Tackling inflation: What should the government do?

With food inflation rising to 11.43% and headline inflation at 9.73%, the situation is very worrying for India. But does the government have a well thought out strategy for tackling it or is it simply floundering for an answer?

This episode of India Tonight discuss reasons behind the high inflation levels in the country, and the measures adopted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for tacking said problem. Joining Karan Thapar in this discussion is member of the Planning Commission and Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council Saumitra Chaudhuri, the managing director of the Center for Monitoring the Indian Economy Mahesh Vyas and the well known and highly reputed food analyst Devendra Sharma. Below is an edited transcript of the interview. Also watch the accompanying videos. Q: Food inflation has raised up to 11.43%, a significant jump over 10.60% just a week earlier. How do you read this situation? Chaudhuri: In the food space, the items for which the prices are going up is vegetables and to some extent in fruits. Vegetable inflation on year on year basis for the last week was 35% and the culprits are seasonal vegetables that have just entered the market like tomatoes, cauliflower, brinjal, etc. These are where you have inflation at 40-45%. It