consumers are going to suffer more. The present rise may not be short-lived as similar assurances were given many times but never honored and turned out to be false. Eid purchases will start shortly and the timing of the lifting of controls and the consequent repercussion on the price level are rather disturbing. Correct estimate of the situation prevailing in the market was not taken and the decision was inopportune.” The Morning News wrote, “Prices of meat, fish, vegetables and fruits have shot up and recorded and all-time high— the impression that the market are being manipulated is inescapable.” Ittefaq questioned the propriety of the recent decontrol measures, which according to it. led to the present rise in prices. Azadi considered that the rise of prices in all commodities was as a result of rise in prices of the decontrolled items.
There is considerable criticism in regard to the increase of the price of the imported goods of C.I. sheets and Iron rods. It is argued that the talk of an “economic price” when import of these articles is restricted does not carry much sense. It only helps to increase the profits of those importers who are lucky to get licenses with no benefit either to the Government or to the consumers. It is the general feeling that at this stage of unsatisfactory industrial expansion and unsatisfactory supply the decision to decontrol prices was premature. The sellers of other goods like fish, eggs, chickens, meat, vegetables, etc., have also raised the prices in sympathy with the prices increased in cloth, etc.
2. The replacement of the Agricultural Development Finance Corporation and the Agricultural Bank of Pakistan by the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan was welcomed. It is expected that this will promote efficiency and reduce the cost of administration by saving on overheads. There is a general feeling that the existence of joint holdings makes it difficult for needy cultivators to prove clean title and so they cannot get loans from the Bank. It may be possible for the Agricultural Development Bank to conduct an inquiry and to try and find out some means of advancing short-term credit on the basis of current possession of particular plots of land even though the ownership may be recorded as joint.
It is also reported that the present credit facilities have not solved the problem of exorbitant rates of interest prevailing in the rural areas. An inquiry into the practice and the prevailing rates of interest is also long overdue. The extent of rural indebtedness was included in the Agricultural Census enumeration but the rates of interest were not inquired into.
3. The references to Cooperative farming made by the President had been noted by the press. The question needs examination in the two wings with particular attention to local conditions. As nothing detailed has yet come out, no definite views are available.
PART III
Administration
1. The launch disaster at Shaitnal on 15-2-1961 has dominated the press.
The press has pleaded for an enquiry into the matter, payment of compensation to the affected families, drastic action against the launch which ran away after the collision
