In 2013 when UPA was ruling government, Indian economy faced one of its worst crises in the decade and now same story is repeated in 2015 too when BJP is in power. While that is worrying the political and economic fraternity, what is worrying ordinary Indians are the price of onions. People in India eat their way through 15 million tonnes of onions a year. Almost every dish uses it, whether cooked in a curry or eaten raw as an accompaniment to a meal. The onion has proven as a political game-changer time and again.
When UPA was in power, one of the members of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Vijay Jolly, gifted bags of onions instead of sweets for the Raksha Bandhan. Many BJP leaders protested in front of 7, RCR then PM Manmohan Singh’s residence. There was huge uproar and instability by BJP. Now, when they are in power, they are running without any explanation. Onion prices have been known to swing earlier also before elections. In 1998, the then-ruling BJP suffered heavy losses in Delhi state elections, a result widely blamed on high onion prices.
The worried Delhi state government has started special counters across the city, to sell subsidized onions. But security guards have been deployed here too, to control angry crowds. A month ago, one kilogram of onions would have cost about Rs. 20. Since then, the price has gone up nearly five-fold, costing up to Rs. 80 and stinging everyone in India. The reason for the price hike is lack of stocks, after a drought hit crops and average rains.
Onions are considered as an indispensable ingredient in most of the Indian cooking, providing the pungent foundation for thousands types of curries and other dishes. Onion prices have been an important political issue; it was regarded as the decisive factor in the 1998 state elections in Delhi and Rajasthan, and was responsible for bringing down the central government in 1980. India is the second largest onion producer in the world, after China. A gap in coordination between the demand and the supply-management chain exacerbates the problem. In every couple of years, we will be kicking out governments for rising onion prices because till the mismatch continues such crises will recur. New Delhi is now ready to import onions from countries like Pakistan and China, in order to meet the country’s insatiable demand. However, it’s only a stopgap solution. Until infrastructure, distribution and technology improve, and wastage is reduced, governments may find their fates depend on this pungent bulb and Indian shoppers will have plenty to cry about.
Forty-five per cent of the onion produce in India comes from the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. In November 2010, unseasonal and excessive rainfall in onion-producing regions such as Nashik in Maharashtra delayed the arrival of onions in markets. In December, when fresh crop usually begins to arrive, onion shipments were reduced from 2000-3000 tonnes a day to 700-800 tonnes a day in New Delhi markets, raising the price of onion from Rs. 35 to Rs. 88 per kg in the period of one week.
Prices of onion in the capital continue to remain at an eye watering Rs. 70-80 per kg, but it’s not the shortage of supply that’s pushing up prices so dramatically. Supply of onions in Delhi mandis has in fact increased significantly in the past 4-5 days but it has not brought down prices, indicating how traders are exploiting the crisis to make a quick buck.
With the bulbs in short supply and prices soaring high in domestic market, the vegetable dealers here have started importing onions, the most versatile veggie staple in the kitchen, from Afghanistan even as Pakistan government has imposed a ban on export of onions since home prices of onions have already peaked to Rs. 3500 for one hundred kilogram in wholesale market. Vegetable dealers now getting only six to eight truckloads of Afghan onions to meet the local demand but the quality of onion is very poor. Presently, the onion exported to India was produced in Kabul but according to Afghan traders in two weeks’ time onion crop from Mazar-e-Sharif would arrive in market which was of better quality. In Amritsar wholesale vegetable market Afghan onion was sold for Rs. 15 to Rs. 25 a kilogram and was largely purchased by hotels, dhabas and restaurant owners whereas Indian onion was still in demand for domestic use. In retail, Indian onion was being sold for Rs. 45 to Rs. 55 per kilogram but the sales have declined in past one week. Onion has always brought tears to the government. Let’s see, how BJP will deal with this crisis.
