The New Nation - Internet Edition

Prices of essentials continue to go up making life extremely difficult for ordinary and honest people. Latest market survey reports show that prices of not only rice but also edible oil and sugar continue to rise. Winter vegetables which were relatively cheap about a week ago have become dearer after the recent rainfall. The prices of fish, beef and mutton have marked steady rise, the reason given being the spread of bird flu that has reduced the consumption of chicken in most families. Economists and government functionaries attribute price hike to many factors like the price situation in international markets, and increase of freight charges due to price hike of petroleum and the like. But people of limited income bracket who spend a major part of their income on essential food items cannot be comforted only by explaining the causes that also include crop failure due to two successive big floods and super cyclone Sidr. They need the supply of essentials at affordable prices because their income has not increased along with inflation and price hike.

According to latest market reports, even coarse varieties of rice are sold at Taka 31 a kilo. Fine rice costs Taka 42 to 44 a kilo. The price of edible oil has continued to rise at such a pace that the traders and the authorities concerned have opted for adjustment of maximum retail price once every fortnight. Against this backdrop, all rational explanations of the price situation would only fall into deaf ears unless something concrete is done to arrest the price hike.

The BDR shopping chain, sellers' markets, and open market sale of rice are emergency measures which have helped reach essentials to poor people. But these steps have not proved enough to contain price hike. The people would not accept excuses like there is very little to be done to address price hike. The people welcomed the government's war on corruption, but it should not mean that the life of honest people would become difficult.

The government should explore all avenues of containing price hike. Rationing of essential items is one option suggested by some quarters. This system is very much there in West Bengal and some other Indian States and is meeting the needs of a sizeable proportion of poor people there. Such a system introduced after the First World War had been there in Bangladesh till the late eighties when it was abolished. The other option that deserves serious consideration is full activation of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) to reach essentials to the people at reduced prices. The people want remedies to the problem of price hike facing them, not sophisticated explanation of its causes.