India’s onion farmers cry foul at politicians’ price ployFarmers dread elections when politicians implement policies to cut the price of the daily essential, appeasing consumers while leaving them in the lurchBy Bhuvan Bagga / AFP, NASHIK, IndiaAlmost every Indian meal requires an onion — one of the cooking essentials along with sugar and lentils that sweet-talking politicians use to curry favor with voters by lowering costs. The defeat was widely blamed on voters’ anger at high onion prices. Days before voting began in the onion belt of Nashik, Modi’s government lifted the export ban, but analysts called that a political ploy. Gulati said restrictions remained — including a minimum export price and 40 percent duty — and made exports unviable, leaving farmers teary-eyed. “People at the top fear that if onion prices rise, governments will fall,” said Jagannath Bhimaji Kute, 58, vice-president of a wholesale onion market in Nashik.
