New Delhi: The government yesterday reviewed its preparedness to deal with price rise in case of a probable deficient rainfall this year.
A committee of secretaries, headed by the Cabinet Secretary Ajith Seth, reviewed the current price situation and preparedness for a probable impact of a deficient monsoon on prices of essential commodities.
“The cabinet secretary took a meeting of committee of secretaries to review prices of essential commodities,” an official statement said.
It is feared that the onset of an El Nino factor can lead to a deficient monsoon. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in it second bi-monthly monetary policy review for this fiscal listed some upside risks to the economy like a sub-normal or delayed monsoon due to El Nino effect.
Latest data show that consumer price-based inflation rose to a three-month high of 8.59 percent in April largely due to higher food prices.
Rising prices and containing inflation was a major issue in the general election in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious.
Minister plans restructuring of Doordarshan
New Delhi: Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar yesterday said he intends to restructure Prasar Bharati along the lines of BBC by augmenting its “editorial freedom” and its “internal control over manpower”.
“I am considering appointing a professional editor-in-chief to head Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) and the individual will have full freedom to cover the news as he or she thinks fit,” Javadekar told Headlines Today television news channel in an interview.
The 63-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party leader said that “philosophically” and “ideologically” he believed that there was no need for a ministry for information and broadcasting in a democracy.
“Philosophically and ideologically I believe there is no need for a ministry for information and broadcasting in a democracy. The prime minister (Narendra Modi) agrees with this, and my long term aim is to work towards making the ministry redundant,” Javadekar said.
He said there will be “no interference of any sort” in the running of Doordarshan and AIR in the next five years.
IANS
