Beyond onions and potatoes

Shiban Khaibri
Perhaps we are the only country in the world where onions have, besides their usual utility, political connotations as well although we are the world’s second largest producers of onions only after China. We therefore are exporters of onions as well which in ordinary common parlance means that we produce more than we require for domestic consumption. Onions, however, acquire political importance as also tomatoes and potatoes in their respective hierarchies. When last year the prices of onions touched between Rs.80 and Rs.100, those who could afford perhaps complained about the unprecedented rise more than those who either sliced down their requirement or even  went without it till prices stabilized. The situation took a turn to the extent, due to the UPA2 being quite unaware to foresee and having been taken by complete surprise, that there was no alternative but to knock at our neighbours’ doors like Pakistan and China for imports in addition to Iran and Egypt.
Is it not somewhat baffling as to why prices of onions have showed a peculiar trend of volatility right from the days Congress started getting replaced by non Congress coalitions at the centre like the Janta Party Government which lost power in 1980 only because of onion prices in the market having gone slightly  on the  higher side? Likewise Sushma  Swaraj led BJP Government in Delhi too was shown the door in 1998 only because of the high onion prices.  Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s BJP Government too was voted out of power the same year in Rajasthan due to increase in onion prices. In July 1998 onion prices again behaved slightly in unbridled  way and people started feeling the tears of onions and many  started discounting the “expected able administration” of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee led 24 parties’ coalition Government. “What has he done, see even the prices of onions could not be controlled by him, this “mehangai” is going to break our strength” used to be the usual chit chats and comments by “the sufferers”. “But he has made India a nuclear power , a courage which no leadership could muster despite having massive mandates ever since the first Pokhran underground test in 1971” – could assuage very few who could evaluate between the importance of going nuclear, facing and braving  international economic sanctions and a comfortable onion pricing. We can do with lesser quantities of onions and even using it not very frequently but we cannot do for a minute without adequately ensured security and strength of our country, its territorial integrity and its sovereignty which right from 1947 has been under threat in one form or the other. That nuclear deterrent which means that we shall not be found wanting in a proper and a befitting response in case of a nuclear threat or a nuclear blackmail should wipe dry the tears on account of onions becoming somewhat costlier during a few months of the year type of argument based on facts and reality, did not somewhat work and Vajpayee led NDA lost power in 2004. Again onions gained much importance and in its trade more aspirants seem to have  jumped, political backing overtly or covertly not ruled out so long as it worked for holding back the stocks, hoarding them with newer tricks and creating prices scare among the general consumers with intent to generate frustration and anger against the Government.
That apart, let it be analyzed as to what are the other factors which push up the prices of onions and potatoes. Most of us also talk of the factors like there being many layers between the producers and the consumers  whom we call middlemen and who thrive both on the farmers’ as well as the consumers’ pecuniary interests. Last year, when under UPA2 rule, the prices shot up to Rs.100 a kilo, an analysis showed that the farmer had got not more than from Rs.3 to Rs.5 a kilo for the toil, the sweat, the wait, the hope and the fruit of his efforts in production of the tearful but loving commodity of our daily use in the kitchen. How to rein in these layers and how to motivate the farmer to be in the enterprise of farming are two main problems. As per alarming reports, as many as 2000 farmers are lost every single day in our country. Only since 1991 as many as 15 million farmers have left doing any type of farming activities. In other words, population of farmers is dwindling, cultivators decreasing but agricultural labour force is increasing. Apart from deficient rains and a virtual drought faced by Maharashtra last year, lesser farmers taking interest in farming activities or the number remaining static are warning signals which cannot be brushed aside.
It was 2012 when many parts of the country especially in Punjab, potato growing farmers carpeted national highways and even busy roads with potatoes crushing them under their tractor tyres out of frustration and anger for not getting at least as much as the cost of production. Why should not the farmer get return for his hard work as much as he finds the farming activity feasibly profitable so that not only his generation but his next or the younger ones in his family despite getting education and other exposures do not bid adieu to farming and convert the land into some activity other than farming. Have our Governments so far sincerely gone deep into the causes of farmers’ suicides or their varied problems in addition to isolated cases of burning of their produce like sugar cane or destroying their reap like potatoes? How long can patch working or resorting to ad- hoc measures work in the most sensitive and important sector like our agriculture?
Let us now dwell upon a hard reality though under qualified conditions. Why should prices of potatoes and onions always remain within a range of Rs.10 to Rs.20 or Rs.25 only, a feeling and an expectation of most of us as against our total silence or compromising with the prices of clothes, the medicines, the shoes, the mason’s or the carpenter’s labour charges, the rising cost of education, cost of books, notebooks,  the coaching or tuition rates of children, or other prices and costs concerning us. There we do not curse the Government but when we go for veggie shopping, we expect rates of potatoes and onions to be what they were in early seventies and eighties at around Rs.10 to Rs.20. Thank God Modi Government has succeeded in controlling the prices of onions at around Rs. 25 a kilo. Though onions have the distinction to have made and unmade the Governments in our country, yet we have to go beyond onions and potatoes in the process of building a strong economy and a strong India.
Our ravaged economy has to be on the recovery path and we can recover as appears from how Modi Government is working. This was going to take time to show results. The new Government has to discard the precedent of UPA 1 and 2 to take care of welfare measures only instead of taking harsh economic decisions to revert to a growth rate of over 8%in the next two years. Increasing railway fares is a welcome step which should have been taken periodically by the previous Government to sustain the Railways. The whole gamut of subsidies has to be reviewed. New economic decisions have to be taken which again may appear like a bitter tablet but with prospective sweet effects. Let us not start judging NDA rule under Narendra Modi only after 1 month of its office and start expecting wonders overnight. We cannot forget the timing of taking over by Modi which is full of problems and challenges. We did not hold Manmohan Singh accountable even much after the promised 100 days, why go in a hurry after Modi just after 100 hours?

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