Soaring Onion Prices Make India Cry
Retail prices of onion are making headlines, be it for the commoners’ plight or the centre’s failed efforts at controlling the rise in prices. Currently, the rates of onion in Delhi are anywhere between Rs 100 to 120 per kg, the highest in the past four years.
The wholesale inflation in onion prices is due to the heavy monsoon that the country has received this year. Especially, the key producers like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are struggling with floods, due to which, almost all the crops are ruined. This, along with illegal hoarding by onion traders has burned a hole in consumers’ pockets. With festive season around the corner, the current spike is making things worse for commoners.
Social Media Has Its Humour
Indian people can go through anything, thanks to their sense of humour. So, when onion prices sky rocketed, twitteratis could not hold themselves from sharing memes on the bird app.
If you are an onion lover, then take care of your love as it has become a sensation now. Somewhere it has replaced flowers and become a garland of people’s neck, somewhere it has become a target of robbers. In short, it has become a sensation now.
The price of onions has crossed Rs 100 reaching till rs 120 in some states which have made it difficult within reach of a massive number of people. Although it is a matter of worry, a few incidents will surely make you laugh.
A Struggling Economy
The eyes can see, but they refuse to believe.
As major sectors keep on losing steam, as players thought undefeatable, fall – our revered cabinet sitting atop the parliamentary strata, brush off accountability, like dust off their elbows.
The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has swerved these massive upsets, and general claims of recession looming over India, as unworthy of her comment. Former Prime Mister and one of the architects of the modern Indian economy, Dr Manmohan Singh has called the current economy, and the slump it is experiencing – an act of mismanagement.
The slowdown in the sectors and the sudden hike in basic necessity prices is but an effect of a terrible economy being run, under a cabinet incapable of accepting, let alone fixing pressing issues. As forecasts for 2020 spell even more distress, the ‘hope’ peeking over the horizon, remains absent.
Government Measures
The Ministry of Food and Consumers has announced to let the buffer stock in the market till the time onion prices become normal. According to officials, the onion supply is expected to improve by the month of November, the time for kharif crops. Till now, the centre has released 16,000 tonnes of onion from the buffer stock. The Government has also increased the export price to stop the black marketeers from illegal onion hoarding.
Last year, many states in India faced drought, due to which, the summer farming of onion was affected. Consequently, the farmers as well as the government were unable to store the sufficient quantity of onions.
This year, the late monsoon and then flood situations in many states in India have ruined the entire onion harvest. So, the imbalance in supply-demand has created a gap which will take months to overcome. It is highly unlikely that onion prices are going to become normal in coming months.
India stands second in the world when it comes to vegetable production. Still, the major population is not able to afford basic kitchen essentials, like onion. Why is it that India experience the spike in prices every year? Is it fair to put the blame on weather conditions and turn a blind eye towards man-made disasters?