The government played with the public, mustard oil out of the poor plate

There is no shortage of propaganda, people are not able to buy mustard oil and newspapers have started writing India as a superpower

For four months, the people of India are forced to buy 100 liters of petrol and diesel. 90 rupees a liter is not cheap. According to this rate, in the month of September 2018, petrol in Mumbai had become 90 rupees a liter. Since then the general public is happily forced to pay for expensive oil. The government, which seeks historical in everything, does not promote that the prices of petrol and diesel have reached historical levels and are not coming back after reaching.

Our colleague Santosh has sent a list of the price of brands of mustard oil from some shops in Begusarai of Bihar.

Engine 1 liter                        - Rs 200

Section 1 liter                       - Rs 175

Air horse 1 liter                     - Rs 190 

Fortune Kachchi Ghani 1 liter  - Rs 180

Scooter 1 liter                       - Rs 180

The price of mustard oil is 180 to 200 rupees per kg. Which were 80 to 90 rupees a year ago. Why mustard oil became expensive, National Mission was announced in 2014-15 to increase the production of edible oils, what happened to it, why the production did not increase, is this increase related to lack of production or hoarding, Will look at the questions next. But first, we will see who is eating this expensive oil, who has money in his pocket, due to which its demand has increased and the price is increasing. To understand hoarding.

When lakhs of people were forced to migrate last year, were you told that after studying the circumstances and options, the decision to lock down was taken even when the corona did not spread at that speed. You don't know this answer, but do know that crores of people lost their jobs and their earnings were halved. The government never gives a report about how many people lost their jobs due to the first lockdown. In 2020, India's economy went into the abyss. For the first time, India's GDP went down from zero to minus. People's purchasing power is gone. Even after that, the situation hardly got better till then March and April came and you saw what happened. Once again the earning and purchasing power of the people was exhausted. If you have understood this, then I will move on.

If this picture is clear in your mind then you will not accept so easily that the standard of living of the people of India has increased. Congress MP Chhaya Verma, SP MP Vishambar Prasad Nishad, and Chaudhary Sukhram Singh Yadav asked questions about the reason for the increase in oil prices. When the government was asked the reason for the increase in the prices of edible oils in the monsoon session, Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti replies that the prices of edible oils, inter alia, increase due to imbalance in demand and supply. She further says that due to the improvement in the standard of living of the people, the demand for edible oils is increasing. The per capita consumption of edible oils has increased from 19.5 kg per annum in 2018-19 to 19.7 kg per annum in 2019-20.

Has the standard of living really improved in the year 2020-21? There is one more thing. The question has been asked why the prices have increased in 2020 and 2021 but the government is giving data for 2018 and 2019. In this answer, the government has given many reasons but is silent on hoarding. Is hoarding really over? Are you ready to believe that in 2020, 2021 the standard of living of people has improved so much that they are consuming 180 rupees per kg of mustard oil? That too for many months the demand is also increasing and the price is also increasing.

If the standard of living has improved, then who are the 80 crore people who are queuing to get free food grains and bags under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. This is the only official figure of India's poverty that the government does not tell by itself. Are these eighty-crore people who are unable to buy rice and wheat, buying mustard oil a lot.

The government does not have many important figures to understand the financial crisis of 2020-21. Even on 3 August 2021, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai replied in the Lok Sabha that the government has not conducted any study to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicides in the country. Shouldn't this study be done?

But from the news clippings, it is known what trouble people are going through. This news of August 21 is from Hindustan. The father of three 25-year-old daughters living in Kachiyat Muhal of Auraiya, UP, committed suicide due to financial constraints. The deceased used to work as a laborer to support the family. This news is also of August 21. A shopkeeper selling prasad committed suicide due to the non-opening of temples in Kidwai Nagar, Kanpur. Their financial condition was bad due to the closure of shops. According to the news of Dainik Bhaskar, on August 25, a 28-year-old girl committed suicide. The family was going through a financial crisis. On 30 August, Gwalior's tent businessman committed suicide due to a business halt in Corona. The shopkeeper and his wife, who run a milk shop in Erode, Kerala, committed suicide. It is also related to Corona. Three people of the same family committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh. Due to the closure of business for the last 18 months, we were unable to repay the loan. On 7 August, four members of a debt-ridden family committed suicide in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu. We got many such reports in which the whole family has committed suicide. The husband's wife has committed suicide. Corona and lockdown are among the reasons for suicide. The job is gone. Salary has reduced. The business has sunk. Unable to repay the loan. The moneylender and the bank are asking for money, are unable to give.

