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 conclusion 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 Manmohan Singh said, while the government did well to protect incomes of poor, it has been less successful on the food prices front.<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.