Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said the Centre’s move to ban export of onions will benefit other countries and urged the Union government to reconsider the decision.
Mr. Pawar, a former Union agriculture minister, met Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal in New Delhi and apprised him of the plight of onion growers. “I pointed out to him that these onion growers are mainly small land holders and jirait farmers,” Mr. Pawar said.
The Centre’s decision is expected to trigger political backlash with the Congress already announcing a State-wide agitation.
“The Central government has abruptly announced a ban on onion exports. This has led to strong reactions from the onion growing belt in Maharashtra and therefore the representatives of various political parties contacted and requested me to convey their demands to Central government,” said Mr. Pawar.
“I also brought to his notice that onions are in good demand internationally and we have been exporting onions consistently. But a sudden decision to this effect by the central government is a major blow to India's image as a reliable exporter of onions in the international market. I also emphasised on the fact that Pakistan and other onion exporters will benefit immensely from this situation. In view of all this, I urged him to reconsider the ban on onion exports,” added the Rajya Sabha MP.
Mr. Pawar said that according to Mr. Goyal, the ban on onion exports was proposed by the Union Ministry of Consumer Protection on the basis of rising onion prices. “He ensured me that he would reconsider the ban in consultation with the Union Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Consumer Protection,” Mr. Pawar added.
Proposing the agitation on Wednesday, the State Revenue Minister and Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Balasaheb Thorat said, “Prime Minister Modi talks about making farmers self-reliant. How can anyone be self-reliant through such self-destructive decisions? Onion farmers were getting better price for their produce and this abrupt decision will break their back. We will hold State-wide protests against this decision.”
