Centre took many proactive measures to keep a check on the prices of food items: Goyal

Union Minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday that the Centre has taken many proactive measures to control retail prices of food items, providing relief to consumers from inflation while ensuring economic growth.

Addressing an event organised to celebrate National Consumer Day 2023, Goyal said that India has been able to insulate consumers from the effects of inflationary pressures when the entire world witnessed very high inflation levels, especially in food items.

“Whenever inflation (in some commodities) started rising, the government took proactive measures and controlled it,” he said, citing measures taken by the Centre to control price rises in tomatoes and onions and make them available to consumers at subsidised rates. He also highlighted that the Centre is selling Bharat Dal at ₹60 per kg and Bharat atta at ₹27.50 per kg to provide relief to the common man.

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With the establishment of 140 new price monitoring centres, the country now has a total of 550 price monitoring centres. Goyal said that these centres help in monitoring retail and wholesale prices of essential commodities and enable the government to take proactive measures to insulate consumers from food inflation.“Today, India is the fastest-growing large economy. Going forward, we will continue to keep a check on inflation and also ensure economic growth,” Goyal stated.

Referring to measures taken for protection of consumer rights, the Minister said that recently released guidelines on dark patterns aim to prevent and regulate manipulative practices on digital platforms, fostering a fair and transparent marketplace for consumers.

Goyal also urged DoCA to collaboratively strategise with consumer commissions and leverage technology to eliminate old pending cases entirely and address new cases more swiftly and in real-time

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He also emphasised the need to ensure Indian consumers get access to quality products at fair prices.

Goyal outlined various measures that need to be taken to empower consumers, including the need to grow awareness among consumers in the country about their rights. “There is a need to have an efficient and responsive governance system. Efforts should be made to leverage technology such as AI to ensure consumer complaints are resolved in a timely manner. We also need to encourage whistleblowers and ensure that they are not victimised. We also need to make errant players more accountable,” he added.

The Minister also stressed the need to modernise, strengthen, and scale up testing facilities to ensure quality control.