Essential commodities still costly: House panel

NEW DELHI: The UPA government, which has been in a state of bliss over containing high headline inflation, received a rude shock from a parliamentary panel. In its report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution noted that measures taken by the government to control inflation ���were not proving to be effective in bringing down prices of essential commodities.���

Accepting the government���s explanation that mismatch between demand and supply was the main contributor of the increased prices, the panel has asked the department of consumer affairs to work out a long-term strategy to tackle the issue.

This admission that food prices were the outcome of demand-supply mismatch merely indicates that it is back to square one on the issue of inflation, which began demonstrating a sharp upward rise on the back of food inflation in April this year.

Inflation figures based on whole sale price index released by the government shows a considerable decline in headline inflation, even as primary articles continued to show an upward trend���the year on year inflation in primary articles for the week ending December 6 was at 11.8%, up from the previous week ending November 29, when it was at 11.66 %. Food articles for the week ending December 6 was at 10.19%, and inflation in cereal, vegetables, fruit and pulses were around the double digit mark.