Buy, buy again

The poverty of ideas in the Congress on tackling persistently high food inflation was amply demonstrated when a senior party leader and Union minister recently visited Lucknow. Artificial factors, he told reporters informally, have also played a role in pushing up food prices. The basis of his argument? “Recently, my driver was visiting his village and my wife asked him to bring 10 kg of onions when he returned. I told her if everyone started to buy five times their buying requirements, there is bound to be scarcity and an artificial price rise,” he quipped.