“Consumer Food Price Index may have changed in other parts of the country but it has not changed in Jammu & Kashmir for the convenience of a middle class consumers.”
The current phase of unprecedented retail inflation is a severe blow to the middle class consumers particularly in Jammu & Kashmir where supplies lines to Kashmir remain suspended for most of the times during the chilly seasons of winter and early summer months due to frequent raining and landslides on Jammu-Srinagar highway. While most of the times the middle class consumer withstands the stress of the rising prices of essential commodities particularly vegetables and fruits but on the eve of festivals like Eid Ul Adha the middle class consumers are forced to bear the brunt of the retail inflation for one or other reason. Market checking would keep prices of vegetables and a fruit under check but with the suspension of enforcement wing of the directorate of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) department the marketing checking is not conducted in Kashmir the way it was being conducted two years ago. Previously the enforcement wing of FCS&CA department would lead the market checking squads on the eve of religious festivals like Eid Ul Fitr and Eid Ul Adha but now offices of Additional Deputy Commissioners, Sub Divisional Magistrates and Tehsildars take a lead role in market checking only on the eve of festival like Eid Ul Fitr and Eid Ul Adha. For the last two years the Government does not regulate even the prices of sacrificial lambs on the eve of Eid Ul Adha as FCS&CA department refuses to regulate the prices of even the sacrificial lambs on the eve of Eid Ul Adha.
“The increasing trends of vegetable inflation have brought the purchasing capacity of middle class consumers under tremendous stress for last more than two months and with the suspension of the market checking practices by the enforcement wing of FCS& CA department the vegetable inflation is not heading to any dead end in Jammu & Kashmir. Though Food Price Index is a major indicator of retail inflation but in Jammu & Kashmir the Government does not following proper practices and procedures for preparing Food Price Index from time to time for the purposes of curbing the retail inflation for the convenience of the middle class consumers.”
Interestingly many states and union territories of the country have a full fledged price monitoring division in Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Departments which are preparing food price index for the convenience of the consumers but in Jammu & Kashmir the FCS%CA Department has no such price monitoring division for preparing food price index from time to time. Interestingly the Consumer Food Price Index may have changed in other parts of the country but it has not changed in Jammu & Kashmir for the convenience of a middle class consumers. Unfortunately the increasing trends of vegetable inflation have brought the purchasing capacity of middle class consumers under tremendous stress for last more than two months and with the suspension of the market checking practices by the enforcement wing of FCS& CA department the vegetable inflation is not heading to any dead end in Jammu & Kashmir. Though Food Price Index is a major indicator of retail inflation but in Jammu & Kashmir the Government does not following proper practices and procedures for preparing Food Price Index from time to time for the purposes of curbing the retail inflation for the convenience of the middle class consumers.
