Government taking steps to check onion prices: Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said in Lok Sabha that government has taken a host of measures including imports to deal with rising prices of onion. She said that re are several structural issues related to stor of onions and government is trying to addressed m. 

Minister was replying to debate on first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants. Prices of onions prices in many places have crossed Rs 100 per kg because of short.

Steps taken by government to check rising prices of onion include ban on exports, imposition of stock limit, import and transfer of onion from surplus to deficit area.

She also said that due to implementation of direct benefit transfer scheme, government has been able to save Rs 1.41 lakh crore in last five years.

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government plugged all loopholes through DBT and "all dalals and middlemen have been eliminated from system", she said.

Lok Sabha later passed first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants allowing government to spend an additional Rs 21,246.16 crore, including over Rs 8,820 crore in newly formed Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh in current fiscal ending March 2020.

total cash outgo will be about Rs 19,000 crore. government has sought Rs 8,820.62 crore as grants for Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh in lieu of erstwhile state's share of 14th Finance Commission Award.

Ar Rs 4,557 crore will be infused in IDBI Bank through recapitalisation bonds, while Rs 2,500 crore will go into recapitalisation of state-owned insurance companies.

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