People's Democracy

AIAWU Warns Govt on Rising Prices

THROUGH a statement issued from New Delhi on May 27, the All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) has expressed its sense of shock at the consistent rise in the price of foodgrains and the central government’s utter failure to cope with it. Since May 15, 2010, food prices have sky-rocketed by 21.55 per cent and those of fuel and power by 14.24 21.55 per cent. In these conditions, the nearly 84 crore people living on Rs 20 per day are sure to find it difficult to survive as their real incomes will come down sharply.

The AIAWU has demanded that the central government must immediately provide quotas to the states for the public distribution system (PDS) on a war-footing, prepare itself to procure more foodgrains at the beginning of the season, and increase the outlay of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) by at least Rs 10,000 crore at once. Work on tanks, link roads, bridges, bunds and minor irrigation repairs will benefit from it during the coming monsoon and the poorest will be able to feed themselves.

So far the central government has only announced schemes without either funding them adequately or implementing them seriously. The people cannot afford to wait. The AIAWU has warned that the threatened rise in the prices of LPG and diesel after the recent unnecessary rise in petrol prices, will further worsen the situation.

The organisation has therefore asked all its units to take up the issue of the government’s refusal to check the price rises that are bringing further misery to the poor, enforce the proper implementation of MGNREGs and to tajke steps to enhance the purchasing power of the people. The AIAWU units must fight for proper allocation and distribution of food through the PDS in order to ensure that we do not land ourselves in a man-made famine when there is no reason to do so.