Almost every year onion makes headlines in Bangladesh for outrageous increases in its price. This year is no exception. The prices of onion have recently increased by Tk 100 or more per kilogram overnight as traders began stockpiling following a piece of news that India has banned the exports of the vegetable till March next year. Since the rising prices of everyday essentials have already been making it harder for people to make ends meet, the nearly twofold hike shocked consumers. In kitchen markets, a kg of onion is now sold for more than Tk 200, which was only Tk 110-120 just a few days ago. As the manager of a students' mess, I know how hard it is for us nowadays to have three proper meals each day amid unabated price hike of daily commodities including onions.
Sometimes, it seems, it is better not to use onions for cooking our meals. But the reality is that the way we have been habituated to onions, it is quite difficult for us to quit the bulb as our essential cooking ingredient. In such a situation, it is never possible to guess a whole month's expenditure in a students' mess. The students who live in university dormitories or messes are now passing a terrible time. Though they now have to spend more, their income has not increased. Earlier, a varsity student's income of Tk 4,000 from tutoring would be enough for a month. But now, they cannot manage one month even after earning Tk 10,000. To cool off onion prices, the authorities concerned, in my view, should take action against unscrupulous businessmen, hoarders and syndicates. Finding out the alternative import process and making people aware of upcoming crises is also important.
Sheikh Saymon Parves Himel,
Student of Pharmacy Department,
Mawlana Bhashani Science and
Technology University, Tangail,
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