Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attributes rising prices to global factors, higher MSP

NEW DELHI: Attributing price rise to global factors and higher MSP, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the government has tried to protect the interest of poor people by maintaining supply through the PDS system.

"It is true prices rose but it is because of international prices. We also gave reward to farmers in terms of remuneration, this also had consequences," he said during a press conference after the release of Congress manifesto for the upcoming general elections.

The government has ensured that price rise did not affect the poor people as supplies were maintained through a Public Distribution System (PDS) system, he added.

In order to encourage agriculture sector output, the UPA government had several times increase Minimum Support Price (MSP) for key farm commodities, like wheat, paddy and sugarcane.

Although the WPI inflation which has crossed double digits fell to a nine month low of 4.68 per cent, the retail inflation still remained elevated at 8.1 per cent in February.

The Congress manifesto said that if voted to power, the government would continue to take firm action to control inflation, difficult economic scenario notwithstanding.

It further added, "In a developing economy, we must accept that when our aim is high growth, there will be moderate level of inflation. Reserve Bank must strike a balance between price stability and growth while formulating monetary policy."

While listing the achievements of his government, the Prime Minister said: "The UPA tenure was superior. People ask what is our record. I say Congress record is visible to those who want to see. We provided the agenda for growth".