The bitter reality of skyrocketing sugar prices has not just caused anxiety in the house of the common man but has hit the political house too.

Jillian D'silva
January 14, 2010

The bitter battle of the political blame game is back; this time it is over the soaring prices of sugar, which have touched the Rs 45 per kg ceiling since the beginning of the year.

Attempting to pass the buck onto Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said that the UP government is not cooperating with the Centre in controlling sugar prices. "Imported raw sugar has been lying at Kandla port for more than two months and the UP government is not allowing millers to process. When there is insufficient availability in the country, if they (millers) had been allowed to process, an additional 2.5 lakh tons would have become available per month and this would have brought down prices," said Sharad Pawar.

Previously, the UP government had blamed Pawar for the climb in sugar prices. Pawar, however, remains ambiguous on the issue of rising sugar prices and holds the states responsible for the mess. "If the states cooperate then I am sure sugar prices can be tamed. I am not an astrologer who can predict when things will fall in place," said Pawar, defending himself.

The clash between the Agriculture Minister and the Uttar Pradesh government is over Pawar wanting UP to withdraw the ban on imported raw sugar.

However, it is now learnt that Mayawati may not be the sole reason for around 10 lakh tons of raw sugar, imported at zero duty by sugar millers of the state, lying unused at the Kandla and Mundra ports for two months now. She may be the scapegoat honed in by the Centre even as prices shot up by around Rs 10-15/kg in the retail market during the period.

Ironically, while the Centre continued to blame states for not taking action against hoarders, it is a Customs & Excise notification issued mid last year which effectively prevented sugar-importing UP mills from getting the commodity processed by anyone other than themselves. The Centre could have reversed this provision through a new notification much earlier, allowing raw sugar at JNPT and Kandla to be lifted and processed by mills in Maharashtra, thus increasing domestic supply and taming the prices, if it wanted to. But it did not! The crucial decision was taken only recently, at the Cabinet Committee on Prices meeting.

The unrelenting rise in sugar prices, as also that of other food commodities, has exposed the Congress-led UPA government to a sweltering attack from friends and foes alike. Railways minister Mamata Banerjee is the latest political figure to join in the rising chorus of voices against inflation and the Union government’s failure to undo the trend. While speaking to newspersons in Kolkata, the Trinamool Congress leader for the second day in a row, expressed her ire towards the Manmohan Singh government, stating that it cannot deny accountability for the rise in prices of essential goods and asked the Prime Minister to call for an all-party meet, as well as an assembly of Chief Ministers to come up with a solution for the issue. This demand was further endorsed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The Centre, being on the receiving end of a vicious all-round attack for its failure to control prices of food items, held the UP government liable for the high retail prices of the commodities but refused to predict its future trend.

The blame game will continue... but as always it is the common man who has to bear the brunt of it. So until the government fails to tame the fast-growing beast of inflation, the aam junta will have to continue to pay the bitter price for this sweet "luxury".