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Bhubaneswar: It seems no 'Taali' (clap) for the 'Thali' (plate) in Odisha. The State tops the entire eastern region with its costliest vegetarian and non-vegetarian Thali.
The result is a daily wager has to shell more in Odisha to arrange for two thalis for his/her family of five (unit size of a family taken by the Survey), reveals the Economic Survey 2019-20 tabled in Parliament on Friday.
As per the Eco-Survey, which for the first time has devoted a chapter on Thalinomics, a veg thali in Odisha costs at around Rs 27 during the period April - October 2019. In contrast, the thali price in other eastern states ranges from Rs 20 - 25.
The Survey further reveals that a daily wager in Odisha has to shell out nearly 40 per cent of his daily income to arrange two thalis every day. But in neighbouring Jharkhand, a daily wager has to spend only 25 per cent of his wage everyday to buy 2 thalis.
For non-vegetarians, the amount spent for two thalis in Odisha is also high. The cost of non-veg thali during the period April - October in Odisha stood at Rs 38, which is costlier than all states in the eastern region, except Assam.
A daily wager in Odisha, therefore, spends nearly 70 per cent of his/her daily wage to manage two 'thalis' every day for his family.
A comparative analysis of thalinomics across the states shows the cost of the veg thali in Odisha is higher than states in northern India like Delhi, UP, Punjab, Haryana, MP among others. The non-veg thali cost in Odisha is also higher than the said states.
The findings of the Economic Survey 2019-20 has come as a warning shot for Odisha.
Because, spending nearly half of one's earning on food is no good news as it squeezes the spending power of poor on other essentials like clothing, education and health. And in cases of some exigency conditions, they have to incur debt to supplement their urgent essentials like treatment of diseases.
Why Odisha showed such obduracy in prices? As per the Eco-Survey, price variation is mostly witnessed in consumer states. Significantly, Odisha is a consumer state. The State depends on all ranging from vegetables, pulses, eggs to fish and meat on producing states.
It is worthy to mention here that unlike Delhi, Odisha has the potential to become a producer state. But lack of proper policies is burdening the economy and the common men alike. It's well known how State's all missions (Potato) have come to a naught.
The Eco-Survey 2019-20 has added this new chapter of Thalinomics. Stating that what better way to make economics relate to the common person than something that s(he) encounters every day – a plate of food, the Survey used the dietary guidelines for Indians (NIN, 2011) to construct the price of Thalis.
Price data from the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers for around 80 centres in 25 States/UTs from April 2006 to October 2019 is used. It has also accounted the average monthly prices of various commodities in the open market in the above centres to calculate the prices of veg and non-veg thalis.
