A sudden rise in potato prices late last month in West Bengal, a traditionally surplus state, caused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to take over the agricultural marketing department and take two major decisions: control the open market price and ban supplies to other states. After being hit by the cyclonic storm Phailin, eastern India is now being threatened by a political storm of its own making.
Resentment is brewing in Odisha and Jharkhand over the West Bengal government’s decision to stop the movement of potatoes to neighbouring states.
On Saturday, local politicians across the board in Odisha’s border district of Balasore held up trucks carrying fish and onions to West Bengal in order to register their protest.
On Sunday, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren pointed out that West Bengal itself was ‘not self-sufficient; and received large quantities of vegetables from Jharkhand.
A sudden rise in potato prices late last month in West Bengal, a traditionally surplus state, caused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to take over the agricultural marketing department and take two major decisions: control the open market price and ban supplies to other states.
These are absolutely wrong moves and are bound to be counterproductive eventually.
Potatoes disappeared from markets immediately after prices were controlled and long queues formed at government shops selling the vegetable at the official price in small quantities.
And, in any case, India must always be a single market.
The smaller the market, the greater the volatility in produce prices. Ms Banerjee may deliver cheaper potatoes, but at a price --