New Delhi, Mar 18: Communist Party of India (Marxists) activists staged a demonstration on Tuesday outside the parliament seeking a complete overhaul of the distribution of essential commodities.

Sitaram Yechuri, a politburo member of the CPI (M) said that the party is not satisfied with the steps that the government is taking in controlling inflation.

"We are not satisfied with the steps that our finance minister is taking to control the price hike. The kind of steps which have been taken will not curb the price hike," said Yechuri.

"The way the price of food items is increasing globally, it is going to affect India also in a big way in the near future. That is why we are demanding that the government decision to reduce the quantity of food grains in public distribution system and the ration shops should be cancelled," he added.

On Monday, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram assured that the Central Government would do everything to rein in inflation to ensure that it did not hit the poor.

In his reply to wind up the debate on the budget for 2008-09, Chidambaram told Rajya Sabha that the government would "make every effort to contain prices, especially for the weaker sections."

"We [government] will take fiscal steps... we will urge [the] RBI to take monetary steps. Its [RBI's] dharma is price stability," Chidambaram had said. (ANI)