'21'

        In case of Agricultural Labourers, the index increased by 1 to 7 points in 12 states, and decreased by 1 to 5 points in 7 states while it remained constant in one state.

        The index for Rural Labourers, also reflected an increase between 1 to 7 points in 10 states, but decreased by 1 to 5 points in 8 states, while no change in indices was registered in two states.

        Amongst the states, Bihar experienced sharpest increase of 7 points each for Agricultural Labourers and Rural Labourers while Gujarat recorded a maximum decrease of 5 points each for both series. However, Meghalaya continued to figure at the top of the index table for both Agricultural and Rural Labourers with 354 and 351 points respectively while Bihar (including Jharkhand) remained at the bottom with 294 and 296 points respectively.

        Point to point rate of inflation based on CPI-AL increased from 1.63% during September 2001 to 2.62% in October 2001. In case of the CPI-RL also, the inflation rate increased to 2.61% from 1.62% in the previous month. Respective rates of inflation during October, 2000 were (-) 3.17% and (-) 2.54%.