The current price ceiling fixed for as many as 29 commodities by the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) and its positive impacts conspicuous by their absence is more like the game of pranksters Tom and Jerry. In the cartoon, they play pranks which are funny and hilarious at times but hardly damaging, in the case of the authorities in charge of implementing the directive and traders supposed to comply with it, the prank by no means is innocent. Non-compliance of the order has been causing grievous damage to the consumers, particularly the lower segments of society. To all intents and purposes, the move to maintain prices of essentials at a reasonable level during the fasting month of Ramadan has merits but defiance of the DAM order brings the whole exercise to nothing.
Now why does this happen? The DAM is responsible for marketing of agricultural produce/products and also agricultural technology. So long its presence in maintaining prices of essentials has been next to nothing. Even this time also, it has allegedly made no visit to market to check if its price list is being followed. In the country mobile courts and the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) make some forays into the market but rarely into production units or warehouses where commodities are hoarded to manipulate the market. Again, this too looks like a Tom and Jerry show. Apart from realising fines for marketing misconduct by fringe players, such raids produce hardly any sustainable results. This explains why business syndicates could grow strong and their infiltration into politics with an eye to subvert any government move to stabilise market has now made them bolder than before to defy directives from departments. The ministers concerned are not found wanting in rhetoric but they fall short of taking decisive actions when it comes to execution of the laws of the land.
When the entire nation is taken hostage by business coteries, fanning the inflation from one notch to the next higher notch and then a still higher notch, the ministries involved should move in a coordinated manner to rein in the rapacious businesspeople out to make irrational profit. A concrete and decisive measure taken, the only time it was done, against farms producing bulk portion of chicken eggs for monopolising market prices shows that if the various government agencies really mean business, they can leave a sobering impact on commodity supply and their market prices.
True, retailers also try to fleece customers if there is an opportunity. Had the importers, wholesalers and local industries were brought under regular scrutiny, compelling them to submit all the documents required for working out costs of production or import distribution, any abnormal price hike could immediately be stopped at the source. If prices did not get inflated at sources, the marketing network could be streamlined for fixation of commodity prices with a reasonable profit margin at the retail level. In the absence of this practice for long, market has time and again grown jittery and unethical business practices have assumed a monstrous form. If the authorities are serious the monster can still be tamed.
Prices are fixed but of no use
FE Team | Published: March 18, 2024 20:13:34
Prices are fixed but of no use
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