Launching a scathing attack on the UPA for its "failure" to check price rise, the Opposition on Thursday demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into "scams" in essential commodities like wheat, rice, pulses and sugar.
"We demand a JPC to enquire into the scams in these four areas. It should find out why such decisions were taken (which led to these scams)," Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj said initiating a debate in the Lok Sabha on the price situation.
Swaraj accused the government of taking decisions which led to "scams" and said despite the ban on its import since 2007-08, wheat continued to be imported at prices much higher than domestic prices every year till 2009-10. "Is this scam or not", she asked.
On rice "scam", the BJP leader said the government allowed rice export in the name of giving it to some African nations. "Private parties were allowed to export, but the rice did not reach those countries for which they were meant".
She said traders did not lift imported pulses from the docks in Gujarat as "they wanted to reap double or triple profits by waiting for the prices to rise".
Swaraj claimed the government imported and exported sugar "simultaneously". The sweetener was being "exported at Rs 12.5 per kg and imported at Rs 36 per kg at the same time."
She said total profits of 33 listed sugar mills jumped from Rs 30 crore in October-December 2008 to Rs 901 crore in the same period next year. "It is a jump of 2900 per cent. This is a scam and it needs to be investigated".
Swaraj also pulled up the UPA regime on food security situation in the country and said bringing the Food Security Bill would be futile if the government did not have correct figures of those who should be covered under it.
She quoted a Bollywood film dialogue about 'maal idhar se udhar karna' (wheeling-dealing) and said "the government is doing this and the matter should be investigated".
Swaraj referred to the President's address in which the government mentioned decline in food production, rise in global prices, hike in support prices to farmers and increase in income in rural areas and said "these are not only baseless but far from truth".
"The actual reasons are scams in wheat, rice, pulses and sugar and all these items are consumed by the vast majority of the poor," the BJP leader said.
Taking the government to task for claiming that it has succeeded in preventing food crisis, Swaraj claimed that the six-year NDA rule saw only one debate on prices for which notice was given by Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Since UPA came to power in 2004, the House held nine rounds of debate on the issue but prices have gone on rising, she said in her maiden speech as the Leader of Opposition.
"There has been no respite to the people as prices of essential items have continued to rise all these years and the government has done nothing. The prices have gone beyond the reach of the poor," she said, mentioning the latest prices of atta (flour), rice, pulses, sugar, tea and vegetables.
Rebutting government claims on declining food production, she said production in 2009-10 dropped from a record output of 234 million tonnes in 2008-09 to 216 million tonnes "which is not a major fall".
She quoted figures to show that global food prices did not rise much during this period, but declined in respect of some items.
Regarding payment of higher minimum support prices to farmers, Swaraj said there was "no relation between MSP and the prices that consumers are paying".
She accused the government of giving by one hand to the farmer and taking it back by the other by raising the urea prices by Rs 25. "So these cannot be the reasons for such major rise in prices".
Countering her charges, Sanjay Nirupam (Congress) said Swaraj's maiden speech as LoP was full of "half-truths". Nirupam said there had been a record food production in Punjab.
In the Rajya Sabha, the opposition charge on pricerise was spearheaded by BJP's Arun Jetley. Tearing into arguments that price rise was a result of drought, Jaitley said the deficit in foodgrain production this year at 18 million tons was much less than the shortfall of 40 million tons in 2002 but the WPI (wholesale price index) inflation at 8.56 per cent was much more than 3.4 per cent that year.
Instead of blaming futures market for rise in prices, he said, the Government should have brought a policy change to reflect change from surplus economy to deficit.
Futures trading in foodgrains, which were launched by the NDA government, were experiments of surplus economy which was no longer relevant, he said.
Only one per cent of commodity traded on futures market actually changes hands or is physically traded, he said.
On the Centre blaming state governments for the price rise and not doing enough to crackdown on hoarders, he said the data provided by the Centre at the recent Chief Minister's conference showed 83 per cent of raids and searches were conducted in non-UPA ruled states and 17 per cent in UPA-ruled states.
The lack of coordination was reflected when it was decided on February 15, that 10,000 tons of sugar would be exported to Europe despite a major sugar crisis in the country, he said adding the order was withdrawn only after media outcry.
He said 9 lakh tons of sugar was waiting for processing at various ports and wanted to know if it would be used to flood the market to bring down prices.
Referring to the statement in the mouthpiece of NCP, the party to which Agriculture, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Sharad Prawar belongs, that people will not die if they did not consume sugar because of its high prices, Jaitley said it displayed insensitiveness and amounted to ridiculing miseries of people. There is "lack of seriousness," he said.
Jaitley said 8.56 per cent WPI inflation is likely to reach double digit in next month-and-a-half, a phenomenon witnessed 15 years ago.
"The Government has to act. If the Government cannot act, governments much perish," he said. "Average citizen is almost driven to the wall."
He wanted the government to come out with a food price management policy rather than being dependent on natural and international factors for cooling of inflation.
Jaitley said the economic slowdown last year, when jobs and salaries were cut, saw lesser money in consumer pocket and prices coming down globally. But India saw rise in food prices.
"Has this government run out of ideas to deal with price rise? Yes, it has," he said.
On oil prices, he said the present tax structure ensures that every increase in global oil cost enriches the government while the consumer is forced to pay extra.
The gulf between Consumer Price Index and WPI has widened as was evident when WPI turned negative while CPI was in double digit, he said demanding a proper index reflective of ground realities on prices and services.
Rise in food prices has been discussed in every session of Parliament and the situation has worsened since the last debate in the winter session, he said. PTI
