Now, onions may make the govt cry

Unknown to the UPA government, which is crying itself hoarse about the benefits of a nuclear deal with the US, rising onion prices may arm the opposition with a potent weapon capable of reducing the ruling coalition to tears.

Onion prices, which were blamed for BJP's rout in Delhi and Rajasthan assembly elections in 1998 and threatened to rock the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi early this year, has risen 11% in the past one week in wholesale markets with production dipping across the country.

"The cost of onion has reached Rs 20 a kg now which is too high to buy daily," said Mamta, a homemaker in Delhi.

The all India average price of onion in the wholesale market went up to Rs 1,070 a quintal on August 18 against Rs 962 per quintal on August 13, according to Nashik-based National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation.

"The main reason for the increase is lesser arrivals of onion in the market," wholesale trader Sher Singh at Azadpur Mandi in New Delhi said, adding there was no stock in the major mandis of Maharashtra.

Onion arrivals at 36 major markets across the country have declined to 100.14 lakh tonne last Friday from 120.76 lakh tonne recorded on August 13.

The onion arrivals in Delhi, one of the largest consuming centres in the country, dipped to about 600 tonne yesterday, from 1,050 tonne at the beginning of the last week mainly due to surge in onion rates in the southern parts of the country, where the supplies are also going from the producing areas, traders said.