know your onions ...

mmike56

Indians shed tears over onions

By Navdip Dhariwal
BBC News, Delhi

Delhi's popular Radio One breakfast show hosts a daily phone-in - and the hot topic for the past couple of weeks has been the price of onions.

The lines have been buzzing as listeners call in on one of the most politically sensitive issues in India.

One South Indian restaurant owner calls in to complain that he can no longer afford to carry on with his business because all his dishes rely so heavily on onions that cooking them is just too expensive.


Full Article from the BBC


Move this if need be.

Mod note: moved to News and reformated for that forum

P56

mm

Nick-H

Is it just me, or do the BBC seem to like to report this kind of stuff as if it is some light-weight filler?

This is about whether people get to eat or not! And the cost of any basic food item rising by a factor of five is pretty worrying to me.

Didn't the price of onions take a big part sometime previously in Indian politics?

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Digital Drifter

Can't figure out whether you WANT to them to report this kind of price rise or not.

But you're right. I think the local Govt. in Delhi got booted just on sudden spurt in Onion prices. Looks like a repeat this year.

Congress will sell the country blind
The BJP will inspect the stuff and then sell the country. (for about 10 secs, say)

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just_an_old_boy

Yes, it did. In 1998, particularly in Delhi. The ruling Congress in the Delhi's state election was totally wiped out and in the surrounding rural areas some blokes took to looting sacks of onions from cold storages.

Nick-H

It's the attitude that bothers me. I didn't used to notice it, a year or two back, when other people complained about how the BBC talks about India --- something must be happening to me in my sleep.

But this is about more important things than the BBC...

rachelinindia

when i was in india two years back, this was a major news story. the hindu had a front page report on it with the title: 'onion price soar, india in tears'...

batistuta

When the prices of the essential commodities soar then the gov mostly lose thier chair.In the just concluded punjab elections ,Price rise has been blamed for the electoral setbacks.

This also has become a sort of an excuse for the govs when they lose elections along with anti-incumbency(read bad governance)

crvlvr

Its kinda silly for people to think the govt had anything to do with the price of the onions. But, the opposition party would surely use this to rally up the public support. Back in 1998 there were onion robberies when the prices shot up.. Will it get that bad this time?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/208042.stm

capt_mahajan

Inflation and price rise are a serious threat to the poor and the government's electoral chances in India. It has not helped that prices of many primary items, foodgrains included, have gone up substantially.

Besides Punjab (as batistuta says), the Congress has lost in Uttaranchal/Uttarakhand in the state assembly elections a few days ago.

The mantra in the annual budget proposed two days ago has been "controlling inflation while promoting growth", and has proposed increasing allocations towards agriculture, education and health. Agricultural growth is poor right now. The other mantra remains "inclusive growth"

In the last year, the RBI (central bank) has raised Banks CRR (cash reserve ratio) four times, I think, and bank interest rates, most recently in the last month, to manage the demand side of the inflation equation. Supply side constraints are still a problem.

Other things done.. stopping forward trading in some food commodities, barring sugar exports (which hit the sugar industry very hard, as a pointer stock prices of some sugar companies fell to one third their peak levels), and additional cess on cement.

What it means is this, that the Government is concerned that the poor are not getting their fair share of growth, (which is what many have been saying all along), which can impact them badly politically.

Hence the hoohaa, on the BBC and otherwise.

tacita

when i was in darjeeling last week, many restaurants weren't serving chicken as having become too costly. something about a strike?

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capt_mahajan

maybe a local strike. Or transport issues in the hills, which periodically push up prices.

Merchant

The price of onions is a broad gauge of inflation across India, because onions are in practically every dish. The price of onions is a really big deal, rather like the price of gasoline in the US. There are lots of articles out now about whether or not India's economy is overheating (consumer prices rising). Onions are a quick way of looking at the issue.