Hindi English Translation || Editorial || Spiralling food prices: on the build-up of underlying inflation pressures

Spiralling food prices: on the build-up of underlying inflation pressures

Policymakers must guard against (के खिलाफ संरक्षण) inflation (मुद्रा स्फ़ीति) to ensure sustainable growth

Indian households (परिवार) find themselves yet again struggling to cope with a sharp surge (sudden increase or rise of something) in the prices of essential kitchen staples (main item; important element (of something)) — ranging from tomatoes, onions and potatoes to tur dal and rice. Tomato prices have more than doubled month-on-month (महीने दर महीने) with the all-India average retail price as on June 29 soaring to ₹53.59 a kilogram, from ₹24.37 on May 29, data from the Consumer Affairs Department’s (उपभोक्ता मामले विभाग) Price Monitoring Division show. And while the rise in onion and potato prices over the same one-month period is a seemingly (apparently, allegedly, ostensibly, supposedly, purportedly) far more benign (mild, favourable, agreeable; advantageous, beneficial, helpful) 7.5% and 4.5%, respectively, the overall trajectory (प्रक्षेपवक्र, मार्ग) in price gains (कीमत में बढ़ोतरी) across the wider food basket (a group of something (taxes, investments, commodities, etc.)) is symptomatic of the unsettling (बेचैन कर देना) build-up (निर्मिति, वृद्धि) of underlying inflation pressures in the economy. For instance, the price of tur dal, a key protein source in the diets of vegetarian households, continues to keep rising; it had climbed (चढ़ना) 7.8% month-on-month to ₹130.75 a kilogram on June 29, as per the government’s data. Official retail inflation data for May, released earlier this month, had shown that prices of pulses, which includes tur dal, had quickened (speed up, accelerate, step up, expedite) by 128 basis points (बुनियादी निर्देश) year-on-year (year over year (for comparison)) to a 31-month high of 6.56%. The government’s imposition (आरोपण, लगाना) of stock limits on urad and tur on June 2 seems to have so far (अब तक) done little to cool price gains in lentils (edible dry peas, beans and chickpeas & etc).

To be sure (सुनिश्चित होना) there is a seasonality (the fact of varying with the seasons) component to the prices of farm produce (all agricultural products (as a whole)) and their supply is largely (mostly, mainly, generally) determined by factors including timing of the harvest (production, produce, yield, year’s/season’s growth) and the prices prevailing (exist, be in existence, be present, be prevalent) at the mandis (a big market) when the farmers transport their crop (a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence) to the markets. Just last month, tomato growers in rural Maharashtra had dumped (dispose of, throw away, throw out, discard) sizeable (significant, substantial, considerable, fairly large) quantities of their produce on the roads after being offered unremunerative (futile, unprofitable, worthless/valueless) prices. However, prices of several of these food items, including tomatoes, are still substantially (considerably, appreciably, significantly) higher than even the same time last year with the modal ((in statistics) relating to a type of average value found by identifying the most frequently occurring item in the data set) daily weighted average (a type of mean that gives differing importance to the values in a dataset (or) a calculation that considers the varying degrees of importance of the numbers in a data set) arrival prices at the mandis as per the government’s agmarket website revealing tomato prices almost tripled (increase by three (times)) year-on-year to ₹5,579 a quintal (a unit of weight equal to 100 kilograms) as on June 29. The same arrival price data show a 35% jump (a sudden dramatic rise, increase; upsurge, upswing, escalation) in tur dal and a 19% increase in common paddy (rice). With the monsoon rains 13% in deficit (shortfall, deficiency, shortage, lack, failure) so far this year, and the outlook (prospects, chances, possibilities, expectations, future) for spatial (relating to space; occupying space) and temporal distribution in the coming months clouded (obscure, muddle, blur, make unclear, make uncertain) with uncertainty (unpredictability, unreliability, riskiness/precariousness) by the El Niño (an unusual/abnormal warming of the waters across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific that lies closer to the Americas). La Niña means abnormal cooling), there is a real risk that food prices could cause retail inflation to accelerate (escalate, increase rapidly, heighten, intensify) again. Policymakers need to walk the talk (to do the things you have said you would do) and retain laser focus (a very intense focus (of the human mind); a hyperfocus) on taming (control, curb, mitigate, moderate) inflation. After all, as the Reserve Bank of India’s economists noted in the latest bulletin (statement, report, notification, message, advisory), “the path to high but sustainable inclusive growth has to be paved (facilitate, make easy, clear (the way for), create a situation to do something) by price stability (no (drastic) change in the price of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. It implies avoiding both prolonged inflation and deflation)”.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Important Word List With Meaning

1.build-up (noun)

Hindi Meaning - निर्मिति, वृद्धि
English Meaning - increase, escalation, expansion.

2.underlying (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - आधारभूत, अंतर्निहित
English Meaning - fundamental, basic, primary.

3.inflation (noun)

Hindi Meaning - मुद्रा स्फ़ीति
English Meaning - simply meaning “cost of living”; increase of price level of goods & services and vice versa decrease of currency value.

4.guard against (verb)

Hindi Meaning - के खिलाफ संरक्षण
English Meaning - take care for, beware of, keep watch for, be alert to.

5.household (noun)

Hindi Meaning - परिवार
English Meaning - family, house.

6.month-on-month (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - महीने दर महीने
English Meaning - used to compare data for one month with that in previous months.

7.Consumer Affairs Department (noun)

Hindi Meaning - उपभोक्ता मामले विभाग
English Meaning - Department of Consumer Affairs is one of the two Departments under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. It was constituted as a separate Department in June 1997 as it was considered necessary to have a separate Department to give a fillip to the nascent consumer movement in the country.

