UPA Government laughs off vegetable crisis
If the Congress-led UPA Government cannot be sympathetic to the plight of the common citizen who is reeling under the skyrocketing prices of vegetables, it must at least not be flippant. Remarks by various senior leaders of the ruling coalition betray not just their lack of concern but also arrogance. These leaders don't see any reason to intervene when onions are priced between Rs 60 a kilo and Rs 80 a kilo in many parts of the country. Senior Congress leader and Union Minister Kapil Sibal dismissed the issue with his trademark contempt for everything that he considers below his worth. Responding to the crisis, he said that the Government did not sell onions and so the issue should be addressed to the traders. Nationalist Congress Party chief and Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar believes that high onion prices are good for the farmers. Several Congress spokespersons too have taken to glossing over the crisis and instead parroting the greatness of the food security legislation.
Some have shifted the responsibility of action to the State regimes which, they said, have failed to crack down on hoarders. One of them picked up Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for special mention — the two States are ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party. He claimed that the situation in Maharashtra, where the Congress rules in a coalition with the NCP, was under control. That's not a fact. Reports have pointed out that onion in the retail markets of Mumbai is selling at Rs Rs 70 a kilo. So, the point is not what the States should be doing but that the Centre should get proactive and collaborate with the States to bring the issue under control. For that the Union Government has to reach out to the States. But the Manmohan Singh regime doesn't believe the issue merits such intervention.
The UPA regime must realise that the problem is not limited to onions; prices of most essential vegetables have been on the rise. Food inflation has shot up dangerously; it hovers at around 18 per cent, as a result of the cascading impact of the developments in the last couple of months, such as the hike in fuel rates. Vegetable prices have, according to estimates, gone up by a whopping 244 per cent, and this has begun to strain the headline inflation which is based on the wholesale price index. The Congress-led Government, true to its trademark style, remained a mute spectator all through, busy pushing through ill-timed populist legislations.
An important contributor to the crisis is the poor warehousing facility that exists across the country. There have been reports of onions rotting in storage centres for want of care. Additionally, the existing leaky delivery system helps to artificially inflate the cost of vegetable products at the last mile. This means that while the hoarders and traders make a tidy buck, the farmers get a pittance. This should puncture Mr Pawar's contention that farmers benefit from rising prices of food and vegetables. Then there is the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act — supposed to check malpractices and ensure rightful returns to the producer — which is riddled with inadequacies. The Union Government cannot possibly position itself as the messiah of the aam aadmi when the common man groans under the burden of prices of even the most basic edibles.