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A discussion was held on ‘price rise’ issue in the Lok Sabha on Monday after the Opposition raised this issue several times in both the House since the beginning of monsoon session on 18 July. Members of Opposition parties in the lower house criticized the BJP-led central government’s policies for the rising prices and accused it of ignoring the interest of common people. They said that ‘kitchens will soon see a lockdown’ if the Centre does not take corrective measures, according to news agency PTI.
Initiating the debate over price rise issue, Congress leader Manish Tewari said central government’s policies have hit hard around 25 crore households in the country and stretched the disparity between rich and poor people. He alleged that the five pillars of the economy (savings, investment, production, consumption and employment) have been thrown away due to wrong decisions of the government.
“Around 27 crore people were brought above the poverty line under the United Progressive Alliance(UPA) regime. However, a report made in 2021 shows that 23 crore people are once again dragged below the poverty line,” he charged.
He further accused the central government of demonetization and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), saying that their implementation has affected not only medium and small scale industries but also employment in the country.
“The government has increased the GST on flour, curd, paneer, pencil, etc. It did not event spare children from the inflation,” Tewari said. The Congress member alleged the Centre collected ₹27 lakh crore only through tax, excise duty and dividend in the petroleum sector.
Trinamool Congress member Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar alleged that the Centre is not taking any action to tackle the frequent price rise in Liquified Petroleum Gas(LPG), which has made it difficult for poor people to even cook food.
“Does this government want poor people to eat raw vegetables?” asked Kakoli Dastibar, adding that the government should take care of poor people and reduce the taxes on essential items.
Sangeeta Azad from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) claimed that the farmers’ income have been halved under the leadership of National Democratic Alliance(NDA) government and the government may have streamlined its own budget. “Every homemaker is in tears today. What kind of nation your are building?” the BSP member asked.
On ther other hand, IUML member ET Mohammed Basheer said that the family budget is collapsing and the ‘kitchen is in turmoil’.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) member Nama Nageswara Rao demanded that the central government should protect the interest of farmers by increasing the procurement of food grains.
“Between 2014 and 2022, the government collected ₹27 crore tax on petrol and diesel, out of which, only ₹93,600 crore was spent on servicing of the bonds,” said Biju Janata Dal(BJD) member Pinaki Misra.
NCP leader Supriya Sule also expressed regret over the hike in GST on essential products, saying that it has burdened the poor people. She demanded the Centre to come out with a white paper on its promise of doubling farmers’ income.
The Lok Sabha had been marred with several adjournments over disruptions on various issues including inflation and GST since it commenced the monsoon session. Opposition MPs were suspended after they protested about the price rise in the nation. The suspended MPs since then has been on a 50 hour day night protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue to open dialogue on the issue of price rise in India.
(With PTI inputs)
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