Annexure – I

 

STATEMENT REFERRED IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1105 FOR 07.03.2011 REGARDING PRICE RISE OF ESSENTIAL FOOD ARTICLES.

 

Daily Retail Prices Along With % Variation Of Essential Commodities

(Rs per kg)

Commodity/ Centre

Current Date
15/02/2011

1YearBack
15/02/2010

% Variation

over 1 Year

Rice

 

 

 

DELHI

23

23

0

MUMBAI

20

19

5.26

KOLKATA

20

18

11.11

CHENNAI

22

22

0

Wheat

 

 

 

DELHI

15.5

15

3.33

MUMBAI

21

20

5

KOLKATA

NR

NT

NT

CHENNAI

24

22

9.09

Atta

 

 

 

DELHI

17

17

0

MUMBAI

24

21

14.29

KOLKATA

17

17

0

CHENNAI

23

23

0

Gram Dal

 

 

 

DELHI

38

37

2.70

MUMBAI

39

37

5.41

KOLKATA

38

35

8.57

CHENNAI

38

33

15.15

Tur Dal

 

 

 

DELHI

74

77

-3.90

MUMBAI

66

70

-5.71

KOLKATA

64

78

-17.95

CHENNAI

70

70

0

Urad Dal

 

 

 

DELHI

76

69

10.14

MUMBAI

77

70

10

KOLKATA

60

62

-3.23

CHENNAI

68

70

-2.86

Moong Dal

 

 

 

DELHI

72

79

-8.86

MUMBAI

77

88

-12.5

KOLKATA

75

85

-11.76

CHENNAI

70

80

-12.5

Masoor Dal

 

 

 

DELHI

55

60

-8.33

MUMBAI

57

52

9.62

KOLKATA

48

58

-17.24

CHENNAI

50

NR

NR

Sugar

 

 

 

DELHI

33

43

-23.26

MUMBAI

32

43

-25.58

KOLKATA

32

41

-21.95

CHENNAI

31

42

-26.19

 

 

Commodity/ Centre

Current Date
15/02/2011

1Year Back
15/02/2010

% Variation

over 1 Year

Groundnut oil

 

 

 

DELHI

132

112

17.86

MUMBAI

85

100

-15

KOLKATA

120

95

26.32

CHENNAI

82

75

9.33

Mustard oil

 

 

 

DELHI

79

70

12.86

MUMBAI

84

75

12

KOLKATA

70

62

12.90

CHENNAI

79

72

9.72

Vanaspati

 

 

 

DELHI

77

57

35.09

MUMBAI

77

56

37.5

KOLKATA

65

38

71.05

CHENNAI

75

54

38.89

Tea (Loose)

 

 

 

DELHI

150

157

-4.46

MUMBAI

188

165

13.94

KOLKATA

100

100

0

CHENNAI

260

340

-23.53

Salt (Packed)

 

 

 

DELHI

14

12

16.67

MUMBAI

14

12

16.67

KOLKATA

8

8

0

CHENNAI

14

12

16.67

Potato

 

 

 

DELHI

7

9

-22.22

MUMBAI

15

13

15.38

KOLKATA

5

5

0

CHENNAI

11.5

12

-4.17

Onion

 

 

 

DELHI

18

24

-25

MUMBAI

18

18

0

KOLKATA

15

24

-37.5

CHENNAI

13.75

16

-14.06

Milk

 

 

 

DELHI

25

22

13.64

MUMBAI

28

23

21.74

KOLKATA

21

21

0

CHENNAI

20.5

20.5

0

Source: State/UTs Civil Supplies Department

 

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Annexure II

 

STATEMENT REFERRED IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1105 FOR 07.03.2011 REGARDING PRICE RISE OF ESSENTIAL FOOD ARTICLES.

 

Steps taken by the Government to contain price rise in essential Commodities are listed below:

 

(A) Short term Measures:

 

1. Fiscal Measures

(i)         Reduced import duties to zero – for rice, wheat, onion, pulses, edible oils (crude) and to 7.5% for refined & hydrogenated oils & vegetable oils.

(ii)        Duty under Tariff Rate Quota for Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP) reduced from 15% to 5% for import upto an aggregate of 10000 metric tonnes in a financial year.

(iii)       Import of 30000 tonnes of Milk Powder and 15000 tonnes of Milk Fat at zero duty allowed to NDDB during 2010-11.

(iv)       Allowed import of raw sugar and white/refined sugar at zero duty under O.G.L up to 31.3.2011.

 

2. Administrative Measures

(i)         Removed levy obligation in respect of all imported raw sugar and white/refined sugar.

(ii)        Banned export of non-basmati rice and wheat until further orders, edible oils (except coconut oil and forest based oil) and pulses (except Kabuli chana and organic pulses up to a maximum of 10000 tonnes per year).

(iii)       Export of edible oils permitted in branded consumer packs of up to 5 kgs subject to a limit of 10,000 tonnes for one year.

(iv)       Effected no change in Tariff Rate Values of edible oils;

(v)        Extended stock limit orders in the case of pulses, paddy and rice, edible oil, edible oilseeds and sugar.

 (vi)      Used Minimum Export Price (MEP) to regulate exports of onion (averaging at $1200 per tonne for December 2010) and basmati rice ($900 PMT);

(vii)      Maintained the Central Issue Price (CIP) for rice (at Rs 5.65 per kg for BPL and Rs 3 per kg for AAY) and wheat (at Rs 4.15 per kg for BPL and Rs 2 per kg for AAY) since 2002.

