The rise in vegetable prices is a man made farce.

The country has seen a sharp rise in the prices of

vegetables - the prices of basic vegetables like
onion, tomato and cabbage have grown by 3 to 5
folds in last a last few months. Some blame it on the
nature while others believe that all this rise in the
prices of vegetables is a farce and can be easily
controlled. Let us see what arguement each group of
people has -

Rains have caused the havoc

1. The late rain in states like Gujarat which is a
major supplier of Tomatoes to Maharashtra are to be
blamed for the rise in price of tomatoes. These late
rains in states like Gujarat have converted them from
being the suppliers of tomatoes to the importers of
tomatoes.

2. Some parts of the country have seen tremendous
rainfall this year. This has resulted in bad crop yield
of Onions. The production of a lot of other green
vegetables have also seen a downfall with excess
rains.

3. The wet weather has led to the increase in rotting
vegetables which are not good for human
consumption.

Human greed and mismanagement is to be blamed

1. The real problem in the agriculture is not with the production but with the storage and supply chain management
system. While we blame the nature of low production, we see huge quantities of vegetable rotting for lack of proper
storage.

2. Hoarders blame it on production but actually do not let the crop to come to the market for the greed of earning
more money.

3. The MNCs into the business of food processing like chips/ fries/ ketchups buy the onions, tomatoes and potatoes
in bulk and store causing a lack of supply in market.

4. With the shortage of vegetables inside the state and soaring prices, some states suspend the supply of crop
outside the state further pushing the rates to the roof.

5.The export of a vegetable should be put to fullstop as soon as a we foresee a crisis approaching us. However, our
alert system usually work a little too late and we end up exporting all the good produce even though we have a
shortage in our own market. Further to this, when we realise that there is a shortage we import them from other
countries further pushing the rates higher.

Conclusion

The effect of climatic conditions on yield can not be denied but India is a huge country with varied environmental
conditions in each state. If our alert system works well and if we streamline our production, storage and supply chain
management systems, we can easily control the prices of vegetables.

Food inflation high as vegetable prices
rise
NEW DELHI: Digging a bigger hole in the common man's pocket food inflation has shot through the
roof. It has jumped a huge 4 % to hit 18 % in just one week throwing household budgets out of gear.

Economists warn if food prices aren't controlled soon, prices of other essential commodities too will go up.

"It's an area of concern... but these are weekly... let's wait for the full monthly figure average," said Pranab
Mukherjee, Union Finance Minister.

Clearly, the Government is concerned and several meetings and action plans are being worked out. However,
those responsible for running the kitchen at their homes find relief nowhere in sight as the 4% spurt is
primarily because of vegetable prices spiralling out of reach.

Anand Sharma, Union Commerce Minister said, "The Government is deeply worried because our attempt was
and is to level the deficit and make the imported onion reach the country."

In the last one week, the prices of the humble tomato has gone up by 113%, cabbage by 127%, brinjal 95%,
onion at 83% and cauliflower 70%.

The three week old onion crisis is yet to abate.

Although there's no identifiable reason for the rising prices, the analysts suspect the role of profiteering
middlemen in bringing in the crisis.

"Gap between farmers and retail must be reduced... measures must be taken. I cannot tell you harsh or not
harsh measures but the measures must be like better marketing, less profit for middlemen, better
communication and transport," said Kaushik Basu, the Chief Economic Advisor.

But it's not just the vegetable prices that are giving the common man sleepless nights. Prices of other
commodities like milk, eggs, sugarcane and even raw cotton are rising sharply. And as the PM's chief
economic advisor warned food inflation could push up prices overall.

