Chief ministers’ panel forms 3 groups to fight inflation

Prime minister Manmohan Singh tried to strike a conciliatory note with opposition-ruled states on the issue of price rise on Thursday.

He had constituted a core group of 10 chief ministers to tackle the issue. The group met in New Delhi on Thursday.

The meeting decided to constitute three working groups to deal with the issues pertaining to production and distribution of the agricultural produce.

In an indication of its all-inclusive approach, the Centre took opposition-ruled states into confidence. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was appointed as head of one of the three working groups.

While the group related to consumer affairs would be headed by Modi, another on making the public distribution system efficient would be led by Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The third group will find ways and means to check hoarding and black-marketeering.

All the three groups would submit their reports to the core committee of the chief ministers within two months, government sources said.

Sources privy to the deliberations of the over four-hour-long meeting said differences between the Congress and the opposition-led states were apparent during the meeting. But both the sides agreed to jointly face the challenge.

A very vocal Modi also raised the issue of prevailing confusion on the definition of the below poverty line (BPL) families. He said the Centre should clearly define BPL families. Modi also asked the Centre to provide more pulses and sugar to the states to fight price rise.

Addressing the chief ministers’ committee, prime minister Singh said the mismatch between food production and demand was a grave challenge for the central and state governments. In this context, he also pointed out to the existing deficiencies in the advance storage facilities available in the country.