Onion Price Hits Rock Bottom, Sells at Re 1 Per Kilo in Karnataka
Bengaluru, Nov 21: If you find too many onion pieces in your food at a north Indian restaurant in Karnataka, don't be surprised. A kilogram of onion costs just a rupee at wholesale markets in the state!
The onion price has hit rock-bottom in the last one week and the growers are literally crying in Karnataka, one of the largest producers of India's most essential vegetable.
The onion is selling at Rs 100 for a bag of 100 kilograms in Hubli, Dharwad, Haveri, Gadag, Bagalkote, Belgaum, Davangere and Chitradurga wholesale markets. A week ago, the price was about Rs 500 per quintal and it crashed to Rs 200 a day later.
The free fall of onion price has triggered panic across onion growing districts of Belgaum, Bijapur, Bagalkote, Dharwad, Haveri, Gadag, Davangere, Chitradurga and others.
According to farmer leaders, there has been a sudden arrival of large quantity of onion from across Karnataka and Maharashtra in the market, leading to price crash.
"The output has been good across Karnataka this year. The farmers have brought the crop to market. But the price is too low. They can't recover even their transportation charge, forget the cultivation cost," said a farmer from Dharwad district.
Karnataka exports most of its onion to neighbouring Tamil Nadu, Kerala and northern states. The truckers had stopped plying to Tamil Nadu because of Cyclone Gaja for over a week, resulting in price crash in Karnataka.
"It may take a few more days to resume onion supply to Tamil Nadu. Left with no other options, some farmers are selling onion for just Re 1 per kilo," said a trader from Hubli.
In north Indian markets, Karnataka competes with Maharashtra onion and over 40,000 bags of onions from the western state have arrived in Rajasthan's Alwar market, nearly 166 km from Delhi, on Monday further pushing the price down, claims another trader.
The farmer associations have asked state and Centre to come to the rescue of hapless growers immediately. "Whenever onion price goes up, the media covers it like tsunami. It happens once in five years may be. Onion price crashes every year forcing many farmers to end their lives. Sadly, no media covers it and the government does nothing," said a veteran farmer leader C Narasimhappa.
The lack of storage facilities and proper guidance to farmers are said to be the main reasons for onion price crash as the growers can't hoard their produces for a longer period.
Courtesy: www.news18.com
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Decision on next Maharashtra CM to be taken 'in a day or two', says Shinde
New Delhi (PTI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday said he had "good and positive" discussions with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda on the issue of government formation in the state.
Speaking to reporters here before leaving for Mumbai, Shinde said the decision on the next chief minister of Maharashtra will be taken "in a day or two" in another meeting of the Mahayuti coalition in the state capital.
Shinde, along with Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, met Shah and Nadda late Thursday to thrash out a power-sharing pact for the next government in Maharashtra after the BJP-led coalition registered a thumping majority in the Assembly elections.
"We will take a decision (on Maharashtra CM) in a day or two. We have held discussions, and the discussions will continue. You will get to know when we take a final decision," the outgoing chief minister said.
Shinde said that he would not be an obstacle in the government formation in the state and abide by the decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah.
"This 'ladka bhau' (beloved brother) designation is higher than anything else for me," he said.
Shinde said the meeting with Shah and Nadda was "good and positive".
"We all discussed the formation of government. There is good coordination between the allies, we are all very positive and we will honour the clear-cut mandate given to us by the people. We will form the government soon," he said.
"The meeting was good and positive. This was the first meeting. There will be another meeting of the Mahayuti in Mumbai," Shinde told reporters early Friday.
The Shiv Sena leader said the people of Maharashtra have re-elected them with a thumping majority and respecting the mandate is the topmost priority, not "running after posts".
Recovering from its Lok Sabha elections losses, the BJP bagged 132 Assembly seats, the highest among all constituents of the Mahayuti alliance. Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP also performed well. Sena won 57 while NCP bagged 41 seats.
The Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a setback with the grand old party registering one of its worst performances in the Assembly polls as it won only 16 seats. Sharad Pawar's NCP(SP) won just 10 seats, whereas Uddhav Thackeray's (UBT) won 20 seats.
The Maharashtra Assembly elections were held on November 20, and the results were declared on November 23.
