Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday said his ministry should not be blamed for the price rise making it clear that policies to control inflation are discussed and formulated at the “highest level” involving participation of the Prime Minister and the finance minister.
While absolving the agriculture ministry of the responsibility for price rise, he said its responsibility is to see that adequate production of wheat, rice, sugar and oilseeds in the country.
The agriculture minister also drew attention to how wheat, rice and sugar are cheaper in India compared to other countries.
“It is a collective decision-making process in which inflation control measures are discussed at the highest level, including Prime Minister, finance minister and economic adviser to the PM. We gather state-wise information for guidelines to form a policy,” Mr Pawar told reporters at Manchar, about 100 km from Pune, according to an agency report .
Responding to a suggestion that the Congress was targeting the NCP on this issue, Mr Pawar only said, “It is not right to blame agriculture ministry for the price rise.”
“The responsibility of agriculture ministry is to see that adequate production of wheat, rice, sugar and oilseeds is taking place in the country. Now, we have stocks for the next two to three years. In India, wheat, rice and sugar are cheaper, compared to other countries,” the NCP chief said.
When asked about the proposed meeting of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee with the state finance ministers to discuss price-rise, Mr Pawar, who attended a function at a dairy plant at Manchar, said, “It could be a pre-Budget discussion.”
Replying to another query, Mr Pawar said the ban on onion exports would be reviewed when the situation warrants it. On milk prices, he said the hike was due to the gap between demand and supply.
The minister said the government was considering offering incentives for development of dairy sector.