On 22 February 2006, hundreds of activists and workers - a majority from the unorganised sector - staged a protest dharna at Jantar Mantar to express their anguish about the rise in prices of essential commodities and the failure of the central government to check this trend. Shakuntala, Mevati and Teena, bindi makers from Nandanagari, Kiran a tailor woman; Moorthi, who shells pea nuts, had all sacrificed their day`s work to come to Jantar Mantar, in order to raise their voices in protest against the hike in prices of essential commodities. Gurudas Das Gupta, General Secretary of AITUC, and Amarjeet Kaur, its Secretary, addressed the workers.

The programme was organised as part of the effort of the CPI to raise the concern of the common people, who are victims of the rising prices. CPI General Secretary, A.B. Bardhan, and Secretary, D. Raja, and MPs, Sudhakar Reddy, C.K. Chandrappan, and Prabodh Pandha, were among the speakers who addressed the gathering.

The speakers said that the sharp rise in prices of essential commodities was the specific features of previous NDA government and the people had been up in arms against this. The UPA government`s failure to check this trend annoyed the people. They had wished the government to control the market mechanism in a way that it could result in the reduction of prices.

The rise in the rates of essential goods, such as wheat, cereals and rice, has been to the tune of 30 to 50 per cent. The rise in the price of wheat flour is the most worrisome to the poor working class. Meanwhile, the government is planning a rise in the prices of petrol and diesel. At the same time no visible steps have been taken by the government to check hoarding and black marketing, which result in the rise in prices of essential commodities.

The protestors demanded that the government check hoarding, control market manipulations on essential commodities, improve the Public Distribution System and reduce the prices of ration items. The budget should not become an exercise of imposing a burden on the working masses and the people at large.