The Syndicate Factor

The inability of a government elected by the people to take any action about controlling spiralling prices is bad enough. But we now have a situation where the government is not exactly unaware of the most important reason for this sudden unaccountable rise in the prices of essential commodities even when the Union government keeps talking about a “negative inflation”. It seems completely powerless to do anything because of the reason. The reason is that we have a very powerful syndicate controlling the prices of everything from potatoes, onions and fish to the humble betel leaf. And according to reports, a major part of the kickback goes to politicians. This intrusion of a powerful syndicate has been reported by several local dailies. We recall that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had assured the people of Asom in 2001 (or was it 2002?) that he would smash up all syndicates that had anything to do with creating artificial shortages or imposing ‘goonda’ taxes. But today we find that the administration is far more concerned about protecting these criminals than protecting citizens. Must we wait in vain to hear what the Chief Minister has to say about the development now when potato prices have trebled and most vegetable have doubled in a matter of six weeks? THE SENTINEL