Essays

Though rising prices is a common economicphenomenon which we witness in all developing Countries, in the past few years, even the developedcountries have had to face this problem in 1980. West Germany suffered a 14% price rise. However, in Indiait has been very steep indeed.

Even though India has almost become self-sufficient inthe production of food, the system of distribution is poor. The role played by middle men has caused theprices to rise. Farmers who produce the food grains sell it at very reasonable rates to middlemen.

However, when the middlemen brings this food to the city, he changes a lot more than the cost price and all this has to be paid by the common man who has to feed his children.

The government has often been unstable. This too has led to a fluctuation in prices. Each government introduces a new policy and this causes the customerto suffer because he never knows what he is expected To pay when he goes to buy his rations for the month.

The abnormal rise in the price of petroleum too has led its impact on the consumer. Many oil wells have beenburnt in the gulf in the past two years. This was a resultof war and petroleum products have become muchmore expensive as a result.

Strikes and layouts and lock-outs have given a furtherpush to prices. The government has been concerned about this problem. Hence a rule has been formulatedwhich bans strikes and lock-outs by agencies and Factories that produce essential goods and also byessential services.

Black money also leads to a price rise. Black money is floating around in the market and this leads to what is called a "parallel economy". Many leaders have tried their best to unearth this black money but no one has succeeded completely.

Only extreme steps taken by the government can stopthe rise in prices and only that can bring some relief to the millions of Indians who are struggling to cope with these prices.