Prices of several essential items are on rise and it is hurting the common man the most. Soaring prices of cars, cement, fuel, and housing are also adding to people's woes.
'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade'
But what can one do, if lemons start costing Rs 300- Rs 400 per kg. Making a lemonade at this cost is certainly not easy. Moreover, it is not just about lemons, but coriander, cumin and chillies' prices too have jumped 40-60 per cent.
On the other hand, the price of beans, which is a staple vegetable in the Indian kitchens, has touched Rs 120 per kg. Cauliflower, which was being sold for Rs 40 a kg a month ago, now costs double the rate, at Rs 80 per kg.
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Milk prices
Common man's woes aren't just limited to vegetable prices - milk prices have also witnessed an increase in the past few months.
On February 28, Amul announced that it was increasing milk prices by Rs 2 per litre, this led to a hike of 4 per cent in its MRPs (maximum retail price). Mother Dairy also followed suit and raised milk prices by Rs 2 per litre.
The reason?
High transaction costs are being fuelled by rising petrol and diesel prices. Fuel prices have surged for the 14th time in the last 14 days, with petrol and diesel rates going up by Rs 10 per litre each in the past 16 days.
With another hike of Rs 2.5 per kg, the price of CNG (compressed natural gas) has cumulatively increased by Rs 9.10 per kg in the last six days. CNG now costs Rs 69.11 per kg in the national capital Delhi.
Opposition takes to streets against rising prices
Although the government claims to be working on addressing the price rise issue, the opposition has taken to the streets protesting against the rising prices. In Lucknow, Congress workers protested on the streets and raised slogans against the government, blaming the ruling BJP for the price rise.
"The government doesn't care about price rise. What they are doing is unconstitutional. The government doesn't care about inflation, they only care about dividing the country. They know they will get votes based on hatred. it is not included in your concern how much trouble people are facing," Manoj Jha, RJD Leader told India Today.
Echoing the same sentiment, Jairam Ramesh, Congress Leader said, "the only reason was that government is running away from the discussion on price rise issue because they don't have an answer to the current crisis and they don't have a plan to tackle it."
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Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused the Centre of not having an answer on inflation. "We have been asking for a discussion on public issues but no the government is not paying any heed. Since the government had no answer on inflation, they adjourned the Parliament. They are making excuses, they are blaming fuel price hike on the Russia-Ukraine war," he said. Chowdhury also called the fuel price hike a morning gift from the government.
"It's quite ironic that the Finance Minister has said that they're getting crude oil at lower prices from Russia but every day, we're getting a morning gift in form of a fuel price hike," Chowdhury said.
Rising steel prices leading to domino effect
From Maruti Suzuki to JSW Steel, several companies are increasing the prices of their products in response to the global supply disruption.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) recent report underlines that manufacturing companies' expenditure on raw materials has spiked by 37 per cent from October-December compared to a year ago.
"Steel has become the new gold, prices are fluctuating every day. We will see prices rising in days to come. Car manufacturers can also provide relief to the customer up to a certain extent, but raw material costs are rising exponentially because of which the companies are forced to pass on the price rise to customers," Vinkesh Gulati, President, Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations told India Today.
Maruti Suzuki India said that they are monitoring the situation and not ruling out further price hikes.
Steel prices have increased by Rs 2,500-3,000 per tonne, leading to higher cost of manufacturing and construction which in turn has a domino effect on the rates of finished goods. Bicycles, which use steel, have seen a 30-35 per cent hike in their prices over the last one year.
The traditional black bicycle whose prices ranged between Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000 last year, now costs Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,000.
Russia-Ukraine war hit supplies
Russia is a big producer of steel, nickel and aluminium and its war with Ukraine has hit the supply badly. Global steel prices have risen by over 20 per cent, whereas aluminium prices are up by 40 per cent this year.
Although the government continues to claim that it is working towards bringing the prices down, it is the common man who is suffering due to the rising prices of essential items.
(With inputs from Aishwarya Paliwal.)