We return at the cost of mustard oil. Two of our colleagues, Santosh and Prabhat Kumar, talked to people in different areas to get an idea of ​​how people are eating vegetables, how often they are eating their substitutes.

Santosh has sent this report from Begusarai in Bihar. A year ago, mustard oil was getting 80-90 rupees per kg, but in the month of May itself, the price of one kg mustard oil had gone up to Rs 170-80. This August, it has reached 190-200 rupees. Oil of Rs 90 is available for Rs 180-190. There is 100 percent inflation. Santosh talked to Pawan Kumar, a grocery businessman located at Pramila Chowk, Begusarai. Pawan has told that people have stopped buying mustard oil. Earlier those who used to buy 5-liter cans are now buying 500 grams and 200 grams oil vials. Pawan said that when oil used to get 90 to 80 rupees a kg, then 300 to 400 liters of oil used to be sold from his shop in a month. Now we are able to sell only 100 liters in a month. The same thing was said by Prabhat Kumar, a shopkeeper from Begusarai. It is said that very few customers come to buy mustard oil. They also do not buy more than half a kilo and a kilo. In his shop also, the sale of mustard oil has reduced to 25 percent.

The experience of these two shopkeepers is telling that people have reduced the purchase of mustard oil from their place. That is, their standard of living has not improved and the demand is decreasing. Many women said that they are eating boiled as an alternative to oil. We had doubts on the matter of boiling, but can it not be the truth. If the point of boiling is not right, then would it not be right that people are not able to buy 180 rupees a kg of oil. Even if they are buying, then all their earnings are being spent.

Due to not reaching the kitchen time, Santosh had to request Geeta Devi to show her how to boil and cook. Geeta Devi has cooked vegetables by boiling them and has told that she has started eating in this way. Her husband Jai Jai Ram always earns a daily wage. 6000 income. Geeta says that the government is giving rice and wheat, but nothing else is cheap. Mustard oil has become so expensive that vegetable food is reduced and when eaten, it is boiled in water in this way. Eat boiled vegetables and rice. When mustard oil was being sold for Rs 80 a kg, he used to buy one to one and a half kg of oil in a month, but now he is able to buy only 10 rupees of oil every day.

If you look into the families of today's India through mustard oil, then you will know why the government is not talking about it. We and you don't know what changes its price has brought in the kitchen. Whether the wishes of the children are being fulfilled or not. People are satisfied with less or eating more.

 

Sakunti of Nayagaon of Begusarai is not the husband of Devi. Work in the fields. Work stopped due to rain. Boiling is eating and sometimes only half the stomach gets to eat. Similarly, the income of Pramila Devi's husband has decreased. Earnings have stopped for the last one month due to floods. Pramila had stopped making dal. He says that earlier he used to buy two and a half kilograms of mustard oil, but since the last 6 months, he has to work only in 1 kg, he also brings 100-200 grams. Pramila Devi also has five children. Imagine a family of seven who has been cooking vegetables in one kg of mustard oil for six months. Pramila said that she cooks the vegetable by boiling it in water. Oil is put only in name.

 

Mustard oil is Rs 180 per kg. Petrol is above Rs 100 a liter. LPG cylinder costs Rs 856. Pockets are getting empty from all sides. Political parties get votes on the question of inflation, but when they come to the government, they do not study the effect of inflation.

Kavita Devi's family lives on an income of 7-8 thousand. Inflation has pushed back their daily food habits. Kavita is also talking about eating boiled vegetables. Now if a vegetable is made, then it becomes a vegetable, it is understood a lot. Jaya Kumari's husband's salary was reduced in the lockdown. The price has not decreased. The family has now started eating potato crisps. The formation of meat and fish has remained negligible. Renu Devi's husband has 5 bighas of land. Farming is the only means of earning. The family who eats well is saying that they are eating for a lifetime. The budget of the house had already deteriorated, mustard has created panic. Earlier, where 5 liters of mustard oil was consumed in homes, now work has to be done in 2 liters only.

Now track the plans and government answers to increase the production of oil. It is true that there is an import of edible oil but the import of mustard oil is negligible. Ragini Jha and Rangini VR and Aditya KS of Down To Earth, in a lengthy report in February this year, said that 62 percent of the oil imported into India is palm oil. 21 percent is of soya oil and 16 percent is of sunflower oil. These three oils account for 97 percent. It is clear that the import of mustard oil is negligible and the increase in the price of mustard oil is not related to international reasons.

