Price rise? Don't eat onions, apex court tells petitioner

New

, Jan 10: Who should check the galloping

prices? Clearly, it is not the apex court's job. The

on Friday declined to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the government to regulate the prices of Onions and other vegetables.

Stop eating onions, prices will come down, said the apex court bench headed by Justice B.S. Chauhan. The court told the PIL petitioner that it should not be burdened with such public interest suits.

In August last year, in response to a plea filed by a social worker, the Delhi High Court had directed the Centre and the Delhi government to take steps to control onion prices so that common people do not suffer.

Rising onion prices was one of the most discussed issues in 2013. In October, the prices had touched a record Rs 100 per kilo.India is the world's second-largest onion grower after China, and usually exports onions to other countries.

The prices of this much-essential vegetable had quadrupled in mid-2013, partly because of heavy, unseasonal rains in onion-growing regions and hoarding by traders.

However, this year things will be lot better. Thanks to the price rise in 2013 and the prolonged monsoon season, many farmers have moved to onion cultivation now. In Gujarat, onion sowing has increased 417 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Oneindia News