The Centre has decided to set up a committee of Chief Ministers and Union Ministers to suggest steps, including toning up of the public distribution system, to bring down prices of food items. The decision was taken at the end of the meeting of Chief Ministers convened by the Centre to deal with the rising food inflation.<br/><br/>Presiding over the meeting, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said the worst is over. He expressed confidence that food prices will stabilise soon. While the government did well to protect incomes of poor, he admitted that it has been less successful on the food prices front. Singh said that the government has acted on several fronts to check the prices. Steps were taken to augment the Kharif output and the foodgrain inflation could be contained to a large extent. Rabi propects are also encouraging and the post monsoon rains have been good. This augurs well for stabilising prices at a reasonable level. The Prime Minister also said that the country has adequate food stocks of rice and wheat in central pool to maintain food security.<br/><br/>While calling upon the States to work together with the Centre to bring prices under control, the Prime Minister said the States must ensure that food articles released by the Centre quickly reach the intended beneficiaries. Regretting that the Public distribution system is hopelessly, States should also use their power under the Essential Commodities Act to prevent creation of artificial scarcity.<br/><br/>AIR correspondent reports, driven by rising prices of essential items like sugar, pulses and vegetables, food inflation touched a decade's high of nearly 20 per cent in December, though it moderated a little bit in January. Besides Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the committee will include Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.