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PM holds emergency meeting with CMs on rising prices, inflation
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Friday, 09 April, 2010, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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Prime Minister Dr Manmohan singh chaired a meeting with the chief ministers of 10 key states on containing rising prices, amid fears of inflation crossing the double-digit mark. The core group of chief ministers, set up in February comprises Andhra Pradeah, Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradeash and Chhattisgarh. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Planning Commission Dy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia also attended the meeting. Inflation soared to 9.89 per cent during February and is feared to cross the double-digit mark in March – the data for which is likely to be released next week. Food inflation has been recorded at 17.7 per cent on a year-on-year basis for the week ended March 27 against the previous week’s rise of 16.35 per cent
After the meeting the Core group committee of the chief ministers announced the setting up of three groups to suggest long-term measures to enhance agricultural productivity and strengthening the public distribution system. Briefing the media after the meeting, Pawar said the working group on agriculture would be headed by Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Chief ministers of Punjab, West Bengal and Bihar would be members of this group. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi would head the working group on consumer affairs and would have chief ministers of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh as members. The third working group on food & public distribution would be headed by Planning Commission Dy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and would comprise the chief ministers of Chhattisgarh, Assam and the chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council C Rangarajan as members.
The core group deliberated on identifying the number of below poverty line (BPL) families, following differences in the central and state government records. While the Planning Commission figures showed 65 million BPL families, the state records show more than 100 million. The Centre is all set to start a fresh BPL census and the Food Security Bill will be soon unveiled. West Bengal and Gujarat chief ministers demanded that the proposed food security Bill should cater to the Above Poverty Line (APL) families too and give at least 35 kg of grains to both the BPL and APL families.
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