NEW DELHI-Farm Lobby in Full Cry

NEW DELHI Farm Lobby in Full Cry B M THE Finance Minister, R Venkatara- man, has been alternately blowing hot and cold about prices. If at the time of presenting his budget, he won plaudits for saying that prices would not only be held but even be brought down and might even crash in some cases, he evidently found himself in a very awkward position midway through the debate on the budget in Parliament when he was twitted about the faster rise in prices than had been witnessed even last year in the wake of the much-maligned budget of Charan Singh. He seems to have managed to recover his poise, however, towards the end of the debate on the budget to assert that prices had reached a plateau and henceforth there would be stability. He based his confidence on the argument that the effect of the increase in petroleum prices had now spent itself and with a good monsoon and expectation of a bumper crop, pressure on prices would begin to ease.