Rebutting criticism that the short-lived ban imposed by the government on onion exports was not a "panic" decision after it was rolled back within two weeks on Tuesday, food minister K V Thomas today said it was a "precautionary" step aimed at protecting domestic consumers. "Nothing panic, you should understand that there was a panic decision last December.



But this time, we took the decision much in advance in September," Thomas told reporters on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the International Organisation for Standardisation here.

Thomas was referring to last year's bad experience when onion prices had touched Rs 80-85 a kg in major retail markets across the country, following which the government had banned exports of the commodity and imported large quantities from neigbouring Pakistan.

However, in the case of the latest ban, the decision was reviewed after massive farmer protests in the major growing states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka and was lifted on the basis of farmers' assurance that there would be no shortage of the kitchen staple in domestic markets, he added.