Ramazan price hike

It has become a confirmed bad habit. We get higher prices during the holy month of Ramazan when we are supposed to get a relief in the way of prices of food and other essential items of daily use. In the holy month, it seems, the authorities give greedy profiteers a free rein to fleece consumers. Experience shows that in the holy month piety, charity and overcharging go hand in hand. The authorities act little or half-heartedly to stop the greed of wholesaler, retailers and vendors, and the latter take this as a licence to mint money at the cost of consumers. The government does take few cosmetic measures to show that it is taking steps to provide relief to the common people during the month of fasting. It does not require special intelligence to see who benefits from this kind of little action or inaction to control prices.

Prices of vegetables, wheat flour, rice, chickpea flour, chickpea, edible oils, sugar, chicken, mutton and beef and those of other essential items have registered a sharp increase before the advent of Ramazan. The price of onion, a most sought-after food item in Ramazan, has registered an increase of 100 per cent, from Rs30 a kg in March to Rs60 or more in April and in the beginning of May. The price of tomato has also seen a similar kind of hike. The prices of milk and yogurt too are on the higher side. Even this milk is invariably of the diluted variety. Pure milk is only for baby buffaloes. People will have to cut down on the intake of other foodstuffs if they consume milk.

The recent exorbitant increase in petroleum prices will further push up the general price level making life miserable for the common man. Petroleum is used for transportation of goods and in industries and agriculture. One does not need to further elaborate on this.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2019.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.