Kerala became the only state during pandemic to have been able to bring down prices of food and other essential items for its people. While inflation in food prices countrywide spiked up to 19 percent, the cost of rice – state’s staple food – actually came down and category of no food item saw price-rise exceeding 5 percent. A study conducted by Pyarelal Raghavan and George Joseph from Gulathi Institute of Finance and Taxation cited interventions made by the state government as the reasons for the remarkable feat.
Food inflation in the country touched 9.6 percent. The price of meat, fish etc climbed to 18.8 percent. Price of pulses rose by 15.9 percent while oils rose to 12.4, vegetables to 11.3 and provisions to 13.3 percent respectively. By contrast, here in Kerala, the price of foods including that of chicken actually dropped in the pandemic. The cost of rice did not spike more than 5 percent. In fact, 5 popular varieties of rice actually saw a fall by 1.3 percent in their costs. And all this when, foodgrain prices grew by 6 percent at the national level.
According to State Financial Statistics department, inflation in June declined by 3.7 percent. Then later, in a rare accomplishment, the overall prices during Onam saw a further decline. Vegetables got dearer by just 2 percent while 34 categories of major food items saw prices retreat by 10 percent during the festival. The same held good for fruits too.
Rise In Production, A Big Win
Inflation in the state came down due to surge in domestic production of fruits, vegetable, meat, eggs etc. This triggered a decline in prices for food items arriving from neighbouring states too. The aforesaid study cited governmental interventions as main factor for the distinctive situation. The state administration made constant efforts to remove transport hindrances to foodloads during lockdown. And, to prevent reduced incomes from hampering sales, the government made remittances in aid to its people. Distribution of free food kits through the lockdown also helped keep inflation in check.
