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Boycott onions, says consumer activist

Noted consumer activist H D Shourie and several prominent personalities from across the social spectrum Wednesday urged people to stop using onions to protest against its 'artificial' price rise.

The common man is being made to pay a heavy price in the fight between two political parties with an eye on the upcoming elections, Shourie said.

"Onion is something we can do without," he said, "Scientific analyses reveal that it contains 90 per cent water. The vitamin content is very minimal."

Thus, he argued, of the Rs 60 paid for a kilo of the commodity, Rs 55 goes for water!

Regarding the rising prices of potatoes and tomatoes, Shourie, the founder of the non-governmental organisation Common Cause, said: "If needed we can avoid these vegetables at least for two days a week."

He felt the government should be stricter in implementing the Essential Commodities Act.

Social activist Swami Agnivesh, former director of Central Bureau of Investigation Joginder Singh, actress Nafisa Ali, painter Jatin Das, renowned photographer Raghu Rai and journalist Madhu Trehan were with Shourie when he called for the boycott.

"Neither subsidised sale of onions nor imports are solutions to the crisis," Shourie said, "Ultimately we have to pay for the subsidies and imports."

Swami Agnivesh felt it was wrong to attribute the crisis to bad weather. "At first we exported onions and now it is being airlifted from other countries. It's very ironical," he said, "The government should put items on the open general licence list only after careful consideration."

Trehan said several hotel chains and corporate bodies like the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Confederation of Indian Industries and some schools have extended support to the boycott.

The Park hotel will not use the vegetable for two days, while the Escorts Heart Institute would serve onion-free food to its patients till prices come down, Trehan said.

The schools that have joined the strike are the public schools at Vasant Vihar and R K Puram, the Shri Ram school, Mount Carmel school and Vasant Valley school.

CII representative Subha Ranjan suggested improvement in warehousing facilities to prevent crop damage. "By shunning onions, we may revive some rich ancient Indian recipes," she said.

Onion-free recipes were distributed among those present.

UNI

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