The government today came in for severe attack for the sharp rise in prices of essential commodities, especially food items. Leaders of various political parties, the BJP, the JD(U), the CPIM as well as the SP and BSP alleged that the wrong policies being pursued by the government are responsible for the situation.<br/><br/>The opposition members said that the focus was more on commercialisation of agriculture as well as industry, and not geared towards increasing agricultural production.<br/><br/>The Congress on the other hand, blamed the state governments for not taking adequate measures to check hoarding and black marketing which leads to the escalation of prices.<br/><br/>Participating in the debate, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi of the BJP said that not enough incentives are being given to the farmers for growing pulses which has resulted in the gap between demand and supply. He also felt that the production of coarse food grains should be encouraged as not much water is needed for their cultivation.<br/><br/>Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav said, there is no dearth of food grains and other essential commodities in the market, but still the prices are on the rise. He regretted that it is not the farmers but the middlemen who are making a huge profit.<br/><br/>He came down heavily on black-marketing of food items and said that because of the lack of storage facilities, fruits and vegetables perish before reaching the markets. Vasudev Acharya of CPIM while criticising the government policies of liberalisation and commercialisation for spurt in prices of food items, alleged huge population is forced to live below the poverty line. He also stressed the need for streaming the Public Distribution System so that the benefit reaches to the targeted segments of society.<br/><br/>Mr. Adhir Ranjan Choudhary of the Congress said that the state governments are not taking stringent actions against hoarding and black marketing which is leading to the rise in prices.<br/><br/>Earlier, initiating the discussion, Rajiv Ranjan Singh of the JD(U) said the government focus has been more on industry than agriculture. Criticising the government for the rising prices, he said that farmers should get more subsidies. The debate is on.<br/>