Between July and September, 2015 the price of onions went through the roof and touched Rs 100/kg. Prior to the inflation an artificial shortage of onions was created, hoarders had a field day, retailers were not affected since their profit margins remained the same, hoteliers and eateries either increased the price of onion-based dishes or used traces of onions, but it was the common man/woman who were the worst sufferers. The reasons assigned for the atrocious price rise was that some places in India had unseasonal rains, some places did not have rains, dearth of storage facilities for the produce, etc. Right noises were made by the authorities and token raids on some hoarders were conducted for a week. Then statements were made that the price would come down after Ganesh Chaturthi and this happened! By then the sellers had laughed all the way to the bank leaving the people in tears. Presently, onions cost between Rs 30 and 40, which was between Rs 15 and 20 before the shortage.
Now it is the turn of the price of pulses (dals) to go up leading to an increase in the pulse rate of the people. A few months back the prices of dals were below Rs 100/kg but slowly rose, especially the commonly used toor dal which is now above Rs 200. Similar reasons as for the onions, are being fed to the people and token raids are conducted on hoarders. Soon we would find that the average price of any dal would be Rs 100 or Rs 125. All of the above given reasons have existed in the past too but never has the prices gone up so sharply and remained there for days together. All these give an impression that there is a systematic manner by which an artificial scarcity is produced in the country.
Do not be surprised if tomorrow the prices of another common food item start its slow upward travel. Start laying your bets now. We are a gullible lot and are made to swallow the above silly excuses dished out by a handful of powerful, greedy and caucus of merchants dealing in grains and pulses. Unlike in the developed countries we do not have a strict quality and quantity control of food items in India. Rules and regulations exist, but their implementation leaves much to be desired.