Now let's move on to the import game. The government itself says that oil worth 75000 crores is imported. Plans are underway to become self-reliant in the oil sector from 2014-15. If it were effective, then the committee formed in 2019 consisting of secretaries of several ministries would not suggest that self-reliance in this sector will be made only when imports are reduced. Import duty should be increased. The government increases the import duty. Import duty on refined palm oil was increased to 50 percent so that it comes less from outside and farmers get the price inside. When the prices started increasing this year, the industry started shouting that the import duty is high. So on June 29, the government reduced the import duty on palm oil. Couldn't it be related to hoarding? Is the question so unreasonable that after the rise in oil prices, when the import duty was reduced, who benefited from it? Industry or common people? But mustard oil is not included in the import-export game. Then why mustard oil is getting expensive.

It is not possible to give a lot of data and research, but after reversing the old news and the budget of the government, it was found that after the publication of the headline, its reality becomes something else. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal's statement has been published in the Economic Times of November 2019. The Ministry of Commerce has asked the Ministry of Agriculture to prepare a roadmap to make India self-reliant in the production of edible oils. In the meeting held with different ministries, it has been discussed how to make the import of edible oils zero.

In the Economic Times news in which Piyush Goyal's statement has been published, it has been told that in the National Mission which was going on since 2014, support of Rs 10,000 crore has been given so far. According to the announcement of 2019, to double the income of farmers during the next ten years, by 2030, to become self-sufficient in the production of edible oil. This is a big goal of the government. Two years later, in the same newspaper, there is news of January 2021, which states that the Ministry of Agriculture has demanded 19000 crores to support oil production in the upcoming budget. This amount was sought for five years. In August 2021, the cabinet decides that 11000 crores will be spent in the next five years under the National Mission on Edible Oil-Oil Palm. 2019 to 2021 has come, but now it is going. Is the same plan getting packaged again and again? The data given in the report of this mission shows that the government gives less money than it announces in the budget and spends less than what it gives. The website of the National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm shows a similar account as of 2017.

So this means that self-reliance is nothing more than a slogan. The production also did not increase much and money was also not special. This scheme is related to South and Northeast India only where the palm tree is cultivated. It is also related to the question of an environment which should be discussed separately. It is clear that this money is not going to support the farmers of oilseeds. Anyway, the public is upset with the price of mustard and the announcement is being made regarding palm oil. After mustard oil, soybean and groundnut oil are consumed the most in India. Their prices have also gone up horribly.

The public is crying foul due to the increase in the price of mustard oil. Due to negligible import or export, mustard oil prices seem to be less related to international prices. So why are the prices rising? What is the reason for hoarding? Remember, the limits of hoarding have been abolished in the new agriculture policy. Oilseeds and edible oils have been removed from the list of essential commodities. Godowns will also be given on lease. When BJP MP Khagen Murmu questioned what the government was doing for self-reliance in oil production, on August 10, 2021, Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar, in response, enumerated several schemes of the government, which are collectively called PM-ASHA.

Under this scheme, farmers were to be supported in prices so that farmers would get the right price and their income would be doubled. The government rarely publicizes this scheme. This also included supporting the farmers of edible oil. The government spends much more than the budget in the first year i.e. 2018-19. 1500 crores were budgeted but spend more than 4700 crores. But now this expenditure has come down to 300 crores. Obviously, those cultivating mustard will not be getting the support of prices. The Hindu newspaper reports that the government made very few purchases under PM-ASHA. Only 3 percent. When the scheme is launched, the headline gets printed that farmers will get the difference in the market price but the headline also disappears.

It is not easy to understand government data. There is a risk of confusion. Since 2014, plans to increase production and become self-reliant have been ineffective. Farmers are not getting the price. The consumer is being charged so much that there is nothing left in his pocket. People are not able to eat mustard oil, but some Hindu organizations and youth groups are working very hard to decide what Muslims should eat, what to wear and whose name to put on their cart. Hindi Pradesh has worked no less to reach this level. You can be proud of tolerance even after this intolerance for its sake.

The Hindi region has become a cursed state. He could hardly get out of it. In the same way as hoarding, you may never understand. If hoarding is not the reason, then can it be that there are some players who are filling their pockets with rising oil prices, that is the question. People are becoming poor because of petrol and mustard oil. Their savings are dwindling. The good news is that there is no shortage of propaganda. It is getting cheaper day by day. People are not able to buy mustard oil and newspapers have started writing India as a superpower.