Maharashtra minister of state for agriculture and horticulture marketing and textiles, Sadabhau Khot selling vegetables and fruits at Dadar is nothing but a gimmick and a photo opportunity. Vegetables are essential commodities and APMC strike called by agents and middleman is illegal. Cost of all essential commodities such as milk, pulses, wheat, rice, sugar, tea, coffee, vegetables, fruits etc are on the rise and the government has been a silent spectator to rising inflation.
Government policies itself is faulty as they want farmers to sell their produce directly to consumers. Farmers are illiterate and debt ridden and how can you expect them to transport their goods to the market and sell them at a reasonable price? We need co-operative societies who should do this job at minimum profits so that farmers can get reasonable price for their farm produce. Strikes are a gimmick to pass on responsibility and fool consumers to justify inflation which is wrong and government one suppose is supporting such moves indirectly through their faulty policies.
Consumers should boycott buying vegetables and fruits till the prices drop to normalcy. These are perishable items and hoarders and black marketers should be taught a lesson. Rationing vegetables and pulses by government shops too is the need of the hour. Modi government has been unable to control inflation in their tenure till date and it is time for our Prime Minister to think out of the box so that people can purchase essential commodities at affordable prices.
S.N. Kabra
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
