This meeting had been called following directions from the Prime Minister who wanted a Centre-state effort to rein in spiralling prices. It was also held in the backdrop of wholesale price index (WPI) of food articles recording a 18.2 per cent rise in the middle of October against a meagre 1.57 per cent during the same period last year. Kumar announced short and medium steps. The government has decided to extend the ban on export of onions to January 31 from the earlier announced date of November 30.

The government will also set up a joint monitoring mechanism through a Centre-state panel to identify the deficits and surpluses of essential commodities three to four months in advance of harvest to plan timelycorrective measures. The setting up of a National Forecasting Centre for agricultural products was also announced.

In case of any shortfalls in essential commodities detected, the government would coordinate with states and import commodities through a central agency.The government has also allowed states to relax the ``compulsory packaging'' of edible oils condition in order to give flexibility to them to meet the demand of the poorer sections of the society who normally depend on the unpackaged oils for their use.

The government has also decided to augment storage capacities for perishable products like onions and potatoes so that surpluses in one year can be carried forward for the next year.