used to get unloaded by the roadside. A representative of APMC or the merchant would then come out to inspect the quality and quote the rate. The farmer had to plead to get it done quickly because during the months when onion used to arrive at the Chakan market, there were often unseasonal rains. If the heaps of onion lying on the roadside under the scorching sun got wet, the crop would rot. Third difficulty was fluctuating prices. These fluctuations used to benefit the traders who had the capacity to store and wait for the opportune moment to sell, but for the farmers it was a major uncertainty. Fourth difficulty concerned the export policy of the government. Indian onion was in great demand overseas, especially in the Middle-East. So when the export was allowed, the price would suddenly soar. That way farmer got more money. But for the local consumer that was bad because he had to pay higher price for his onion. The protests would start all across the cities and opposition parties would use that opportunity. That was true for crops other than onion as well. When the prices rose for almost everything from a toothpaste to car and a shirt to petrol consumers tolerated it without any murmur but they were very sensitive when it came to the food prices. Therefore all governments carefully guarded the food prices. If they rose, newspapers started shouting, protest marches galore. Readers mostly came from cities and citydwellers had much greater sway in the newspaper coverage. Once that criticism would start mounting, government would abruptly ban export and then the local prices would suddenly collapse. That would make the city-dwellers happy but the income of the farmers got corroded. In a way, farmers formed much greater part of the population but because they were not organized they did not have much nuisance value. On the other hand, city-dwellers were vocal and their unrest got far more 98
Q
Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage
