RISING PRICES
Price rise is a world phenomenon today and inflation is affecting every section (rich and poor) of society. Our country is also racing this problem. Almost the prices of all essential goods are going up daily. And prices once gone up never come down. This causes a great hardship and difficulties for the people in the fixed income group or belonging to low income group. Today there is no limit to the price rise.
In the pre-independence days, a clerk got only Rs. 60 per month, but now he gets about three thousand. Pays have gone higher, but the employees are not satisfied. They have large families to maintain and it becomes difficult to feed so many mouths with the value of the rupee railing each day. There is a dearth of cheap accommodation and many people live in slums. The prices of clothes are also high and some people don’t even have enough money to buy these to cover them with.
The government of the day goes about imposing taxes after taxes on the already burdened citizens. This leads to a lot of money going into the national expenditure and into the pockets of corrupt leaders and officials. Black marketing also leads to heavy taxes and people conceal their actual income.
Production of agricultural goods should be increased along with industrial goods. Their prices should be fixed. The government should undertake rationing in cities and villages. Cheap clothes should be produced and essential items be distributed through government shops. Corruption must be ended at all levels. Corruption adds to the problem of prices. Bribing is common in most government offices and this also leads to the rise in the prices of goods. For example, a job that can be done by paying a small amount needs more money because some officials would not do it till they get extra money for it. This leads to an imbalance in the market and to an addition to the burden of the common man.
Rising prices is a problem that has to be tackled at all level.