Congress president Sonia Gandhi Sunday said here the central government was forced to take some "harsh steps" because of the global economic slowdown. "When the whole world was dealing with financial crisis, India was not that badly effected. But today even India is effected with global economic situation. That has forced our government to take some harsh steps," Sonia Gandhi said on the last day of the Congress meet here.

The 'Chintan Shivir', the Congress party's introspective meet began here Jan 18 and will conclude Sunday.

"I know that (economic slowdown) has caused some problem to the common people, but our government should explain to the people the steps they have taken to deal with inflation," she said.

Her statement comes days after the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government announced a partial deregulation in diesel prices, which has been met huge opposition from political parties and key allies.

The government had earlier been criticised on its decisions of approving foreign direct investment in retail, routine hike in petrol prices, and a cap on subsidised cooking gas.