ongress had to sideline Sharad Pawar this week to deal with food inflation that soared to 18.32%, widening the cracks in the UPA coalition further. The Ministries of External Affairs, Finance, Commerce and Industry tackled various aspects of price rise, a primary responsibility of Pawar's Ministry of Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs.
A sulking Pawar left for Mumbai on Friday as it became clear that he played little part in the fire-fighting and no meetings were scheduled over the weekend.
The Congress had long been suspicious of Pawar's interventions ahead of and during the food price crisis. This comes along with a sense of unease about his political motives in overlooking his responsibilities as minister, especially about anticipating food supply and prices.
The latest episode started in December 2010 when onion prices saw a steep increase from Rs 35 a kg to Rs 65 a kg in just a few days.
According to the Finance Minister on Thursday "three-fourths of food inflation is explained by inflation in vegetables". The current rate of food inflation was recorded for the week ending 25 December and to which onion price rise was a major contributory factor.
| { The Congress had long been suspicious of Pawar's interventions ahead of and during the food price crisis. |
Even while the cause for the onion shortage is being pinned on unseasonal rains, experts in government felt that the damage to the crop could not have affected production beyond 20%.
It was also suspected that hoarding and speculation could be the cause for price escalation, to counter which and increase availability the government banned the export of onions till 15 January.
However, on 21 December, commenting on the crisis, Pawar said, "Onion prices will remain high for the next three weeks and the situation is likely to improve only after two-three weeks." This statement was criticised as being counter-productive and since then Pawar has stayed away from commenting about price rise. NCP's D.P. Tripathi argues, "The Cabinet works under the rule of collective responsibility and there is no point in blaming one minister for this crisis." But even with Pawar to blame, it might not be easy for the Congress to answer why it had been slow in countering the price crisis which had been brewing for about a year.
Even on the issue of onion imports from Pakistan, the Ministry of External Affairs swung into action only after the food inflation figures headlined on Thursday this week. The action against hoarders, similarly, was taken on Friday after the extent of the crisis became public.
Food prices had remained beyond the reach of the common man through last year. For the week ending 16 January 2010, food inflation had been 17.40% due to high prices of vegetables and pulses. Even high farm output had failed to correct the grim situation as thousands of tonnes of food grains were lost due to inadequate warehousing facilities. This year, with the rate of inflation worsening, the government might be forced to resort to short-term remedies to bring immediate relief than more sustainable solutions
