Left parties to organise agitation against price rise

CPI national Secretary D Raja today said the agitation would be held in front of Central government offices in all district headquarters across the country. The parties had demanded for strict implementation of Public Distribution System (PDS) to contain the prices of essential commodities like rice, wheat and edible oil, he told PTI.

The UPA government, which was preaching food security and planned to enact a Food Security Act, was actually practicing "food insecurity" by slashing subsidy on food grains supplied through PDS and on fertilisers, Raja alleged.

The hike in excise duties on petroleum products had led to an overall price rise, he said, adding under the proposed Food Security Act, the issue price of food grains to be supplied to people above poverty line was being sought to be increased.

"The very definition of below the poverty line and above the poverty line is defective and deceptive and no one is going to benefit by Food Security Act," Raja claimed.
The National Advisory Council, headed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, was "advising some thing but the government was doing opposite to what was being advised," he alleged.

The economic policies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh government was responsible for the current situation, he said.The proposed agitation would also demand job for all and land title deeds for landless poor, he said, adding he along with the party general secretary A B Bardhan would be participating in the agitation at New Delhi.