Old habits die hard. So is the case with the US conduct that smacks of its neo-colonial mindset towards the former colonial countries and nations of the third world . Last week US President George Bush joined his State Secretary Condoleezza Rice in attributing the recent spurt in food prices and the spiraling global food crisis to India’s growing food consumption. US president George Bush on Friday said increasing demand for food grain worldwide arising from greater prosperity in the developing world enabled the US to sell products into big countries .
Several US law-makers and economists have referred in the same manner to the increasing food consumption in India and China, implying that the two countries should eat less in order to mitigate the international food crisis. Prosperity in countries such as India was “good” but it triggered increased demand for ‘better nutrition’ which in turn led to higher food prices, President Bush said The remark came close on the heels of Ms Rice’s suggestion that the ‘apparent improvement ‘ in the diets of people in India and China and consequent food export caps were among the cause of the global food crisis.
Though some experts have tried to construe Bush’s comments as complimentary, Indian political leaders across party line have condemned US leadership for its obnoxious remark . President Bush’s remarks have triggered angry reaction in the entire Indian nation . Leaders from all major political parties, including the ruling Congress party and the main opposition party –BJP, considered to be close to US establishment, not to speak of the Left, have gone hammer and tongue in criticizing US president’s indecent remark . All of them believe that Bush remarks are minimum tasteless. Members of Indian political elite asked whether President Bush thought that Indians did not have the right to eat better food. They wanted to know why should US talk about this when India was self-sufficient in food since mid-1970s and producing most of the food required for its people. What right US have to make this kind of remark when it is diverting agricultural produce like corn to make bio-fuel, that too at a time when millions of people die of starvation and malnutrition in countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America .
The Indian Minister of State for commerce, Jairam Ramesh described the remark as ‘totally wrong’, wondering who is advising President Bush on such sensitive issues. “It shows how wrong President Bush is in his understanding of economics – first he blamed India and China for spiraling oil prices and now he is blaming India for increased food prices. There should be limit to this kind of talk, ” said Ramesh.
India might have growing middle class of about 300 million people, which is equivalent to US population or equal to the size of European middle class . But this is only one side of the story . India has almost same number of people who live bellow the poverty line and can not afford two square meals a day . In the back drop of millions of Indians suffering from mal-nutrition, US remarks show the magnitude of their insensitivity to a serious issue like this . US remarks are like rubbing salt to injury and reflect US imperialist mindset and despise to the world’s have-nots .
India, a net exporter of food and self-sufficient in the area for several decades, can not be obviously blamed for global food crisis. Many economists here believe that it is US policy of subsidizing and promoting of bio-fuel that has exacerbated the global food crisis . Yet others feel that Delhi’s ban on export of some food items to check domestic inflation has triggered US anger against India on the vexed issue.
Due to their huge population, India and China may be consuming gigantic quantities of food . Even as US leadership hold India responsible for the growing global food crisis, the stark ground reality can shock you when you analyze the consumption patterns in India and US. The average per capita consumption of wheat, rice, and coarse grains like rye, barley etc by an American is five times more than that of India’s per capita consumption. While an Indian gets just 178 kg of grain in a year, a US citizen consumes a staggering 1046 kg . In per capita terms, US grain consumption is twice that of the European Union and thrice that of China. Grain consumption includes flour and by conversion to alcohol .US per capita grain consumption rose from 946 kg in 2003 to 1046 kg last year . In order to dispel any suspicion about the authenticity of the analysis, it must be mentioned that all these figures have been derived from US department of agriculture. In sharp contrast, India’s consumption during the above period remained static .
And it is not just grains .US per capita consumption of milk in fluid form is 78 kg per annum, compared to India’s 36 kg and China’s 11kg .While in US per capita vegetable oil consumption is 41 kg per year, an average Indian uses only 11 kg of such oil in a year. These are figures for liquid milk, not for cheese, butter, yogurt and milk powders which are consumed in huge quantities in the West, first of all United States.
A significant part of Indian population is vegetarian, and so this is all the food that they get, apart from vegetables and pulses. But the source of carbohydrates and fats is mainly derived from food grains and oils.1
As far as meat consumption is concerned, the United States leads the world in per capita consumption by a huge margin. Per capita US beef consumption per annum stands at 42.6 kg compared to a mere 1.6 kg in India and 5.9 kg in China. Same is the situation in poultry meat consumption. The per capita poultry meat consumption in US is 45.4 kg, while India’s per capita consumption is just 1.9 kg in a year. India’s pork consumption is simply not comparable in the back drop its huge consumption elsewhere in the world . The per capita pork consumption in Europe and US are 42.6 kg and 29.7 kg respectively.
The above figures provide some glimpses of food consumption patterns in US and Europe on one hand and India and China, the two most profound emerging economies, on the other hand. But the contrast is more evident when you compare it with food consumption patterns in black Africa. The food grain consumption in Africa in 2007 was meager 162 kg per year per person or about 445 grams per day. Who has not aware of the massive drought, starvation, and hunger deaths in host of African countries. All this happens when developed countries squander hundreds of billions in defense spending .
Perhaps, it is time for the world, first of all US, to think about its massive wasteful military spending that could better be channeled for socio-economic development and the change in lifestyles and consumption patterns, particularly in the West to tackle the global food crisis. Blaming India for acute global food crisis is just like transferring the problem from sick head to healthy head, as goes the Russian saying.
