Price rise has been a main concern for every Indian today. It affects the national political scene too. The poor section of the society have been hit most as they are defenceless in the absence of a viable public distribution system. Moreover the existing laws to prevent hoarding and profiteering by unscrupulous traders have been diluted adding further salt to the injury to the teeming millions. Having encountered stiff opposition from Chief Ministers including those from States being ruled by the BJP’s allies, Prime Minister ,Atal Behari Vajpayee agreed to iarrange for stringent provisions in the controversial Essential Commodities (Amendment ) Bill, 1998,making it an effective deterrent against hoarding of essential commodities . Mr Vajpayee also promised to provide for stringent punishment for people violating the law . Such assurance again came from the Government in the last week when the Treasury benches failed to pacify the members of the Opposition and those of its alliance partners in the Lok Sabha. Who squarely blamed the Government for the spiralling prices during the eight months of the BJP rule and also not making the law stringent enough to book the culprits. The Government then averted a humiliating defeat on the floor with an assurance that it would bring a comprehensive bill in this session itself to make the Essential Commodities Act more stringent against hoarders and blackmarketeers. However, the bill has been returned by the joint parliamentary committee, headed by the BJP’s MP, Mr Shyam Bihari Mishra , to which it was sent for review without making any recommendation. This is perhaps in view of the strong opposition from almost all political parties and the Government’s promise a stringent anti-hoarding legislation .It is now clear that the said Parliamentary Committee pressed into service to defend the interest of the hoarders and blackmarketers calling themselves traders’ Hence it has ‘dessired’ that the Government take into consideration the suggestions submitted to the Committee by traders’associations The issue was first raised by the Chief Minister of West Bengal , Jyoti Basu in a letter to the Prime Minister mentioning that the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act had already been diluted creating difficulties for the State Government to take approppriate action against recalcitrant traders. Since then the Opposition has been demanding withdrawal of the Bill alleging that some of the provisions are purposively biased in favour of the traders and dilute , rather than strengthen the 1955 Essential Commodities Act. . The cat is now out of the BJP’s bag. .

14^{th December, 1998.}