Will the Indian Belly Burst?

There has been a controversial question all over the world after the recent remark by the President of the United States of America about the Indian food habits. India, China and some other developing countries are eating more causing food crisis. This leads to the controversial issue: “Will the Indian belly burst?” Does it mean that India is eating more than its need? Is there no starvation in the countries that are facing this charge?

Food crisis in India

India is facing an acute food crisis as the prices of food commodities are fast increasing and the policies of different states are forcing decrease in production. Not only India but also most parts of developing world are reeling under severe stress of feeding its population. Inflation has touched the highest point in the recent Indian history.

Wheat has doubled in price, maize is nearly 50% higher than a year ago and rice is 20% more expensive. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has been warning that the global food reserves are at their lowest in 25 years and that price will remain high for years.

Why this food crisis

Three reasons are stated for this recent crisis.

1. Firstly the increased use of Bio-fuels, which means tones of cereals diverted to produce ethanol and millions of hectare of land diverted for this purpose of conversion of corn to fuel.
2. Secondly the increased consumption of meat, which needs millions of tones of feed based on cereals. Thus food commodities which could have fed humans are used for feeding cattle and poultry to produce meat.
3. Thirdly the impact of climate change has also affected the production very much. Severe droughts, floods and untimely rains have destroyed crops in huge quantities. Although the Government of India is using the same logic to explain the present price rise and reduced food stocks, in reality it is just opposite to it. The food production has not declined till now.

Price rise in India

Globalization has allowed the Multi National Corporations enter into the food market, and freezing the minimum support price of food commodities has forced the farmers to sell their products to these large corporations. As a result, the Essential Commodities Act was systemically weakened so that government control over food is lost.

The actual situation in the country is that there is enough food in the nation but millions are starving and the price rise has forced many more millions to cut on their food consumption. India is importing wheat from US which is almost double the price it gives to the farmers. All these are leading to an upward surge in future commodities market further leading to the price rise.

Consequently the green revolution has failed and the Indian farmers are migrating to cities and suburbs in search of jobs leaving their lands barren. Another sad fact is the increase in the number of suicide of these farmers.

India is actually starving

Though it is a fact that by so many revolutions India has improved its food position, it has not come out of its food scarcity. It has improved the position of the middle class people; but poverty in the country is still deplorable. In the United States, per capita consumption in the last four years has grown by a whopping 100 kilograms, while in India, it has remained static. Likewise, the milk consumption per person in the USA is 78 kilograms whereas it is just 36 kilograms in India.

The vote bank system in the country is pushing the poor further down into poverty making them more dejected and demanding. This crisis is still aggravated by the politicians having their eyes on the vote bank rather than on the suffering farmer. As a result people below the poverty line as well as those in the middle class are now in a position like the fish thrown from the frying pan into fire!

Instead of criticizing one another it is high time to revalue the outcome of globalization and the political set up in India and undertake positive steps to reach amicable solutions!