“What is this ?? Onion prices are shooting from the roof !! Food Inflation is going crazy !! Is the Government Sleeping ??” Said Naveen Kumar, a 34 year old salaried individual to his friend Karan Gupta.
Karan Smiled, “Are you really worried about the inflation?” he asked Naveen.
“Of Course !! Who wont be ??” Said Naveen. “If I were the Prime Minister, I would take this up as the most important problem and taken appropriate steps to solve it.”
“Thats so very thoughtful of you” Said Karan, “But you know what ? You can even do something without being the prime minister so that the inflation could be eased out to some extent.”
“Oh really !! But that isn’t really my job, is it ?” Asked Naveen.
“This is the problem with us, Naveen. All that we can do is blame others for things going wrong. We never bother to ask ourselves, ‘Are we acting responsibly?’ For all the problems, we think that someone else is responsible, and someone else should do something about it. Why not we ?” Karan was angry this time.
“Calm down Karan. I didn’t mean to hurt you. But we cant really do anything dude. Can we?” Said Naveen.
“Well we certainly can. First thing we need to do is stop wastage of food. It is still not uncommon to see people wasting loads and loads of food in weddings and social events. On one hand we say that food prices are soaring and on the other we don’t mind throwing it away in social functions.
When I ask the guests why are they doing it, they say, “Doesn’t matter to me, I am not paying for it.”
When I ask the Host, why so much food is being wasted, he says, “It is the Guests, who are wasting food. I cant say anything to them. Anyways, the caterer is going to charge me for per plate. So I am not actually paying for the wastage.”
When I ask the Caterer about the wastage, he says, “We cant do anything if the guests waste food. All we can do is, add it to our cost and charge the host accordingly. We have to buy additional material to complement the waste.”
So in effect, what I can see is, all the caterers buy a much higher quantity than required anticipating wastage. Thus, the overall demand is unnecessarily being increased because we are not assuming our responsibility. This additional demand contributes to further increase in price rise which, in effect, will have an impact on everyone including ourselves.
Lets make a resolution that next time we visit a wedding or social function, we do not waste food at all (or waste it to the minimal at least). This is something we can do while being the guest (the role which we have more frequently than being a host).” Said Karan.
“That sounds like a really good observation and idea Karan. I will immediately start implementing it. Is there anything else we can do?” Naveen seemed convinced.
“Yes Certainly !! There is a lot we can do than just to blame. It is also very common to see people visiting malls, multiplexes etc and paying 4-5 times of the usual cost for the food items. A simple enough example would be a Samosa which costs around Rs. 5 generally would be sold at Rs. 20- Rs. 25 in the malls, multiplexes etc and people are seen happily paying for it. The economics for this works like this: Since the Mall and Multiplex guys know they can sell you at such exorbitant prices, they don’t mind paying high costs while buying the raw materials (e.g. vegetables etc). This increase in expectation by the vegetable vendors prevents them from selling those vegetables to retails buyers at lower prices.
In effect, we pay 400% higher cost in the malls, multiplexes , clubs etc and are still happy whereas we keep cribbing the pay double the cost when buying the vegetables from the neighbourhood vendor. Lets stop throwing money to the wrong hands and then see the difference. ” Said Karan.
“Do You mean to say that we should stop going out and eating out ?” Asked Naveen.
“Well , if we cant STOP it, we can definitely make every attempt to REDUCE it. That too in our own interest. If we don’t , the ultimate losers will be ourselves only.” Said Karan.
“Why doesn’t the Government start subsidising the food items?” Asked Naveen.
“They might do so. But whom will it impact finally. Ultimately it will be paid from the taxes collected from you and me. So this way or the other, it will be paid from our pockets only.” Said Karan.
“So what is the solution for all this?” Asked Naveen.
“Well, the solution might not be so simple. But as they say, ‘Lets not blame the darkness, Lets light a Candle Instead.’ Let us try our bit to minimise wastage and keep the demand in check. If everyone starts thinking and acting responsible, we can definitely solve this problem to a very great extent, if not completely.” Said Karan.
When are we starting to act responsibly ??
