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The Government has decided to delete ‘Onion’ from the list of essential commodities as the production and availability of ‘Onion’ during the last five years has, by and large, been satisfactory. This decision was taken by the Union Cabinet today. The price trend of onion also did not indicate any abnormality during the said period.
Consequent upon improvement of the availability of various agricultural products over a period of last five years, the Government has already taken a stand to do away with the controls such as licensing of dealers, limits on stock and restrictions on movement since such restrictions would only hamper the growth of agricultural sector and promotion of food processing industries. The Government also decided to facilitate free trade and movement of foodgrains, which would enable farmers to get best prices for their produce, achieve price stability and ensure availability of foodgrains in deficit areas. Onion is a perishable commodity and storage problems coupled with controls/ interventions have often led to distress sale by farmers in several States at very low prices, causing them economic hardship. This affects the area sown as well as production under the crop in subsequent years. Moreover, there is no Control Order issued for regulation of production, distribution, pricing etc. in respect of the item ‘Onion’ since the year 1999 though the same has been declared as an essential commodity under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
The removal of unnecessary restrictions and relaxation of controls on ‘onion’ will give the fair returns to growers, promote consumer interest and free trade.
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