Food is a fulcrum in Indian politics
Dec 7th 2019IN SOUTH ASIA the ruling classes ignore the quotidian at their peril. Just ask them about onions. This autumn the humble bulb has challenged titans.The trouble began when unseasonably heavy rains followed drought across the onion-growing belt of north and central India. That not only all but destroyed the crop; the wet caused more than a third of onions in storage to rot. The result is a severe shortage of onions across India, as a result of which prices more than tripled.Choose us for news analysis that respects your time and intelligenceSubscribe to The EconomistWe filter out the noise of the daily news cycle and analyse the trends that matterWe give you rigorous, deeply researched and fact-checked journalism. That’s why Americans named us their most trusted news source in 2017Available wherever you are—in print, digital and, uniquely, in audio, fully narrated by professional broadcastersThis website adheres to all nine of NewsGuard‘s standards of credibility and transparency.ORContinue reading this articleRegister with an email address