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series of articles will help aspirants prepare for their GD PI WAT by providing them valid contents,
probable topics and experts advice to help you succeed during admission process at various B schools.
This article is based on the GD Topics The rise in vegetable prices is a man made farce to help
you provide inputs for your group discussion rounds.
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Background
Steep rise in vegetable prices during last few months came as a surprise to the common man. It could
become a hot GD topic in forthcoming final selection round in B-schools. Equip yourself with key points to
get through this round
Prior to June 2013 things were not so bad as they turned out in later June 2013. Prices of Vegetables like
Onion, Tomato, Potato which are essential for daily food preparation soared by more than 70 percent.
Key Points
What could be the possible reasons for this steep hike in prices? What had suddenly happened to
otherwise balanced demand and supply position. Even the prices of perishable vegetables shot up. What
role did Himalayan Tsunami that took place in Uttarakhand play when the vegetables were grown in plain
areas?
Nature had a lesser role in comparison to the role played by the greed of the hoarders that has added to
the sky high vegetable prices.
The budget of a normal family that was already reeling under the inflationary pressure was further
disturbed due to this price rise.
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Arguments for the topic
Prices of any commodity cannot rise overnight unless there is some foul play. It was Onion price that
shot up by more than two to three times followed by tomato, potato, and even the green vegetables
which had the bandwagon effect with the rising prices of other vegetables.
How could the supplies of the already produced vegetables remain thin? Traders claimed that the farmers
were not sending in the supplies. Onions were left with one fourth of its usual supply. Besides the quality
of the available vegetables were also very poor. In fact it was not a demand-supply problem, as claimed
by traders and administrators. On the contrary it was sheer profiteering by the hoarders.
Official sources from Government are of the view that rising population is the reason which is not
acceptable since population has been rising every year and there is nothing unusual in 2013. There was
neither sudden rise in population nor in demand. Cartels of traders, hoarders in connivance with corrupt
government officials must have led to this rise.
Tendencies of making quick money riding on dipped supply resulted in hoarding of vegetables. It
becomes an opportunity for the traders and hoarders to earn more without any ethical thought. This fact
was proved in sudden raids on go-downs of these traders which unearthed huge stocks of vegetables.
The Government hand-wringing also adds more woes and this the fact due to which when prices settle,
they settle at much higher level.
If we go back to the 90s we find a glaring example of fall of a government due to sudden hike in onion
prices and number of newspapers in 2013 also reported and anticipated such repetition of history.


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Arguments against the topic
Not every problem is manmade. Nature also plays an important role. Himalayan Tsunami, heavy rains
contributed to reduction in supply of various vegetables since on a humanitarian ground the help and aid
in form of food, vegetables and other commodities to affected victims had to be provided.
Floods in different parts, heavy rains also are the causes for poor supply as transportation system gets
severely affected. Roads, railways are cut off and it takes time to restore the services.
No popular government would ever like to play politics on supply of vegetables at high prices and that
too when general elections are round the corner. Corrective measures like banning the exports and
increasing the import of commodities take some time to show the result.
Concluding remarks
Rise in vegetable prices can be attributed not only to profiteering, less supply due to various reasons but
also delay in taking corrective measures by the regulatory authority. It could become a learning lesson
for future.

GROUP DISCUSSION
The medium of teaching in schools should be English.
Hemant Sharma 12-29-2011 04:31 AM
English is the language of computers, conversation, and business and most importantly, the language, the world
speaks. The bottom line is that teaching English to kids is vital for their future and their growth and for that we need to
start now.

For-
- If it is not, the students will find it hard to move around and settle in other states and countries.
- It enhances the chances of success globally by adding value to ones personality.
- English being a universal language is spoken in every city and part of the world.
- It drives business across the world. It is a language of processing and understanding.
- It is a great asset when competing for business from other countries.
- Lack of fluency in English can be a huge hindrance in the future.
- Ability to Indians to communicate fluently in English is one of the major reasons of IT being such a successful
industry in India.

Against-

- Language is a direct connection to culture, making English the medium of education would deteriorate this culture.
- Learning in your mother tongue is the easiest way of understanding and expressing.
- Freedom of speech doesnt allow English to become the official teaching language in schools.
- Language should not be barrier in ones progress.
- Learning multiple languages not only maintains diversity but also forms a sense of respect for the language spoken.


