By Agencies

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Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, has met state chief ministers to discuss the country's rising inflation.

In December prices jumped 7.3 per cent, and it is feared they could rise further over the next few months.

Food has always been a political hot potato in India. Rising onion prices a few years ago contributed to the removal of a government.

Jean Dreze, a development economist, said: "Food prices have been rising very fast since the past few months, making it harder and harder for people to satisfy their nutritional requirements.

"So people really need a kind of protection from this kind of food insecurity. To some extent, we have some measures like the common guarantee act but it's not enough. We also need other measures to protect people from hunger."

Local markets, or bazaars, have now become the first stop shop for consumers looking for good deals in India.

But with the highest inflation rates in 11 years and the worst drought in 30 years, even these are not that lucrative anymore. With the government finding it hard to explain its policies, people's anger is steadily rising.

And as Prerna Suri reports, it has left many more Indians struggling to feed their families.