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Respected Prime Minister,
With all humility at my command, I would like to place
before you certain ground realities that really break
the back of the common man ( ‘aam-admi ‘) of India. We
often say jokingly ‘Dal-roti khao, Prabhu ki gun gao”
(Eat ‘dal-roti’ and sing in praise of God). But, Mr.
Prime Minister, I, being originally from Kerala with a
palate for fish curry and rice and having settled in
Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, has
developed an affable affinity with dal-roti-chaval for
the last about three decades. Engaged actively in
service to the nation in divergent fields and also
keeping my body, mind and soul together to the pangs of
daily life, I now find most of the dal items an unafford-able
commodity in my daily menu.
One may try to skip it for sometime till the price tag
come down, but the question now is for how long People
who are in the upper echelons, middle and lower middle
income groups too feel the pinch then you can imagine
what would be the plight of ‘aam admi’, as there is no
separate outlets for them. Since cereals are the source
of protein ,it is inevitable or rather unavoidable for
those larger majority who fall in vegetarian category.
Mr. Prime Minister, in my last over 30 years stay in
Bhopal, I had never been so much shocked as when I had
to part with Rs. 10/- for 50 grams of green coriander
leaves(Dania patha) that adds a bit of flavour to make
curries more delicious. Normally, earlier, this item was
given free by any vegetable vendor in token of gesture
for buying his vegetables.
But, now-a-days, ordinary vendors do not take the risk
of keeping it, as some irate/intem-perate buyer may even
bash them up on hearing the price which, as on date, is
Rs. 200/- per kg.. Respected Prime Minister, I know
since you are fully committed to ameliorate the lot of
the poor , and since you have earlier testified of your
having born at a remote village in undivided India
which, unfortunately, is now in Pakistan; you are quite
aware of the daily pangs of the common man. Most of the
schemes brought out by your government in the last five
years have helped the daridranarayans of India in a
great way, therefore, they have once again stamped their
approval for the continuation of your government in a
befitting way. This time round, the added advantage for
you is that the people have literally ‘left out the
Lefts’, so that you have no hassles in implementing the
‘aam admi’ programmes.
Sadly, the unprecedented price rise on almost all items
that really matters for a just sustenance/survival of
the common man is causing much worry all around. I am
just wondering when we have contained inflation to even
sub-zero level, why does the prices of the basic
commodities that are most commonly being used by every
Indian since centuries shoots so high that it is
unthinkable for even the salaried/white colored people
these days. For your kind information, the prevailing
prices of some of these daily use items are - Sugar Rs.
30/ per kg, Tea leaf between Rs. 75 - 90 per 250 grams,
edible oil between 70 - 90 per liter, rice between 20 -
40 per kg for ordinary and medium variety(high quality
variety like dubraj, basmati are beyond the dream), dal
tuar - 85 - 90 per kg, dal masur 65 - 70 per kg, dal
chana - 40 - 45 per kg, dal moong 60 - 65 per kg, onion
15- 17 per kg, Potato 15-17 per kg. As far as the cost
of vegetables are concerned, the vendors have conceived
a new idea of telling the price of only 250
grams (pau), as, otherwise, they fear violent reaction
from customers, in case the price per kg is spelt out.
These days,most of the commonly used vegetables are
above Rs. 35 - 40 per kg. Recently, one of the celebrate
journalists and Magsaysay awardees - P. Sainath, visited
the city of Bhopal, to deliver his lecture on the theme
‘Media in the Age of Globalization’ organized by
Shailendra Shelli Memorial, has sarcastically mentioned
that “India is also producing the cheapest car in the
world while tuar dal is being sold at Rs. 90 per kg”. He
further added that ‘the post 1991 India has seen
globalization of prices and Indianisation of incomes’.
Mr. Prime Minister, your Petroleum Minister Murali Deora
was quick enough to increase the prices of petrol and
diesel on the plea that price of crude oil in the
international market is shooting up. But, one cannot see
the same quickness in bringing down the price when the
price of the crude subsequently came down. One hardly
need to reiterate that even the ordinary, illiterate
Indian is well informed of each and every development in
this country, thanks to the multifarious channels that
are beaming every minute matters direct to their homes.
They understand things and they reflect it when they
have to choose a government to govern them.
Whosoever ever attempted to make the common man a fool,
they all have been befooled by the common man. You need
hardly have to be informed that the main party in
opposition now is a party of the trading community. Your
government’s mechanism should very strictly monitor the
developments in the market, particularly on daily use
items, as we have the history of even a government
toppled on the simple ground of shooting onion price. I
hope you will definitely spare some of your most
valuable times to deal on this specific issue with all
the seriousness it deserves..
(Courtesy: People’s Watch, Andhra Pradesh)
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