural calamities and buffer stocks.
The rate of inflation, which soared to a 40-month high of 7.41% for the week ended March 29, became a hot issue in Parliament, forcing adjournment of both Houses for the day following vociferous protests, led by Opposition Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
In his written replies, Mr Bansal attributed rising prices of items of daily use such as rice, wheat and edible oils to ���inadequate domestic availability relative to demand and increase in international prices���. The government, he said, was trying to fight inflation through a set of policy initiatives which include ���strict fiscal discipline, rationalisation of duties of essential items, effective supply-demand management through liberal tariff and trade policies and procurement by public agencies���.
Mr Bansal also said that the prices of 30 essential commodities have gone up by 5.2% during March, the highest in any month during fiscal 2007-08. He said wholesale price-based index for composite food during March went up by 6.6% as against the 6.4% rise in the index of all commodities.
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