Dear Express Explained reader, There was discussion this week about how expensive lemons had become - it wasn't only that in some cities people were paying up to Rs 20 for a single medium-large-sized fruit, there was also no immediate recollection of such a spike in lemons in the way most of us can recall periodic increases in the prices of onions or tomatoes. Partha Sarathi Biswas did a deep dive - into not just the current rise in lemon prices, but also into how much lemon we grow and where, and the direction in which prices are possibly headed. As Sri Lanka continues to fight a crippling economic crisis that many in India did not seem to have seen coming, some analysts have pinned the blame for the sharp decline in the production of rice on the government's policy of banning, for a few months, the import of inorganic fertilisers and switching to "organic" farming instead. Harish Damodaran examined this thesis, and concluded that the crisis of Sri Lankan agriculture has more to do with macroeconomic issues than with a single policy decision regarding fertiliser imports. Harish also wrote a very interesting piece on the crisis of palm oil in Indonesia, which has led to domestic shortages and curbs on exports, and its impact on India. Do read. (A lot of the packaged namkeens and bhujiyas we consume are made in palm oil.) As the pump prices of petrol and diesel continue to rise relentlessly, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has suggested that the government cannot bring down taxes on fuel because it has to pay for oil bonds issued by the previous UPA government. Udit Misra explained how oil bonds work, and the extent to which they tie the government's hands when it comes to taxation of petroleum products. Some of you would have recently taken your third - booster - shot of the Covid-19 vaccine. (If you are eligible and if you haven't yet, do please find the time to do so soon!) Have you wondered why vaccine shots are most commonly administered in the upper arm rather than elsewhere in the body? Rupsa Chakraborty explained why - it's mainly got to do with muscles having a rich network of blood vessels that speed up the effectiveness of the vaccine optimally. irrelevant. Stay safe and stay aware. Keep reading The Indian Express Explained. Some of our content is now behind a paywall, so if you haven't subscribed to The Indian Express yet, this may be the perfect time to do so. Click here to subscribe. Sincerely, Monojit (monojit.majumdar@expressindia.com) If you received this newsletter as a forward, you can subscribe to it here | Do read our Explained articles here | 
