With Odisha emerging as the third priciest State in the country this January, up from fourth in 2015, price rise has hit the common man hard in the rural and urban Odisha alike and simultaneously Odisha was torpedoed to the most pricey State in the entire eastern region.
The inflation rate based on combined Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of January was provisionally estimated by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) at 8.06 against 5.07 in January 2015. This steep rise of nearly three points this January vis-a-vis a year ago exposes how the perils of inflation are tightening its grip over Odisha, when the inflation rate at the all India level in January had been 5.69 against 5.19 in January 2015.
Odisha was among the top-5 costliest States in the country during 2015 with an average inflation rate of over 6.03 per cent. While Andhra Pradesh with an inflation rate of over 6.78 per cent topped the list last year, Odisha with over 6 per cent was at the fourth slot behind Karnataka and Chhattisgarh only.
This rings the alarm bell for the State Government, because the phenomenon of steep rise in prices is not limited to urban Odisha. Rural consumers were the hardest hit. The reason: Share of rural CPI in the combined CPI has been a whopping 72.05 per cent against mere 28 per cent of urban Odisha.
And, what is pinching hard is they were paying more on food items like cereals (rice) and its products - which carry a high weight of 18.27 per cent in the State CPI and is the second highest among major States in the country after Jharkhand. This reveals how highly rural Odisha spends on cereal expenses vis-a-vis the country.
A look at the wholesale prices of paddy in Odisha during the month of March reveals that with the price hovering at nearly Rs1,410/quintal, the State quotes the highest price among States like Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.
How irrational is the price movement in potatoIJ When the Government is claiming that the production is only 30 per cent down from 2015, the wholesale prices of the potato in March has been up by a whopping 63 per cent vis-a-vis March 2015! The rise in wholesale prices to Rs1, 189.5/quintal in March 2016 is so steep that Odisha is now having the second highest potato price (wholesale) in the country after Karnataka. On the contrary, prices nationally have been Rs922/quintal in March - which is mere 18 per cent up over March 2015.
The two instances speak volume how the common mass in Odisha has to pay through their noses vis-a-vis their counterparts nationally. Experts are of the view that lack of high-level inflation monitoring group directly under the Chief Minister’s aegis is responsible for uneven spurt in prices of commodities in Odisha compared to other States. It is significant to mention that the proposal to have Cabinet Committee on Price rise is hanging fire since 2010.