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Saturday, May 17, 2008
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Take urgent steps to check price rise: Left

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: In the wake of inflation rate climbing to a new 44-month high, Left parties on Friday asked the government to take urgent measures as suggested by them, including banning of futures trading in essential items and action against hoarding, to check the rising price graph.

“Unless the government takes measures suggested by the CPI(M) and the Left parties and implement them seriously, it cannot control price rise,” CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said here. Maintaining that the CPI(M) had warned the government of making “a wrong diagnosis” of the price problem, he said it was leading to the slowing down of the economy.

“Factors like high rate of interest and appreciation of the rupee were compounding the problem, far from slowing it down,” Mr. Yechury said.

CPI national secretary D. Raja said the fiscal and monetary measures on which the government was depending a lot, had failed to yield any result.

The government, which had become a “growth fundamentalist rather than a welfare state, is now pleading helplessness before the market forces. All this is a result of the neo-liberal policies it is pursuing,” Mr. Raja said, adding the government “cannot blame everything on external or global factors all the time.”

The Left parties have been demanding curbs on private companies buying foodgrains by amending the Essential Commodities Act, universalisation of public distribution system, restoration of original foodgrain quotas of States and prohibiting forward trading in 25 agricultural commodities.

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