price shops, including private outlets, is proposed to be increased from 2.5 lakh at present to 3,5 lakh by the end of the Sixth Plan, Of the latter, only about one lakh would be consumer cooperatives. That there are already 2.5 lakh fair, price shops and that ' they have made hardly any dent in regard to supplies of essential goods in rural areas are a clear warning about their future role. Again, the proposition that "since a considerable infrastructure of private retail outlets exists and these have generally been operating for a long time, they could continue to play an important role in the public distribution during the Sixth Plan period also" has dangerous implications. These private outlets are the very exploitative agencies and how can they be treated as effective outlets for public distribution without at least some social control over them?
