In Parliament today, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the steps taken by the Modi government to combat the rise in prices of tomatoes in the country, during the no-confidence motion discussion in the Lok Sabha.
The Union Minister informed in Lok Sabha that the tomatoes will be sold at a price of INR 70 by the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF) in the Delhi-NCR region.
The Finance Minister explained that tomatoes are being procured from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka to be distributed through cooperative societies like NCCF.
The FM also noted that this system is already being used in states like Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan since July 14.
‘I want to highlight the fact that on these essential commodities, we are taking enough steps but more will also be taken because we are conscious that people need essentials at an affordable price’ the FM observed.
The government has initiated the imports of tomatoes from Nepal by removing the import restrictions and the first lot of tomatoes are likely to reach Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur by Friday.
FM Sitharaman highlighted the ‘economic transformation’ brought in by the current government, while mentioning global economic challenges that are posing significant hurdles for nations like high inflation rates.
Talking about global inflationary pressures, FM Sitharaman also highlighted the problems faced by some developed countries and was quoted as saying ‘the United Kingdom’s struggle, where the Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times, and the European Central Bank’s struggle with high inflation, having raised interest rates nine times to a 23-year high.’