What’s driving inflation

This has reference to ‘Will rate hikes succeed in battling retail inflation?’ (April 19). The current retail inflation is the cumulative effect of various factors like raising oil prices, Ukraine war, prevailing food inflation in Asian countries, increased demand due to spurt in consumption post Covid situation and also supply side issues.

Many of the factors are beyond the control of the government and interest rate management alone cannot help in taming the inflation. Foodgrains production has been normal and hence steep increase in prices of wheat, rice, pulses and milk is not justified. The government should ensure that price rise is not due to artificial demand and hoarding does not take place. As the common man has been badly hit in the last two years due to the pandemic, the government should keep in view the domestic demand while exporting foodgrains like wheat and should not hesitate in releasing buffer stocks to control prices.

M Raghuraman

Mumbai

Fresh surge

When we talk about the rate of inflation, it often refers to the rate of inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI tracks the change in retail prices of goods and services which households purchase for their daily consumption. The structural aspect of inflation is reflected in the core inflation remaining sticky.

Clothing and footwear inflation now stands at a 97-month high (8.84 per cent) on the back of higher cotton prices. Household goods and services inflation at 7.1 per cent is at a 94-month high from January. Amid elevated input costs, various automobile, telecom and FMCG firms have announced price hikes. This should be curtailed to an extent. The government should take appropriate measures and the RBI should raise the repo rates.

P Sundara Pandian

Virudhunagar, TN

Arresting Covid spread

This is with reference to ‘Jump in Covid cases triggers an alarm’ (April 19). Testing as many people as possible, social distancing, educating people on wearing masks, and going for vaccinations are the best ways to stop the pandemic. The people and the government should collectively fight against this pandemic. The day people realise that these are not ordinary times and for a short while they have to change their lifestyles, the war can be won. Educating and counseling people will help solve many of the problems related to the disease. Reducing cash transactions by encouraging the digital mode should also help in reducing infections. Lockdowns throw the economy out of gear and hence should be used as the last option.

On its part, the government should speed up the vaccination programme and ensure that the infection spread does not outpace the vaccination drive. The vaccination stock should be released by the government to the people through a network of authorised/government/empanelled hospitals. All hospitals, government as well as private, should be fully prepared for a possible next wave with necessary equipment, medicines, paramedical staff, etc.

Veena Shenoy

Thane

Cleanliness drive

Apropos ‘PM hails Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, says country writing new stories in cleanliness’ (April 19), there can’t be two opinions about PM Modi’s well-meaning observation, of how public participation can impart new energy in the development of a country and in the field of cleanliness. For sure, construction of toilets in over 11.5 crore households, and around 58,000 villages and 3,300 cities becoming open defecation free is no mean achievement for a developing nation like India.

The credit for making all this possible goes to Modi for toying with such an out-of-the-box yet realistic idea, which none of his predecessors never even thought of. But it’s also incumbent upon each one of us to lend a helping hand to successfully implement all such public welfare oriented schemes at the ground level.

SK Gupta

New Delhi

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