List commodities under essential commodities act 1955
Answers
The Essential Commodities Act (ECA) was enacted by the Central Government in 1955 to control and regulate trade and prices of commodities declared essential under the Act. The Act is again in the limelight, as the Government is making it more stringent while bringing onions and potatoes under its purview. Here are some facts about its provisions that you may want to know and explanations about how the Act works.
What does the Act deal with?
The Act empowers the Central and state governments concurrently to control production, supply and distribution of certain commodities in view of rising prices. The measures that can be taken under the provision of the Act include, among others, licensing, distribution and imposing stock limits. The governments also have the power to fix price limits, and selling the particular commodities above the limit will attract penalties. Black marketing of essential commodities was a major problem in the past and this has now been controlled to a large extent. The Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) and such other orders have been issued under the powers of the ECA.
Which commodities does it cover?
Seven major commodities are covered under the act. Some of them are:
Petroleum and its products, including petrol, diesel, kerosene, Naphtha, solvents etc
Food stuff, including edible oil and seeds, vanaspati, pulses, sugarcane and its products like, khandsari and sugar, rice paddy
Jute and textiles
Drugs- prices of essential drugs are still controlled by the DPCO
Fertilisers- the Fertiliser Control Order prescribes restrictions on transfer and stock of fertilizers apart from prices
Through various amendments in the Act in the past, the government removed many products such as herbicides, fungicides and exercise books from its purview. Onions and potatoes will be added
In the past, several products such as iron and steel came under the ambit of the Act, but were removed later. The Union Cabinet has already decided to add onions and potatoes under the ECA, but the notification is still awaited. The notification will have several clarities such as executing authorities and stock limits, among others. Both the commodities had been removed from the ESA through an order on November 25, 2004 .