(viii)     Suspension of Futures trading in Rice, urad and Tur by the Forward Market Commission in the year 2007-08 continues during 2010-11.  Futures trading in sugar were suspended wef 27.5.2009 up to 30.9.2010.

(ix)       Proportion of sugar production requisitioned as levy sugar was increased from 10 to 20% for 2009-10 sugar seasons. However, for 2010-11 sugar season, the levy obligation has been reduced to 10%.

(x)        For the month of January, 2011, 17.00 lac tons of non levy sugar have been made available which includes 16.56 lac tons of normal non-levy sugar and 0.44 lac tons of sugar processed from imported raw sugar. Besides, levy sugar quota of 2.18 lac tons also been released. Thus, for the month of January, 2011, 19.18 lac tons of sugar have been made available. 

(xi)       An additional allocation of wheat/rice @10 kg/family/month of January and February 2010 was made to the accepted number of AAY, BPL and APL ration cards. This is in addition to existing allocation while wheat was allocated at MSP price of Rs.10800 per tonnes; rice was allotted at MSP derived price of Rs.15373.10 per tonne for Grade.A.

(xii)      Specific adhoc additional allocation of 30.66 lakh tonnes of foodgrains has been made for all cardholders on 19.5.2010 with validity for lifting up to 20.11.2010@ of Rs.8.45 per kg for wheat and Rs.11.85 per kg for rice.

(xiii)     An additional allocation of 4.57 lakh tonnes of foodgrains per month for APL families at the prevailing APL CIP made on 2.8.2010. This is applicable initially for a period of six months to those States where APL allocations were below 15 kg per family per month.

 

 

 

(xiv)     25 lakh tonnes of food grains have also been allocated in September 2010 to all States/UTs for distribution to BPL families at BPL issue price during six months period from September 2010.

(xv)      Further 25 lakh tonnes of food grains have been allocated on 6.1.2011 to all States/UTs for BPL families at BPL issue prices for distribution during January to June 2011.

(xvi)     An additional adhoc allocation of 25 lakh tones of foodgrains has been made on 6.1.2011 to all States/UTs for APL families @ Rs. 8.45 per kg for wheat and Rs. 11.85 per kg for rice for distribution during January to June 2011.

(xvii)    In addition allocation to State Governments are made under  OMSS interventions

(xviii)   Extended the current dispensation for PSUs to import pulses against reimbursement up to 15% of losses and service charge of 1.2% of cif value up to 31.3.2011.

(xix)     The Scheme for distribution of subsidized imported pulses through State Governments/UTs with subsidy of Rs 10/- kg for distribution to BPL families @ 1 kg per month. The Scheme is in force upto 31.03.2011.

 (xx) Experimented with popularization of Yellow Peas through sale in the Retail Outlets of NAFED, Kendriya Bhandar, NCCF and Mother Dairy     in Delhi.

(xxi)     The Scheme for distribution of subsidized imported edible oils through State Governments/UTs with subsidy of Rs.15/- kg for distribution to ration card holders @ 1 kg  per ration card per month. The Scheme is in force upto 31.03.2011.

(xxii)    Export of Onion (all varieties) including Bangalore rose onions and Krishnapuram onions fresh or chilled, frozen, provisionally prepared or   dried but excluding  onion cut, sliced or broken in powder form is not   permitted wef. 22nd December, 2010. The ban on export of Onions lifted wef 18th February, 2011.

(xxiii)   Full exemption from basic custom duty has been provided to onions and shallets with effect from 21st December, 2010. Consequently, these items would also be exempt from special additional duty of 4%, education cess and secondary and higher education cess. The exemption is open ended and does not carry a validity clause prescribing a terminal date.

(xxiv)   NAFED and NCCF are selling Onion at reduced prices   from their retail outlets in Delhi.

(xxv)    Review of the price situation and steps taken by State Governments was done through video conference with Chief Secretaries of all states. Several State Governments have been intervening in the market through co-operatives/farmer’s markets. 

(xxvi)   Reimbursement of losses to NAFED/NCCF on sales of onion, with a cap on the losses at 30% of landed cost for a period of one month up to 31.1.2011. Both agencies will continue to procure onions and sell in Delhi and other centres without any subsidy beyond 31.1.2011.

(xxvii) A Conference of CMs was held on 06.02.2010, which was presided over by the Prime Minister to consider measures to insulate the poor and vulnerable from adverse price movements.  As a follow up, a Core Group of some CMs and concerned Central Ministers met under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Prime Minister on 08.04.2010 and recommended inter alia setting up of a Working Group on Consumer Affairs (under the Chairmanship of CM Gujarat with CMs of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra as its Members) to suggest strategies plan of action for reducing the gap between farmgate and retail prices and recommend measures for  amendment and better implementation of the Essential Commodities Act,1955.  These include the improvement of distributional efficiency, reducing intermediation costs, promoting State intervention for retailing essential commodities at reasonable prices and enforcement of Statutory provisions with a view to meeting both short and long term goals.

 

(B) Medium Term Measures:

 

            In the medium term, Government has taken initiatives such as the National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) to improve production and productivity in agriculture.

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