The Hindu Business Line : A poll tear-jerker?

THAT onion is an election issue in some States is well known, the latest case in point being the Maharasthra Assembly elections. In the run-up to the Assembly elections, the National Congress Party (NCP) leader and Union Minister of Agriculture, Mr Sharad Pawar, threw ample hints that he favours scrapping all controls on the free movement of onion across the country and abroad but the only hitch was that the rose or brown tuber had been under the Essential Commodities Act since 1991.

It may be recalled that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered major electoral jolts in three States in 1999 when the onion became priced out of reach of the man in the street. The BJP brought onion under the list of essential commodities set out by the ECA 1955, so that any abnormality in production and its effect on domestic consumption could be moderated through administrative fiat via the ECA. A perishable product and with storage problems, controls/interventions have often led to distress sale by farmers, scarring them economically. On an average India produces 51 lakh tonnes of onion of all varieties of which only 5 lakh tonnes are exported, creating gluts in pockets as the ECA does not allow free movement of the product, precluding also realisation of best prices for farmers.

For Maharasthra, the premier producer of onion, its inclusion in the ECA had put fetters on the growers' ability to find outlet for their produce. The consequent glut aggravated the problems of growers who had been pleading for the removal of onion from the purview of the ECA. The controls on the bulk movement of onions across State borders and abroad have brought growers to tears though State governments have not yet notified onion in the control order, leaving a hole in the proper implementation of the policy.

However, apparently, the Centre had decided to free the trade in onions much before the Maharashtra Assembly elections and when the poll date was fixed, for October 13, a newspaper in the capital listed on October 12 the Cabinet meeting agenda for that week, and said that the issue of removal of onion from the purview of the ECA would have to be deferred for a day since such a decision could sway voters in the State and could be violative of the Election Commission's model code of conduct. The newspaper also carried a news item, "Tomorrow's agenda: Onions off the Essential Commodities".

The Cabinet did meet on October 13, the day Maharashtra went to polls, but in the briefing of that meeting the next day, it transpired that the Cabinet had not taken any decision concerning removal of onion from the ECA Act. So why the `leak' of a news with electorally strategic overtones and what didthe Election Commission do about it? The decision to delete onion from the list of essential commodities was finally taken by the Union Cabinet only this week, after Maharashtra results were out with the return of the Congress-NCP combine.

According to some analysts, while nobody objects to the removal of unnecessary restrictions and controls on farm products, or for that matter any commodity, so as to accord fair returns to producers, promote consumer interest and free trade, why only onion and not any of the other 15 items which are in the ECA list, including oilseeds and oils, cotton, raw jute and cattle fodder? The wisdom and timing of government actions are indeed oftentimes inscrutable.