Let's have a hearty laugh over Bush's gaffe

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"There are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That's bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population," said Bush. "And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food. And so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up."

In response, the Indian political leaders were up in arms, ready to verbally shred the US President to pieces.

"George Bush has never been known for his knowledge of economics. And he has just proved once again how comprehensively wrong he is," Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce, said.

"It is preposterous for anyone to say that global food crisis, including the crisis in America, is because Indians are eating more. It is needless to say what the Indians get to eat or what they (Americans) eat. This only shows how he has lost his senses," said West Bengal's leftist Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, adding that Bush's remark was nothing more than a "cruel joke."

Interestingly, none of the Indian political leaders, who were quick to fly off the handle, stopped to challenge Bush on how he got his figures.

Last year, a study by the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that India's middle class numbered only 50 million, out of a total 1.1 billion population.

India's National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has also estimated that there were 56 million people in households earning $4,400 to $21,800 a year, which it defines as middle class.

So where did Bush get his extra 300 million or so middle class Indians from-

Perhaps from the NCAER's 220 million "aspiring Indians," living in households earning between $2,000 and $4,400 a year, who can afford to buy a motorbike, a refrigerator and a television.

Together that makes a "consuming class" almost as large as the population of the United States.

Perhaps, Bush meant that. And, perhaps the Indian leaders kept quiet in this regard, because, like Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary and Indian Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Nuclear Issue, they must have felt that Bush's remark had a positive aspect to it as well. "It (the remark) is a recognition of the distance India has traveled as a result of its successful economic development," Saran said, adding that Bush had spoken about the growing prosperity of India when he talked about the country's middle class that was now bigger than the entire population of the US.

But one thing is true: Bush still forgot that these Indians consume far, far less food and fuel than middle-class Americans.

Data collected by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nation show that the consumption of cereals (wheat, rice, maize, corn and so on) is growing far more rapidly in the US than in India or China.

According to a global food market report put out by the FAO, the consumption of cereals by India is projected to have grown 2.17 percent from 193.1 million tonnes in 2006-07 to 197.3 million tonnes in 2007-08, while that in China has risen 1.8 percent from 382.2 million tonnes to 389.1 million tonnes.

In the same period the consumption of cereals in the US, the world's largest economy, has been projected to have grown 11.81 percent from 277.6 million tonnes to 310.4 million tonnes. However, a large part of this spike is learnt to have been caused by the country's new-found appetite for bio-fuel made from corn.

With crude oil prices rising to over $115 a barrel, the US is learnt to have utilized 30 million tonnes of corn to make bio-fuel. The FAO data show that the usage of corn in the US to make bio-fuel increased two-and-a-half times between 2000 and 2006.

FAO also noted that though India accounts for a sixth of the world population, the country is estimated to have consumed 9.37 percent of world cereals in 2007-08, almost the same as 9.36 percent in the previous year.

The share of the US, the FAO report said, has gone up from 13.46 percent in 2006-07 to 14.74 percent. China's share, it is worth noting, is projected to have come down from 18.53 percent to 18.48 percent.

Yes, one cannot deny that globally, food prices are spiraling. One cannot also deny that globally, food consumption is increasing, be it in India or in the US.

If one is to analyze Bush's remark critically, one may come to the conclusion that Bush was being condescending in his remark and is trying to fuel xenophobia by saying that the problem of rise in food prices is someone else's, distract the American public into believing that rise in prices of food (and oil) is because of the Indians. For who can deny that though India's oil consumption may have increased, the US continues to be the largest consumer of oil and head the list of nations that emit maximum amount of greenhouse gas (both on a national basis as well as on a per capita basis) which lead to climate change and global warming which in turn cause unnatural floods and droughts, leading to shortage in agricultural production.

One may also be tempted to subscribe to the communist view that Bush is trying to continue the myth of globalization, to make it look like globalization is bringing benefits to countries like India, when it is not.

But one must not forget that there is a hint of truth in Bush's remark. One cannot deny that inflation in India has shot up to a three and a half year high. And, one cannot just brush aside White House spokesman Scott Stanzel's explanation of Bush's remark: "The point I think that was to be made is that as you increase your standard of living, the food that you eat - it can venture more into meats that require more commodities to feed the livestock, which uses more of those commodities and it drives up the price."

True, Bush's remark has come at a most inopportune time. The problem of rise in food prices needs a global response. But Bush's remark may provoke some food-producing countries to put further restrictions on trading of agriculture items. From that point of view, the remark could have been avoidable.

However, let us not forget that Bush is famous for his gaffes and malapropisms and this remark may well go down in history as one of his 'Bushism.'

It is needless to mention that Bush is not generally famous for either being well-informed or a man who chooses his words carefully. Many Americans mock his intelligence. His gaffes are as frequent as his clumsiness.

In 2004, Bush was heard saying to an Iraqi national: "I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein."

And, who can forget the gaffe Bush pulled when he said to Army Gen. Ray Odierno, "And so, General, I want to thank you for your service. And I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq," during their meeting in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2008.

Let us not spill anyone's blood over the remark Bush made. With riots taking place in different regions of the world, including Somalia, due to increase in food prices and shortage of food, enough blood has been spilt already.

Let us be more forgiving to the US President who is set to leave the White House very soon. Let us stop pointing fingers at each other and receive Bush's remark with a pinch of salt and have a hearty laugh over it.

As for the Indian communist leaders whose favorite pastime is 'Bush bashing,' here is a word of advice: please emulate not only China's political ideology but also the nation's economic policy. For had not China hugged globalization the way it has, it would not have come close to being world's number one economy.