Observe April 17 As Protest Day Against Price Rise

Date: 
Tuesday, April 4, 2000

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

Observe April 17 As

Protest Day Against Price Rise

The BJP-led government has inflicted a series of price increases of essential commodities on the people. In the Union budget the prices of wheat and rise issued through the public distribution system was increased steeply by 46 per cent. Another increase has been announced of 30 paise per kg of wheat for people below the poverty line, consequent to increase in the minimum support price for procurement. This means an increase of Rs 2 per kg over the earlier price of Rs. 2.50 per kg. The price of rice per kg has gone up by Rs. 2.40. The price rise has been steeper for the people above the poverty line and the effort is to dismantle the public distribution system as a whole. The price of sugar is now Rs. 13 per kg.

Following this, the government has doubled the prices of kerosene sold through the PDS and announced an increase of 30 percent for cooking gas.

All these price hikes are coming in the background of the overall economic difficulties faced by the common people. Fall in real wages and growing unemployment makes life difficult for all except the affluent sections.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that these price hikes be reversed immediately. It calls upon all its Party units to observe April 17, the day when parliament session resumes to protest against these price hikes. The Party will hold demonstrations all over the country to demand that the price increases be rescinded.