Govt must change base for calculating inflation: BJP

Rejecting the Government’s claim that the rate of inflation has come down dramatically, the BJP on Wednesday demanded a “composite realistic price index...

Rejecting the Government’s claim that the rate of inflation has come down dramatically, the BJP on Wednesday demanded a “composite realistic price index” that reflects the real price situation.

The party said the calculation of inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is not in tune with reality and the indications in the Consumer Price Index. “The Government must consider changing its base of deciding the rate of inflation on only the WPI. The Consumer Price Index represents the actual consumer basket of retail prices and includes day-to-day services used by the common man,” said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar.

“The ground reality is diametrically opposite to the tall and false claims of the Government. The prices of all essential commodities in general and food items in particular are literally on fire. Though the Government is claiming that inflation is just 3.6 per cent, the reality is that prices have increased phenomenally over the last three months,” he said.

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He said the Consumer Price Index, (CPI-UNME) has shot up by 6.4 per cent since August 2006 and prices of food items have seen a steep rise of 9.11 per cent. Javdekar said prices of vegetables shot up by 19.8 per cent and the CPI-UNME for Delhi has increased from 430 to 522 during UPA regime—an annual increase of almost 7 per cent.

“The Government should have seen its own official statistics, released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, before making such false and misleading claims,” Javdekar said.

The BJP spokesperson said increasing prices of all essential commodities is making life tough for common people.

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