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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, Dec 4: With the government more or less laying the blame for its sluggish response to the runaway increase in vegetable prices at Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha’s door, it has been decided that the Cabinet Committee on Prices (CCP) is to be re-constituted to include both Home Minister L K Advani as well as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Vajpayee will head the committee which is currently headed by Sinha.
The decision to reconstitute the CCP was taken following Vajpayee’s meeting with the allies as well as various chief ministers recently but at that time it was not decided how this was to be done, or whether the prime minister would head it. The reconstitution is likely to be announced within a few days.
Finance Ministry officials, for their part, strongly contest the view emanating from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that they are to be blamed for not taking fast enough action on the price front, especially the runaway hike in the prices of onions. They point out that, under thesystem of responsibilities, the finance minister is only responsible for overall levels of inflation which remain under control even today. The agriculture minister, according to Finance Ministry officials, is supposed to monitor prices of agricultural commodities.
Besides, they add, the problem with onions was really one of various ministries giving incorrect inputs and delaying decisions. For one, when Environment Minister Suresh Prabhu warned that there would be an onion shortage, Agriculture Minister Som Pal didn’t act on it — nor did Som Pal react to the suggestion that onion exports be banned. In fact, when prices first started rising, Som Pal argued that farmers would benefit from this.
And then, after a few weeks had been lost this way, Food Minister Surjit Singh Barnala delayed his recommendation to NAFED to import onions. And, finally, when NAFED applied for permission to import onions, it took them 12 days after which the Commerce Ministry returned their application saying it wasn’t made onthe correct form.
The Finance Ministry, in fact, has asked that an explanation be given by all Ministries/departments for this. In any case, according to Finance Ministry officials, inter-ministerial co-ordination is not the Finance Ministry’s job but that of the Cabinet Secretary.
Interestingly, the move to reconstitute the CCP will add to the increasing powers that are being shifted away from the Finance Ministry, to the PMO. In recent times, the PMO recommended that an import duty be levied on sugar imports while the MoF turned it down — the import duty will be announced shortly. Similarly, the decision to announce a 7,000 km cross-country highway was also taken at the PMO despite the fact that the Finance Ministry opposed it.
