As the Centre works to control the rising prices of edible oils, pulses and some vegetables during Diwali, one of the most conventional methods it plans to use is to impose stock holding limits either on its own, or by empower states to do so.

       The stock holding limit is a tried-and-tested method to check price rise enabled by the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act (which the new farm laws sought to amend to bring a semblance of certainty in the use of the Act). By imposing stock limits, both the Centre and the states try to check hoarding and black-marketing of essential ...