8.trajectory (noun)

Hindi Meaning - प्रक्षेपवक्र, मार्ग
English Meaning - track/course, route, path, direction, approach.

9.price gain (noun)

Hindi Meaning - कीमत में बढ़ोतरी
English Meaning - a general increase in the price of something.

10.unsettling (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - बेचैन कर देना
English Meaning - upsetting, discomfiting, disconcerting, disturbing, disquieting, troubling.

11.climb (verb)

Hindi Meaning - चढ़ना
English Meaning - rise, ascend, progress, go up, move up (in a chart or table).

12.basis point (BPS) (noun)

Hindi Meaning - बुनियादी निर्देश
English Meaning - a unit of measure used in finance to describe the percentage change in the value or rate of a financial instrument. One basis point is equivalent to 0.01% (1/100th of a percent). Used for measuring change in interest rate/yield.

13.imposition (noun)

Hindi Meaning - आरोपण, लगाना
English Meaning - levying, charging, collection.

14.so far (phrase)

Hindi Meaning - अब तक
English Meaning - thus far, yet, still, up till now, up to now, until now.

15.to be sure (phrase)

Hindi Meaning - सुनिश्चित होना
English Meaning - certainly.

16.spiral (verb)

English Meaning - increase, rise, surge, escalate.

17.Inflationary/price pressures (noun)

English Meaning - the demand and supply-side pressures that can cause a rise in the general price level; cost-push inflation, hot-economy, deficit finance.

18.sustainable (adjective)

English Meaning - supportable, acceptable, trustworthy, reasonable, sensible, reliable, dependable, well-founded (without disturbing the balance of nature and then without exhausting all of the natural resources).

19.find oneself (phrase)

English Meaning - to realize and accept what you are really like and what you want to do in life; accept one’s situation.

20.surge (noun)

English Meaning - sudden increase or rise of something.

21.staple (noun)

English Meaning - main item; important element (of something).

22.seemingly (adverb)

English Meaning - apparently, allegedly, ostensibly, supposedly, purportedly.

23.far more (phrase)

English Meaning - much more.

24.benign (adjective)

English Meaning - mild, favourable, agreeable; advantageous, beneficial, helpful.

25.basket (noun)

English Meaning - a group of something (taxes, investments, commodities, etc.).

26.symptomatic (adjective)

English Meaning - indicative, warning, signalling, suggestive, symbolic.

27.Retail or Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation (noun)

English Meaning - The change in the price index of the basket of consumer goods and services over a period of time is referred to as CPI-based inflation or retail inflation.

28.quicken (verb)

English Meaning - speed up, accelerate, step up, expedite.

29.year-on-year (adjective)

English Meaning - year over year (for comparison).

30.do little to reduce something (phrase)

English Meaning - fail to reduce something etc.

31.cool (verb)

English Meaning - reduce, lessen, diminish, decrease.

32.lentils (noun)

English Meaning - edible dry peas, beans and chickpeas & etc.

33.seasonality (noun as modifier)

English Meaning - ​the fact of varying with the seasons.

34.produce (noun)

English Meaning - all agricultural products (as a whole).

35.largely (adverb)

English Meaning - mostly, mainly, generally.

36.harvest (noun)

English Meaning - production, produce, yield, year’s/season’s growth.

37.prevail (verb)

English Meaning - exist, be in existence, be present, be prevalent.

38.mandi (noun)

English Meaning - a big market.

39.crop (noun)

English Meaning - a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence.

40.dump (verb)

English Meaning - dispose of, throw away, throw out, discard.

41.sizeable (adjective)

English Meaning - significant, substantial, considerable, fairly large.

42.unremunerative (adjective)

English Meaning - futile, unprofitable, worthless/valueless.

43.substantially (adverb)

English Meaning - considerably, appreciably, significantly.

44.modal (adjective)

English Meaning - (in statistics) relating to a type of average value found by identifying the most frequently occurring item in the data set.

45.weighted average (noun)

English Meaning - a type of mean that gives differing importance to the values in a dataset (or) a calculation that considers the varying degrees of importance of the numbers in a data set.

46.Agmarknet website/portal (noun)

English Meaning - it is a govt. of India portal on agricultural marketing backed by a wide area information network connecting agricultural markets, State Marketing boards/Directorates and also providing linkages to the websites of the important National and International Organisations.

47.triple (verb)

English Meaning - increase by three (times).

48.quintal (noun)

English Meaning - a unit of weight equal to 100 kilograms.

49.jump (noun)

English Meaning - a sudden dramatic rise, increase; upsurge, upswing, escalation.

50.deficit (noun)

English Meaning - shortfall, deficiency, shortage, lack, failure.

51.outlook (noun)

English Meaning - prospects, chances, possibilities, expectations, future.

52.spatial (adjective)

English Meaning - relating to space; occupying space.

53.cloud (verb)

English Meaning - obscure, muddle, blur, make unclear, make uncertain.

54.uncertainty (noun)

English Meaning - unpredictability, unreliability, riskiness/precariousness.

55.El Nino (noun)

English Meaning - an unusual/abnormal warming of the waters across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific that lies closer to the Americas). La Niña means abnormal cooling.

56.accelerate (verb)

English Meaning - escalate, increase rapidly, heighten, intensify.

57.walk the talk (phrase)

English Meaning - to do the things you have said you would do.

58.laser focus (noun)

English Meaning - a very intense focus (of the human mind); a hyperfocus.

59.tame (verb)

English Meaning - control, curb, mitigate, moderate.

60.bulletin (noun)

English Meaning - statement, report, notification, message, advisory.

61.pave (verb)

English Meaning - facilitate, make easy, clear (the way for), create a situation to do something,

62.price stability (noun)

English Meaning - no (drastic) change in the price of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. It implies avoiding both prolonged inflation and deflation.