The US secretary of state had on Tuesday blamed the global food crisis on improved diet in India, China
NEW DELHI: Condoleezza Rice may have got the idea from agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. But she got it on Wednesday from the comrades, who said the Americans were the biggest food consumers in the world, not Indians or the Chinese.
A few weeks after the Maratha leader said the food shortage was because, among other things, south Indians were eating more rotis and “the purchasing power of the poor had increased due to welfare measures such as the rural employment scheme”, the US secretary of state said on Tuesday the global food shortage was due to the improved diets of the people in India and China.
“Improvement in the diets of people in India and China” is forcing the governments in the two countries to keep food “inside”, which is a cause for the current global supply shortage, she said.
CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury and CPI Rajya Sabha member D Raja condemned the “imperial” remarks on Wednesday. While Yechury said they were “bad, indecent and cruel”, Raja said he wanted to raise the issue in parliament but could not due to technical reasons.
“The whole presumption is that the developing world is suddenly eating more and not suffering from malnutrition as was the case before,” Yechury said.
Terming Rice’s remarks “absurd”, Raja said, “Is there any decrease in the consumption of the Americans? Why speak of others, the Americans consume the most, consume whatever they get. What does Rice know about India? The Arjun Sengupta committee says 78-80% of Indians live on Rs20 per day!”
He also attacked the “Americans’ penchant for blaming India and China for everything. The US blames India and China for global warming also while they are culprit No.1 in carbon emissions”.
Yechury said, “The people making profit from this speculation (speculative trading) are mostly companies from the United States. They are the ones who are responsible for the rise in prices of food grain.” He said the UN had confirmed two days ago that the rise in food prices, besides being due to a decline in production in some parts of the world, was essentially due to speculative trading.
Asked if the CPI(M) felt the government should have reacted to Rice’s remarks, Yechury said, “I don’t think it merits a reaction. I think it should be dismissed outright.”
Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia also trashed the Rice take on food grains shortage, saying, “I don’t agree there is a global food crisis because of India and China. There is an increase in food production too in both the countries,” he said.
May 1, 2008- DNA
