LAHORE: This nation is overwhelmingly against India, but its immediate problem is not our traditional adversary, it is hunger. Instead of bracketing opposition as India lovers, the government should concentrate on reducing edible rates.
Rates of edibles have crossed all limits at a time when the average incomes have decreased. Majority of citizens in Pakistan never lived comfortably, but the income of the lower middle class was at least enough to escape from hunger.
They lacked other facilities like healthcare, quality education and sanitation. This time around they are finding it hard to fulfil even their food needs from their meagre incomes.
In the past, there have been isolated incidences of shortages of specific food items, but never did food prices register massive increases across the board. In the past there were occasions when wheat prices spiked because of shortage, but the rates of other edibles remained normal.
An increase in sugar price was not accompanied with increase in edible oil rates or wheat rates. In the past, increase in onion rates was not accompanied with across the board increase in prices of all vegetables.
The prices increase on the normal principle of supply and demand. This happens around the world. Prudent governments in the past foresaw the shortage of any edible and arranged import in time to ensure stable prices.
This time around, the prices of edibles increased in most cases without any valid reason. The government was extremely slow in reacting to these price increases.
When wheat hoarding mafia was recognised before the wheat harvest, this government only threatened to take strict action against those identified in the probe report by its own officials. The hoarders were smarter than the government.
They saw food shortages all around in wake of COVID-19. The hoarded wheat vanished from the stocks before the government could take any action. It was perhaps smuggled across our porous borders with India, Afghanistan, and Iran. It was this incompetence due to which this nation was paying an additional Rs1,000 billion for wheat flour consumption from what it was paying a year back.
Another issue was the government’s lack of farsightedness about the price of wheat when it spiralled up at the time of harvest. Traditionally, the rates of all agricultural commodities are lower at the time of harvest especially when the crop is good.
The government should have immediately arranged wheat import to bring the prices down. Instead it created further panic in the market by banning the private sector from buying wheat till the procurement target of the state was met.
Given our loose administrative grip, this delay resulted in most of the wheat disappearing from the markets, while the government’s procurement targets were not met either. At this stage too, the grain was probably smuggled across the borders.
Commodity markets are dry. There is a limited quantity of wheat available. The government took the decision to import wheat very late. Whatever imports reach the country are consumed almost immediately. We will have to bear with high wheat prices till the harvest of the next wheat crop.
Unfortunately, the price hike has not been limited to wheat only. We have seen rates of all edibles shooting up. One could even condone the increase in sugar rates as the sugar mafia is much stronger than the weak government.
What about the prices of other commodities. Is the state unable even to control the smaller manipulators and hoarder of vegetables, pulses, and other edibles? It seems that the government has completely lost its writ on the market forces. It is ironical that the rates of even those commodities have registered steep increase where the consumption has sharply declined.
Most households cannot afford to buy mutton, beef or even poultry meat – the prices of which have registered sharp increase in line with other edibles. The rates of eggs are now exactly double than a year ago.
It looks that there is no price control. Fixing prices is now the job of the hoarders and manipulators and not the price control committees. The Punjab government has tried to control prices through special bazaars, but it failed to regulate them. The items sold are substandard and the prices recommended by the government are not observed.
There is no check on quality, quantity, or rate. The government should have taken clue from the previous PML-N government that posted its staff outside each susta bazaar. Buyers could lodge complaint against overcharging and quality with them that was addressed.
A weighing machine was also placed outside from where each buyer could verify the quantity, he/she bought. But this then needs a dedicated and competent government – the qualities this government lacks.