|
Supreme Court directed Free food grains for poor
The court directed the central government on August 31, 2010 to carry out a fresh
survey of the people below poverty line (BPL), above poverty line (APL)
and beneficiaries of the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY).
The Supreme Court came down heavily on union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for saying that the court's suggestion on free
distribution of foodgrains to the poor was not binding on the government.
Referring to media reports attributed to Pawar wherein he said that the
court only made a suggestion Aug 12 and the government will consider it,
an apex court bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Deepak Verma
told Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran: "Tell your minister
not to make any such comment." The court said: "What we have said is an order and not a suggestion. Let
him not misunderstand our order."
The court passed the order in the wake of several states disputing the
figures of the central government related to beneficiaries of subsidised
food schemes. The petitioner, People's Union for Civil Liberties, said that the
government admitted in its affidavit that it has sold 60.10 lakh tonnes
of foodgrains in the open market since October 2009. The government should be restrained from selling foodgrains in the open
market as a large number of people are suffering from malnutrition and hunger, the petitioner said.
Rise in food price
Prices of most essential food items are still showing double digit increase in prices, with no let-up in the prices that people pay.
A look at latest data collected by the Price Monitoring Cell of the Department of Consumer Affairs shows that prices of daily use items such
as rice, potatoes, onions, sugar, salt and tea have registered a substantial surge on a year-on-year basis.
Retail prices of sensitive items including onions, potatoes and sugar continue to show substantial increase over last year’s levels
in India. Rice and tur (pigeon pea) prices have also shot up substantially across nearly all
cities. Price rise in items such as tea has seen a spurt across the northern and southern
cities, while salt prices have also shot up around the country. Edible oils including groundnut oil, mustard oil and vanaspati have been
exceptions, showing either a dip in prices or only a marginally increase in retail prices
The lower production of sugar has primarily led to higher prices, prices of pulses have continued to remain high as the cost of imports has gone up due to a weakening rupee. Onion prices continue to stay high despite an expanded acreage under the winter crop.
Bharat Bandh against the rise in fuel prices
With more than 250 trains cancelled or disrupted, 100 flights cancelled
and millions of people inconvenienced, the Bharat Bandh called by opposition parties on July 05, 2010 against the rise in fuel prices cost the
nation Rs 13,000 crore. "The bandh is estimated to have cost the nation close to Rs 13,000 crore
in terms of GDP loss," industry chamber Ficci said in a statement. Another industry body Assocham put the losses at Rs 10,000 crore, while
CII pegged it at Rs 3,000 crore.
The dawn to dusk all-India strike, the first such challenge for Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh's government, called separately by the Left and
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cost about Rs10,000 crore, said the
Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham). Wholesale commodity markets remained shut in most of the cities, while
several flights from key airports like Mumbai were cancelled. According
to the All-India Motor Transport Congress, 6 lakh vehicles were off the road. |
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar
|
|
