WHEAT AREA EXPANSION 35 TABL ,E VIII ISSUE PRICES OF WHEAT AND RICE AND THEIR PRICE RELATIVES AT DIFFERENT POIN rs OF TIME IN WEST BENGAL Issue price of Issue price of WheatlRice Time period rice wheat issue price (Rs per quintal] (Rs per quintal) ratio 1 January 1968 119.00 75.00 0.63 1 January 1969 112.00 78.00 0.65 5 May 1969 to 3 Augu? ?t 1969 119.00 87.00 0.73 4 August 1969 to 31 December 1969 119.00 85.00 0.71 1 January 1971 109.00 85.00 0.71 1 January 197-? 108.00 86.50 0.80 1 January 1974 109.00 — — 1 January 1975 159.75 136.25 0.85 SOURCE: Indian Agriculture in Brief, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry o? Agriculture. induced to a considerable extent by changes in demand in favour of wheat consequential to the onslaught of inflation on the purchasing power of the people despite the favourable technological factors mentioned earlier. Thus, a so-called "inferior good" assumes the character of a normal good under the pressure of inflation. Finally, the results of the present study suggest that higher gains of yield rates in wheat, and hence profitability or gross revenue, is the major factor that determined the recent expansion of area under wheat in a predominantly rice consuming state like West Bengal. Exceptions like potato and sugarcane are explained by their higher cost considerations. This seems to be supported by a forced shift in consumer preference in favour of wheat under conditions of inflation, the absolute price of wheat being lower regardless of relative price movements. 3 Data on area under wheat and its competing crops in different districts of West Bengal gathered from the Socio-Economic Evaluation Branch, Directorate of Agriculture, Government of West Bengal. 2 Dharm Narain, The Impact of Price Movements on Areas under Selected Crops in India 1900-39, Cambridge University Press, 1965, p 9. 3 Due to non-availability of data on respective ration prices the price relatives of wheat have been calculated on the basis of issue price of wheat and rice.