The President Commented that the reason for the food grain shortage is due to the lavish consumption of the people of the two countries, that is, China and India. Of course, as the majority of the world population is from both of these countries, the consumption will be more compared to other countries. While the Honorable Indian Premier Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Finance Minister P. Chidhambaram, as well as the veteran Foreign Affaires Minister Pranabkumar Mukherjee kept silence, the Hon. Defense Minister of India Mr. AK Antony reacted to the President's comment as “A Cruel Joke to the Humanity”. This is an interesting subject to discuss in deep.
I have already made a paragraph post in my blog "Trinity Creations" on 8th, May, 2008. Immediately I received a comment also. But I felt that it should be discussed little deeper through the flat form of The Triond.
The President's words are right. Several Nations on this good earth is struggling for food. In Somalia, people went to the streets and ransacked the shops for food materials. Police opened fire to quell the wrath of the poor people and many were died. This repeated in some other countries also.
The population of China is about 1.3 billion and that of India is 1.13 billion. Population of the world is 6.7 billion. (Ref: wikipedia.). That is, the total population of China and India constitute one/third of the world population. But they are not consuming a proportionate amount of foodstuff.
Being a communist country China is under tight control by the authorities. But in India there are no such controls. People enjoy their maximum freedom. They consume foodstuff or any other material according to their will. They constitute festivals and functions every now and then. As the population is gigantic, the overall consumption levels also becoming great. It is most important to the people of India to control their lavishness on felicitations to save themselves as well as the world.
But we should notice one thing that while the world is struggling for foodstuff and unpleasant in the price hike, India is not experiencing much havoc and the public distribution system is almost satisfactory.
But the USA and the oil producing countries cannot be mere spectators. They should not forget their roles. Conversion of cultivated land to plantations to produce bio-fuel is said to be the major cause of reduction in food-grain production. Mass scale production of cattle feed also diverts the availability of corn, wheat and other food grains. So merely blaming China and India for the present "world food crisis" is not cent percent reasonable.
The total amount of wasted food generated in the US because of large serving sizes in US restaurant and public eateries amount to almost 1.5 million tons a year!!
Of course President bush will not ask Americans to control their gluttony by eating proper portion sizes. It would be too much to ask of an ordinary American citizen that has no self-control or discipline.
Instead, as usual, the problem is always someone else's. Typical American attitude - make someone else responsible for their failings !!