Bush blames India for rise in food prices, receives flak

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According to Ashok Gulati, the Asia director of the International Food Policy Research Institute, "Factors like the drought in Australia, diversion of corn to biofuel by the US and speculative investments in futures market globally have caused prices to flare."

Agrees India's Defence Minister A.K. Antony. "We cannot deny the fact the food prices are soaring and it is a fact that the world food prices are rising. But we should look into the matter and find out what is the real reason. Many countries including America are responsible for this trend and they have converted millions of hectares of agricultural land for biofuel production. And instead of correcting their mistake, they are blaming India. The need of the hour is to correct the situation, else we would be faced with food crisis and people will die of starvation," he said.

"The President of America and other leaders of that country should think before they advise other countries. If they look within, they would realize that the per capita consumption per person in their own country is almost 10 percent more than that of the Indians," Congress party spokesman, Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

"India is a not a net food importer. It is a food exporter. The assumption that local prices are increasing because of a changed India is completely erroneous," Congress leader Manish Tewari said.

"The crisis is actually because of diversion of arable land in the developed world for ethanol production and because of changes in the climate pattern," he said.

And, if the food consumption in India has increased, it has also been matched by increase in production, Tewari said, adding that efforts were also being made to enhance the rate of growth of agricultural production to four percent in the next four years.

"Whether it is the global food crisis or energy crisis or climate change, in all these issues there is a global dimension. These issues cannot be resolved by blaming each other," Shyam Saran, Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Nuclear issue, said.

"We have to learn to work together even on the issue of dealing with the food crisis," the former Foreign Secretary said.

However, Saran said Bush's statement had a positive aspect to it as well. "It is a recognition of the distance India has traveled as a result of its successful economic development," Saran said.

He said 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.

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