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COLUMN

Poor among worst hit as

inflation rings alarm bell

NEWS & The steep rise in the prices of essential commodities and decline in
GVA of manufacturing sector makes it even tougher for the lower
VIEWS strata to make ends meet

BHARAT HITESHI massive rise in food prices to 60.5 per cent in December, a signifi-

has pushed India’s retail
Hiteshi is an A cant jump from 36 per cent the previous
independent journalist- inflation in December to a month.
turned-author and a 65-month high of 7.35 per Core inflation was recorded at 37 per
political commentator. cent from 5.54 per cent in cent in December.
The views expressed November, while the wholesale price- Inflation rate in cereals and products
are his own based inflation shot up to 2.59 per cent stood at 4.36 per cent in December.
from 0.58 per cent in the same period. The steep rise in the prices of essen-
Inflation affects everybody but it hits the tial commodities and decline in GVA
poor hardest. of manufacturing sector makes it even
According to a communication issued tougher for the lower strata to make
by the National Statistical Office (NSO), ends meet. In recent weeks, the pow-
Ministry of Statistics and Programme ers that be have been so preoccupied
Implementation on January 11, about with dousing the fire triggered by some
the first advance estimates of national controversial legislations and unsa-
Income at both Constant and Current voury incidents at the Jawaharlal Nehru
Prices, for the financial year 2019-20, the University.
Gross Value Added (GVA) at Basic Prices As we have noted, the consumer food
for 2019-20 from ‘Manufacturing’ sector price inflation touched 14.42 per cent in
is estimated to grow by two per cent as December 2019 from a mere 2.99 per
compared to growth of 6.9 per cent in cent in August the same year. The NSO
2018-19. data also shows that this sharp rise, a
Similarly, the GVA at Basic Prices six-year high since November 2013 when
for 2019-20 from ‘Construction’ sector it was 18.89 per cent, was because of in-
is expected to grow by 3.2 per cent as creasing onion, tomato and dairy prices.
compared to growth of 8.7 per cent in It is worth mentioning that vegetable in-
2018-19. The sector-wise estimates are flation rose to 60.5 per cent in December
obtained by extrapolation of indicators compared to 36 per cent in November.
like Index of Industrial Production (IIP) The inflation in the vegetable segment
of first 7 months of the financial year, (ii) spiked by 60.5 per cent as compared to
financial performance of Listed Com- December 2018 is the combined effect of
panies in the Private Corporate sector climate change, inefficient trade systems
available up to quarter ending Septem- due to no cash in rural economy and the
ber 2019 (iii) 1st Advance Estimates of rise in global food prices.
Crop production, (iv) accounts of Central The NSO is responsible for conduct
& State Governments. of large-scale sample surveys in diverse
Major highlights of the data released fields on All India basis. Primarily data
by the National Statistics Office (NSO) are collected through nation-wide
are: household surveys on various socio-
— Food inflation surged to 14.12 per economic subjects, Annual Survey
cent in December last year as against of Industries (ASI), etc. Besides these
10.01 per cent in November. surveys, NSO collects data on rural and
— Vegetable prices inflation increased urban prices and plays a significant role

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