India's onion crisis no joke as prices skyrocket
Date August 15, 2013 - 12:54PM
Ben Doherty
South Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
Activists from India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pose with handfulls of onions during a rally in Delhi to protest the rise in onion prices. Photo: RAVEENDRAN
'Buy tyres, get free onions," is the deal from one auto shop in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, a reflection of the massive jump in price of the humble, yet vital, vegetable across the country.
“As the price of onions has gone up to 60 rupees [$1.10] a kilogram here, we have decided to offer five kilograms of onions free with the purchase of a truck tyre, and one kilogram on two car radial tyres,” Satnam Singh Gambhir said from his shop in Jamshedpur.
Such fuss over a lowly bulb might seem comical, if it weren't so serious.
Onions sustain India.
Almost any Indian dish requires onion and, for the hundreds of millions of families here living on subsistence incomes, a jump in the onion price has made the vegetable unaffordable, and cooking nearly impossible.
It's a political problem too. Governments in India have fallen because of food price inflation, and a skyrocketing onion price is yet another woe for a beleaguered Congress administration already stuck trying to negotiate a food security bill through parliament.
Ministers have held "onion crisis meetings" this week to deal with the burgeoning vegetable problem.
Over a single weekend this month, the wholesale price of onions jumped 36 per cent, sparked by a regular annual dip in production levels, but in particular poor harvests in the south of the country.
The states of Karnataka and Maharashtra produce almost 80 per cent of India's 17 million tonnes of onions each year, and crop failures there are felt across the country.
India too, suffers from chronic transport infrastructure problems. It is estimated 30 per cent of the food grown in the country rots before it can get to market.
In Delhi, always more expensive than other parts of the country, the price of onions has risen from 25 rupees a kilo two months ago to 70 rupees, and shopkeepers are warning they expect it to surpass 100 rupees by next week.
“Today we are selling onions at 70 rupees per kilogram, next week the price will likely increase further,” roadside vegetable vendor Praveen Kumar told Fairfax Media in Murnika.
“I think rain led to reduced production in onion growing states so we are getting fewer onions in the mandi [wholesale market]. Onion adds taste to food. Right now, poor people have to eat tasteless food.”
Food is at the forefront of Indian politics at present.
The government is having unexpected trouble passing through parliament its Food Security Bill which would give heavily subsidised wheat, rice and millet to two-thirds of India's population, about 800 million people.
Supporters say the bill is the largest food subsidy program in world history, critics describe it as a ruinously expensive vote-buying stunt.
As well, there remains ongoing concern over the government's massive, but heavily corrupted, Midday Meal Program, which feeds about 120 million primary school-aged children a day.
Hundreds of thousands of teachers have refused to serve the meals after 23 students in Bihar were poisoned by the food last month and died.
In the markets and the media though, the talk is all onions.
In previous years, India has outlawed the export of onions to keep prices lower at home, but the agriculture minister has ruled out similar bans this year, saying it harmed India's international reputation as a reliable supplier.
In a bizarre political stunt, members of parliament from the opposition BJP deposited onions and tomatoes in a bank deposit box.
“We are… highlighting this government's pathetic and nonchalant attitude towards the poor people. The basic necessity for the poor people in this country is roti. And, the minimum requirement with roti is onion, coriander and chillies,” Kanpur MLA Satish Mahana said, arguing that if prices continued to rise “people might no longer steal motorcycles or cars, but probably start stealing onions to satisfy their hunger”.
