A spate of tweets by Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the CPI-M on spiralling and unprecedented high, food inflation in 2016 have created a social media storm while escaping completely the ‘attention’ of commercial media channels. Private television channels run by large corporations have shown little heed to how much vegetables, cooking oil, pulses, potatoes, and sugar cost now compared to what they did a few years ago.
A table attached (see image below) shows that vegetable inflation rate this year is at a staggering 14.74 per cent (rural and urban) with rural being at 12.72 per cent and urban at 18.40 per cent respectively. Pulses and potatoes are even more shocking at 26.86 per cent with the rural count be at 24.28 per cent and urban at 24.51 per cent respectively. Sugar and confectionary is up by 16.79 per cent: rural 12.98 per cent and urban at 24.72 per cent.
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Yechury’s tweets said:
JumlanomicsEffect Food inflation in June at 7.79%. Pulses dearer by 26.86%, Vegetables rise 14.74%. #AchheDin
The curious case is that of media attention and priorities, however. Whereas under the earlier UPA I and II governments the smallest rise in prices figured and hogged hours of media time –as they should—now, under the Modi Regime, it seems that Toor Dal selling at Rs 175-180 per kilogram and vegetables over Rs 100 per kilo are of marginal interest to English television viewers.
Yechury also tweets figures of the declining and deadened industrial growth in past months:
Whither Industrial 'growth'? IIP from April-May 2016 has shrunk by -0.1%. #NailTheSpin #Jumlanomics
