While hike in onion prices is leaving many teary-eyed, on Wednesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that she doesn't eat much of onion or garlic and hails from a family where these two vegetables are not much in use.
Her remarks about personal eating habits came while responding to interruptions by some opposition members at a time when she was speaking on the onion issue. "I don't eat much of onion-garlic. I come from such a family which doesn't have much to do with onion", she said.
After making a brief admission about not consuming much of onion, Sitharaman elaborated on government's policy for the benefit of onion farmers. Replying to the debate on the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants, which was later passed by the Lok Sabha, she said the government has taken several steps to check rising prices of onion include ban on exports, imposition of stock limit, import and transfer of onion from surplus to deficit area.
"From 2014, I have been part of some group of ministers which monitors the up's and down in onion market. Sometimes when there is a surplus of the crop, we have also facilitated by giving support to those people who want to import. I have overnight passed orders for helping with 5 to 7 per cent assistance for exporting", she said.
