TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s remarks on the rising prices of onions on Wednesday in Lok Sabha drew laughter from others in the house. The exchange came at a time when the finance minister was listing out the various measures adopted by the central government to stem rising onion prices in the country. Speaking in Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said, “I must say, from 2014, I have also been part of some of the group of ministers, which monitored the ups and downs in onion markets.
Sometimes when there was surplus of crop we have also facilitated by giving support to those people who want to export it. I have overnight past orders for helping with 5-7 per cent assistance for exporting. ”Attributing shortage to low production, the minister said there are severe structural problems related to onions.
“One is we don’t have scientifically advanced methods of storing… So that is one of the things, so we need to have greater scientific storage facility for onions we have started working on it… then also to give better storage capacities within that region particularly around Lasalgaon,” she said.
