Have all our agencies failed in controlling price hike?

In line with the world, commodity prices are now skyrocketing. The price of goods cannot be stopped anywhere in the village or in the city. Common people are struggling to control the madness. Various strategies of the government, consumer rights or the intervention of the administration cannot stop the price hike of essential commodities. Low and middle income people including ordinary working people are in danger.

Sudhi Mahal thinks that dishonest traders and lack of supervision by the administration are the main reasons for the increase in commodity prices, even though there are wars, epidemics, and diseases all over the world. There is no remedy even if the middlemen and hoarders raise the prices of goods at will by showing one excuse after another. Even though consumer rights campaigns were conducted occasionally, the situation ended after some time.

In this way every commodity market is destabilizing. It is not available to buy in the market according to the price set by the government. Consumers always have to buy products at higher prices. The price is set by the government in coordination with the importing companies. So why do consumers have to buy at a higher price? Farmers are the most affected if the market is unstable. Because even if the price of a product increases several times through manipulation, the farmers do not get that price. That money goes into the pockets of middlemen. If it is imported again, those farmers cannot even bear the cost of production. They have to sell at a loss. Many farmers are turning away from farming.
Our agricultural land is constantly decreasing. Among them, many are turning away from agriculture. Farmers have no choice but to sustain agriculture to ensure food security for this large population. After the war and Corona, many countries fell into serious economic crisis, but Bangladesh was not affected much. Its contribution is undoubtedly agriculture. For this reason, it is now more important for market-related institutions to coordinate instead of blaming each other. Concerned institutions should emphasize on strengthening information and market management. Those responsible for market instability should be identified and strict measures should be taken. But this requires coordination.

If we cannot coordinate, the people of the country will suffer constantly at the hands of this invisible force. Sometimes onion, sometimes green chillies, sometimes sugar, poultry, oil or any other commodity, new suffBBS reports that prices of daily commodities are higher in villages than in cities. Common people are under the pressure of rising commodity prices in the country. However, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the prices of daily commodities have increased more in villages than in cities. The information that appeared in the monthly report of the organization. It has been said that the countrys overall price inflation has slightly decreased to 5.86 percent in January, which was 6.05 percent in December. In January, the overall price inflation in the city was 5.47 percent. But in villages this rate is 6.07 percent. Planning Minister MA Mannan said the inflation report is prepared by taking data from the sample area of BBS. So the information that will come here is reflected in the report.

However, it is unusual for the prices of daily commodities to be lower in cities than in villages. Because everything is produced from the village and comes to the city. As a result, prices may be slightly higher in the city; But there should be less in the village. According to the report of BBS, in the last January, the price inflation of food products in villages has been 5.94 percent. However, this rate in the city is 4.85 percent. In other words, if you buy the same product from the village, you have to pay more than the city. According to that, the price of daily commodities is lower in the city than in the village.

In the case of non-food products, it has been seen that the price inflation has been 6.07 percent in rural areas and 6.17 percent in urban areas. In this case, the price is slightly lower in the village than in the city. In terms of overall price inflation, prices of almost all food products including rice, flour, sugar, broiler chicken, eggs, onions, vegetables have increased. According to BBS, in December, consumers spent an average of 156 taka 25 paisa to buy a liter of oil, which was 160 taka 10 paisa in January. According to BBS, overall food inflation in the country rose slightly to 5.60 percent, which was 5.46 percent in December. Apart from this, the inflation of non-food products came down slightly to 6.27 percent, which was 7 percent in the previous month.

Basically, the acts or offenses against consumer rights are selling or offering to sell goods or services at a price higher than the prescribed price, knowingly selling or offering to sell adulterated products, mixing and selling any prohibited substance harmful to health with any food product, misleading consumers by false advertisement.

Cheating, not properly selling and delivering promised goods or services, tampering with weights or measuring instruments, tampering with measuring tapes or anything else, manufacturing any counterfeit goods or drugs, selling expired drugs, any prohibited act Doing so that the life or safety of the service recipient may be endangered, manufacturing or processing products by illegal process, causing financial or health loss etc. to the service recipient due to negligence, irresponsibility, not using product packaging or not writing the retail price, expiry date etc. on the packaging of the product, is lawful. Not to display the price list of products in any easily visible place of the shop or organization in violation of the obligation, not to display the price list of services in violation of the legal obligation.

Sudhi Samaj feels that none of these are being done properly, due to which common people are not able to get out of the chain of dishonest businessmen. If there was good will and strict vigilance of the government, the common people would have been at ease.

The writer is an Assistant Professor and Head of Department at (Sociology), Rosey Mozammel Womens Honors College