Time Indian ruling parties knew their onions, tomatoes if they do not want to be in lentil soup!            

If there is one thing the western economies, mainly the European Union and the US are looking for, it is inflation. Say it to an Indian and she would describe you a nut case. But that is what European Central Bank President Mario Draghi meant when he reviewed the monetary policy and, kind of, promised more stimulus to the European economies.

In India too, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government , has brought down the headline inflation , both in the retail and wholesale markets. But the trouble is , these are only the headline numbers – people do not seem to be convinced. When you show them the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data of 4.41 per cent for September,2015 against 5.63 per cent in the same month last year and even more pronounced drop in Wholesale Price Index of minus 4.54 per cent, there is a kind of disbelief on their faces.

They , instead show you increases in prices of  pulses , the main source of proteins for a majority of Indians, ranging between 100 and 140 per cent .  Leaving percentage aside, some of popular lentils like Tur, are selling at Rs 200 a kilogram (well above three dollar), triggering an outcry among the influential middle class Indians who are the opinion leaders. 

The government , in a way, was caught off-guard as those in-charge remained somewhat complacent until, the pulses price became an election issue in the crucial state elections in Bihar where the Prime Minister’s BJP is pitted against a formidable combination being spear-headed by well-rated Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Having woken up , rather late, the Food and Consumer Affairs Department , being helped now by  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, is doing fire fighting of sorts with an oversight of the PMO.  Wish, it had come a few months earlier.  

In the Indian political-economy, the costly mistake often repeated by the ruling parties is complacency with regard to food prices and food management of essential items like onion, tomato, seasonal vegetables and cereals. No amount of blaming the rain gods helps when sky-rocketing food prices hit the ‘common man’, the term very popular in India.

While it is early days for predicting the outcome of Bihar elections,  pulses would have weighed on voters,  along with the ever- teasing onion.

It is time the Indian ruling parties knew their onions, tomatoes if they do not want to be in lentil soup!    

Pic: Department of Food, GOI