By Nigam Prusty
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian opposition lawmakers protestedagainst rising prices in parliament on Tuesday, haltingproceedings in the lower house, as the finance minister saidmore measures to ease price pressures were planned.
Indian inflation jumped to its highest in more than threeyears in late March, reaching 7.41 percent and raisingpolitical tensions.
The ruling communist-backed government has been rattled bythe surge in prices and has cut duty and restricted exports ona number of food items and other commodities -- most recentlycement -- to try and calm inflation in Asia's third-largesteconomy.
The Congress Party and its allies face a handful of stateelections this year and a national vote by May next year, and,in a country where a large part of a family's income is spenton food, a jump in prices is bad news.
Many Indian consumers say they are feeling the pinch evenmore than the statistics suggest.
"This government is useless. It has not been able to checkprices," lawmakers belonging to the main oppositionHindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party shouted in parliament.
Earlier, the government's communist allies marched toparliament, waving placards and shouting slogans against theadministration's failure to contain prices.
The communists demanded action against anyone foundhoarding food and called for a ban on futures trading incommodities, which they say has helped fuel the current spikein prices.
Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters acabinet panel that tracks prices of essential commodities wouldtake more measures to calm inflation.
"I do not know when the cabinet committee on prices willmeet, but when it meets I expect some measures," Chidambaramtold reporters without elaborating.
A global surge in food prices around the world hastriggered riots in a handful of countries, and Chidambaram saidat the weekend that rising food and energy costs threatened tostir more social unrest.
If consumer anger is not contained, it could shape India'spolitical future as its billion-plus people gear up for generalelections sometime between October and May.
The opposition, including the more pro-mar+et BJP andsmaller caste and region-based parties, have called forprotests over price rises, which they hope to use as anelection issue.
(Writing by Surojit Gupta; Editing by Mark Williams andAlex Richardson)
