Lok Sabha Question No. 311 (STARRED), answered on 2019-12-10
Subject: Prices of Essential Food Items
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Rahul Ramesh Shewale, Bhartruhari Mahtab

## Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

## Department of Consumer Affairs

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *311

TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.12.2019

## PRICES OF ESSENTIAL FOOD ITEMS

## *311. SHRI RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE: SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB:

## Will  the  Minister  of  CONSUMER  AFFAIRS,  FOOD  AND  PUBLIC  DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the prices of essential food items have increased during the current year, if so, the details thereof, food item-wise and the reasons therefor;

- (b) whether the Government has finalised the modalities of the Price Stabilisation Fund, if so, the details thereof along with the salient features of the Fund and its benefits to the consumers and the farmers;

- (c) whether the Union Government has issued any guidelines to State Governments to control this price rise and if so, the details of these guidelines and if not, the reasons therefor;

- (d) whether the role of hoarders/black marketeers in increase of prices of the essential food items has come to the notice of the Government during the said period and if so, the details thereof; and

- (e) the remedial measures taken/being taken by the Government to stabilise/ decrease the prices of essential food items in order to protect the interest of the common man?

## ANSWER

## miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h ¼Jh jke foykl ikloku½

THE MINISTER OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI RAM VILAS PASWAN)

(a) to (e)  : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED IN REPLY TO  PARTS (a)  TO  (e)  OF  LOK  SABHA  STARRED QUESTION NO.*311 FOR 10.12.2019 REGARDING PRICES OF ESSENTIAL FOOD ITEMS.

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- (a)  :    All  India  Monthly  Average  Retail  Prices  of  22  essential  food  items  during  the  current  year    are  at Annexure .      Prices  of  food  items  are  inter-alia  affected  by  mismatch  in  demand  and  supply,  shortfall  in production  owing  to  adverse  weather  conditions  and  seasonality,  increased  transportation  costs,  supply chain constraints like lack of storage facilities, artificial shortage created by hoarding and black marketing, etc.
- (b)  : Yes, Sir, The Operational Guidelines of Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) have been approved and is available at link:https://consumeraffairs.nic.in/sites/default/files/file uploads/price\_monitoring/PSF%20Operational%20Guidellines%20DOCA\_0.pdf.

## The Salient features of the Fund include:

- i. Utilization of Funds for price stabilization intervention in potatoes, onions and pulses.
- ii. Maintaining  strategic  buffer  for  calibrated  release  during  lean  period  for  price  intervention  for which purchase are undertaken from farmer/ farmer association at farm gate/ Mandi.
- iii. Apart from domestic procurement from farmers/wholesale mandis, imports may also be undertaken under PSF for building adequate buffer at reasonable cost.
- iv. Grant of interest free working capital advance to Central Agencies, State/UT Governments/Agencies to  undertake  market  intervention  operations  in  case  of  price  volatility  in Potato, Onion and Pulses

Creation of buffer stock of pulses and onions under PSF and calibrated releases therefrom has helped in moderating their prices for consumers and has also extended remunerative prices to farmers.

- (c) :  In National Consultation Meeting (NCM) of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Ministers of State/UT Governments held on 03.09.2019, States were advised to hold meetings to review prices with the dealers of essential food items especially pulses and onions on regular basis, for intervention requirement, if  any.  The  powers  of  Central  Government  to  control  production,  supply,  storage,  price,  transport movement etc. as provided under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 are delegated to States/UTs. Union Government has advised States/UTs to effectively enforce stock limit fixed under EC Act. They have also been advised to take anti-hoarding operations against unscrupulous traders of onion so as to keep the prices of onion under control. This enforcement action rests with the States/UTs.
- (d)  :  In  addition  to  system  of  monthly  reporting  from  the  States  on  the  implementation  of the  Essential Commodities  Act  which  includes  figures  of  raid/inspection  conducted,  a  number  of  persons  arrested, detention  order,  value  of  goods  confiscated  etc.,  the  department  also  received  inputs  from  time  to  time from various central agencies on hoarding by some traders. These inputs are shared with the concerned Central Government enforcement agencies as well as State Governments for appropriate action.
- (e)  :  Government  takes  various  measures  from  time  to  time  to  stabilize  prices  of  essential  food  items which,  inter-alia,  include  appropriately  utilizing  trade  and  fiscal  policy  instruments  like  import  duty, Minimum Export Price,  export  restrictions,  imposition  of  stock  limits  and  advising  States  for  effective action against hoarders & black marketers etc. to regulate domestic availability and moderate prices.  Also, Government incentivize farmers by announcing Minimum Support Prices for increasing production and is implementing  Schemes  which, inter  alia ,  include  Mission  for  Integrated  Development  of  Horticulture (MIDH), National Food Security Mission (NFSM), National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP), etc. for increasing production and productivity through appropriate interventions. Besides, Government is also  implementing  Price  Stabilization  Fund  (PSF)  to  help  moderate  the  volatility  in  prices  of  agrihorticultural  commodities  like  pulses,  onion,  and  potato.  Government  banned export  of  onions  and imposed stock limits on traders under Essential Commodities Act on 29.09.19. Government also approved import/procurement of onions for augmenting availability and moderating prices.

## ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*311 FOR 10.12.2019 REGARDING PRICES OF ESSENTIAL FOOD ITEMS.

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## MONTHLY AVERAGE RETAIL PRICES DURING 2019 OF 22 ESSENTIAL FOOD ITEMS MONITORED BY DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS

Unit: ₹/ Kg

.

| Centre                 |   January |   February |   March |   April |    May |   June | July    |   August |   September |   October |   November |   December (upto 03.12.2019) |
|------------------------|-----------|------------|---------|---------|--------|--------|---------|----------|-------------|-----------|------------|------------------------------|
| Rice                   |     30.09 |      30.34 |   30.35 |   30.41 |  30.86 |  31.54 | 31.68   |    32.04 |       32.38 |     33.11 |      33.63 |                        33.7  |
| Wheat                  |     25.59 |      26.22 |   26.27 |   25.98 |  26.14 |  26.43 | 26.58   |    26.95 |       27.03 |     28.12 |      28.26 |                        28.24 |
| Atta (wheat)           |     27.39 |      27.78 |   27.82 |   27.68 |  27.81 |  27.91 | 27.9    |    28.38 |       28.42 |     29.41 |      29.78 |                        29.82 |
| Gram Dal               |     66.43 |      66.54 |   65.14 |   64.83 |  65.64 |  66.16 | 66.14   |    65.9  |       65.59 |     66.25 |      67.06 |                        67.13 |
| Tur Dal                |     72.84 |      74.63 |   74.89 |   75.65 |  79.22 |  83.22 | 84.1    |    85.13 |       85.94 |     86.57 |      88.46 |                        88.5  |
| Urad Dal               |     71.83 |      72.2  |   71.8  |   71.76 |  72.38 |  75.2  | 74.77   |    74.91 |       74.75 |     78.42 |      91.4  |                        95.25 |
| Moong Dal              |     75.75 |      76.59 |   76.35 |   76.55 |  78.75 |  81.92 | 81.7    |    82.33 |       83.44 |     84.64 |      88.15 |                        89.59 |
| Masoor Dal             |     61.81 |      62.76 |   62.73 |   61.99 |  61.87 |  62.6  | 62.8    |    62.71 |       62.83 |     63.26 |      64.67 |                        64.97 |
| Groundnut Oil (Packed) |    126.17 |     126.85 |  127.24 |  126.6  | 127.95 | 129.05 | 129.7 4 |   130.29 |      131.3  |    133.96 |     134.66 |                       134.68 |
| Mustard Oil (Packed)   |    108.35 |     109.41 |  108.81 |  108.3  | 108.52 | 109.15 | 109.5 3 |   108.64 |      109.65 |    111.19 |     112.52 |                       112.59 |
| Vanaspati Oil(Packed)  |     80.56 |      81.22 |   80.84 |   80.53 |  80.25 |  79.64 | 79.25   |    79.36 |       79.64 |     80    |      81.34 |                        81.59 |
| Soya Oil(Packed)       |     91.21 |      91.64 |   92.08 |   91.84 |  92.23 |  92.31 | 92.06   |    92.01 |       92.57 |     92.51 |      93.15 |                        92.62 |
| Sunflower Oil(Packed)  |     98.14 |      98.3  |   98.56 |   98.75 |  99.31 |  99.32 | 99.52   |    99.59 |      100.9  |    101.25 |     101.72 |                       101.72 |
| Palm Oil(Packed)       |     75.8  |      76.39 |   76    |   75.02 |  75.27 |  74.72 | 74.61   |    75.02 |       76.05 |     75.92 |      78.32 |                        80.37 |
| Potato                 |     16.93 |      16.13 |   15.35 |   15.96 |  16.98 |  18.2  | 19.09   |    19.03 |       18.9  |     20.57 |      22.83 |                        23.34 |
| Onion                  |     18.03 |      16.48 |   15.87 |   16.25 |  16.96 |  19.04 | 21.11   |    24.82 |       38.3  |     47.02 |      61.08 |                        81.9  |
| Tomato                 |     22.98 |      19.95 |   21.84 |   25.89 |  32.57 |  35.89 | 37.31   |    38.71 |       31.2  |     38.59 |      38.38 |                        33.27 |
| Sugar                  |     38.25 |      38.13 |   38.14 |   37.96 |  38.34 |  38.59 | 38.56   |    38.68 |       39.16 |     39.41 |      39.5  |                        39.39 |
| Gur                    |     42.39 |      42.39 |   42.78 |   42.72 |  43.41 |  44.42 | 44.03   |    44.56 |       45.17 |     46.16 |      46.8  |                        47    |
| Milk@                  |     42.68 |      42.76 |   43.38 |   43.24 |  43.47 |  43.27 | 43.41   |    43.5  |       44.47 |     44.87 |      44.97 |                        44.92 |
| Tea Loose              |    208.22 |     208.26 |  209.48 |  211.3  | 212.26 | 213.02 | 212.1 9 |   212.45 |      213.64 |    215.25 |     216.89 |                       217.2  |
| Salt                   |     15.46 |      15.29 |   15.3  |   15.35 |  15.28 |  15.38 | 15.31   |    15.4  |       15.48 |     15.43 |      15.52 |                        15.55 |

@ --> Milk Prices-    ₹ per ltr.

Source: State Civil Supplies Deptt; Developed by:- : National Informatics Centre(NIC)

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