There can be innumerable reasons for English to become the medium of teaching in schools. English being beneficial
increases ones chances of success as there are more opportunities. But importance of the mother tongue cant be
denied; rather conscious effort must be made to ensure that it is not marginalized.

Should English be the medium on instruction in all
schools in India

If it is not, students will find it hard to move around to other states. We will also lose out
when competing for business from other countries.

1. Expand the reach of education. Many rural kids would have their parents and relatives with no
knowledge of English. Forcing an English medium education can put them at a significant
disadvantage.
2. Improved learning outcomes during primary school. A few researchers have shown that having a
mother tongue education enable the kids to easily grasp the course content as they are used to the
vocabulary. Page on Rti
3. Protecting and preserving local languages.


Disadvantages of a mother tongue based education:
1. Painful shift in higher education: The students will have a painful shift at highschool or college
when they are required to learn engineering, medical or accounting concepts in English. Couple of
my roomates at college had Tamil based education and had to suffer a lot during the first two years at
college. Although they were very smart, they had to keep translating all the concepts from Tamil to
English.
2. Connecting with the rest of the world: Mother tongue based education promotes the mother
tongue at the cost of the bridge languages (in India it is Hindi and English) that would enable the
students to connect with the rest of the world. If the school doesn't expose them to English, they will
find it very hard in mastering the language (as their parents and surroundings don't).
3. Getting greater opportunities. In the highly fluid world we are in, people need to be conversant with
English. The Europeans and Japanese are at a disadvantage in this aspect.

Ideally, we should have a blend of English and mother tongue, where the parents teach the kids in mother
tongue and schools teach in English with some sort of a bridge facilitated by both of them.


















BLACK MONEY:Black money in tax heavens should be declared the national property.
Rajani Sharma 01-2-2012 04:40 AM
Black Money - another heated issues of the year. Black money is the money which is earned by people through
unjustified means and hoarded without paying income taxes.
Is it justified to let some greedy and immoral people to pick a chunk of hard earned money by the tax payers?

For
- Black money which was supposed to be taxed for the benefit of nation did not get taxed. Now when the Government
is realizing all the black money from the corrupt people then it should be declared it as the national property for the
benefit of nation.
- By making it a national property this money can be used for the development of nation.
- According to IMF reports Indian economy is valued at Rs 200 lakh crore. Once we get the black money back we will
be close to US economy.
- It will set an example in the society for the corrupt and they will hesitate to do it again.

Against
- Black money should be taxed as per the tax laws and should not be declared the national property.
- There are more chances of its misuse if it is declared the national property.
- Corrupt politicians will use it for their own benefit rather than using it for nations benefit.

Black money should be taxed first as per the tax laws and then make it the national property. This money should be
used for the development of nation. Strict rules should be made in order to deal with this situation so that nobody
dares to loot the national property.

This issue of unaccounted wealth going out of India and into various tax havens has become a matter of political and
national concern due to the media highlighting and pursuing the stashing away of black money by Indians abroad.
Due to the 2G spectrum scam and the Commonwealth Games scam, the wealth stashed abroad is being increasingly
linked to bribery and kickbacks. In the past two years, the outflow of investments from India has risen from $16.07
billion in 2008- 09 to $18 .1 billion in 2009-10. A significant portion of Indias black money is kept in banks in
Switzerland, which is also a major tax haven. Nearly $1 trillion out of $ 2.8 trillion of Swiss money is black money.

MEASURES TAKEN BY GOVERNMENT TO TACKLE BLACK
MONEY

A proposal for getting a study conducted to estimate the quantum of black
money both inside and outside the country has already been approved by
Union Finance Minister. The following Government institutes have been
approved in March, 2011 for conducting separate studies on black money:
a) National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP);
b) National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM); and
c) National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).


Government has formulated a five pronged strategy to tackle the menace
of black money which is as below:
(i) Joining the global crusade against black money,
(ii) Creating an appropriate legislative framework,
(iii) Setting up institutions for dealing with Illicit Funds,
(iv) Developing systems for implementation (new manpower policy); and
(v) Imparting skills to the manpower for effective action (constant training
for skill development).