The onion's sting

Onion-starved Indians can draw some solace in Forward Market Commission (FMC) Chairman B C Khatua’s predicament. When onion prices peaked, his wife cut onion purchases so sharply that the apex commodities market regulator got just one onion cut into four for salad every day. “My wife, who is a professor, used to buy 2 kg of onion earlier. But when prices shot up to Rs 70 a kg, she cut purchases to just 250 gm or so and economically served an onion cut into four for our meals!” Khatua said at a conference in Ahmedabad.