(All the characters in the above article are hypothetical. There resemblance to any person, living or dead, will be purely coincidental)
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dear saurabh ,
is it fair to relate with caterers only, wat abt the chain supply and complex system around us . that was really thoughtful discussion , but will it going to work , starting from me n u????
-Abhijit
Dear Abhijit,
The biggest journeys of the world start with a single step. The biggest problem is, we dont want to do anything except blaming others. Lets start from me and you and keep spreading the word. The change is brought by people. I am sure you would agree that food should not be wasted. If we can follow at least that, then it can make a big difference. You might be surprised to know that in weddings and social events, more than 40% of the food prepared gets wasted. And with the growing population, number of weddings and social events is also growing. You can imagine the quantum of food that is wasted. Won’t you agree that if this food isn’t wasted then it would be available to fulfill the demand of so many people and thereby might contribute to ease inflation ? Just a thought !! 🙂
– Prof. Bajaj
Good point sirjee. I promise to play my part responsibly.
Thank you so much Sir.
It feels great when someone like you joins in a noble initiative. Thanks again.
Please speak to Manmohan & Chidambaram once!!!!
And also provide some points to handle our Agriculture Minister too!!
If you do so, you will get 1 Kg. Onion free from me!! 🙂
Yes, surely we can do our bit and lets try it out.
An eye opener for many.. Thanks for the views.
Thanks for the comments bro.
Yes I am doing some research on making some good suggestions to Mr. Montek Singh so that inflation could be controlled. But I also believe in the fact that nothing would work unless we, the citizens start acting responsibly.
A simple enough example of fuel. The Government subsidises diesel so that farmers and transporters get it cheaper. But People also irresponsibly use it for SUVs which are very less fuel efficient. We also get subsidy on LPG, but the subsidised domestic cylinders are illegaly used by restaurants, caterers etc for commercial purpose. We see it but still turn a blind eye saying “What have I got to do with it ?”. But the reality is, ultimately it will pinch our pockets someday or the other. So we really need to put our foot down and start acting more responsibly.
Thanks again for your visit and feedback. Looking forward to more in future.
gr8 initiative Mr Saurabh, hope dis is read by as many indians as possible.
Thanks for the valuable Feedback Yogita ji.
You may also forward it to your contacts so that it reaches to as many Indians as possible 🙂
Thanks again for your visit and feedback. Looking forward to more in future.
Point noted sirji…
and will be taken care off,,
its tru…. as always … “on man can make the difference”
Thanks Pankaj Bhai !!
It really feels great when you get appreciation and support for a noble cause. Yes, we all can definitely make a difference.
Thanks again for your visit and feedback. Looking forward to more in future.
Demand is not due to Wastage (though it contributes to it but its contribution is less as very few marriage take place in Nov-Dec). The vary fact is Ministry has given export permission at Rs 19 in oct when domestic prices were 10-12 Rs. without creating buffer stock (onions requires 3-4 weeks to produce) and then blaming weather for non-availability. It is Sharad pawar who removed ban from export in month of OCT from onion and see what manipulation is done in the name of weather.
Dear Mr. Bhavesh,
Thanks for your valuable inputs. I do not undermine the contribution of faulty policies to increase inflation. However, my stress was more towards doing our bit as the responsible citizens of this country. That too, not as a social service, but because it will result in our own benefits.
What you are talking about is the supply side of food products, whereas I was commenting on the demand side of it. So basically both of us are right from our respective points of view. Its just realising if we can do something about it from our end.
Thanks again for your visit and feedback. Looking forward to more in future.
Regards
Prof. Bajaj
xcellent way to communicate very deep meaning behind it, keep it up saurabh ji
Thanks for your appreciation Mr. Manoj.
Looking forward to more visits and feedback from you in future.
Sir Ji… Namaskaar…. bahot badhiya…..
All Rounder…. wah kya kahne….
sath hi sath… Bhavesh ji ka comment or point b laajwaab h….
Thanks Giriraj Bhai !!
Yes I definitely agree that Mr. Bhavesh has given some valuable insights. Its because of all you readers that this blog is trying to get better and better every time.
Thanks again for your visit and feedback. Looking forward to more in future.
just add one more point…we need better governance ..which means educated must be willing to vote