Has UNCTAD gone crazy?

I was reading about the world summit on the global food crisis that is taking place in Rome with great interest when I was shocked to read this news report about the United Nations Conference on Trade And Development (UNCTAD) blaming India and China for the rising food prices.

UNCTAD’s Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi said at the summit, ”As rising demand for food resulting from economic growth in such countries as China and India has combined with droughts and high energy prices, the basic cost of food has climbed 54 per cent in the past 12 months.”

The folks at UNCTAD should either find a way to increase food production or they should blame the developed countries and not India and China . . .

Image: www.healthline.com

The President of the USA, George W. Bush said something similar recently, but one could dismiss it as a meaningless statement from a differently disabled duck of a President who is nearing the end of his political career. But such a statement coming from someone like the Secretary-General of UNCTAD is very surprising indeed. What surprises one even more is the fact that Supachai Panitchpakdi is from Thailand, a country that is similar to India and China in several ways, except land area.

What does the UNCTAD Secretary-General’s statement mean? It means that India and China are pushing up world food prices because of increased demand for food products in the two Asian giants. It means that the developed countries can get away with the utterly wasteful lifestyle of their citizens, but the two Asian countries must not aim to get rid of hunger in their countries. It means that the citizens of India and China should not buy adequate food but the developed countries can get away with burning large quantities of grains to keep prices under control while millions of people are starving in Africa. It means that India and China should not attempt to get rid of poverty and undernourishment in their countries but the developed world can get away with unfair trade practices that are robbing millions of Africans of what is rightfully theirs. In short, it means that India and China should perpetually keep their citizens in poverty to enable the citizens of the developed countries of the world get away with their wasteful lifestyles! To sum it up in three words, despicable double standards!

I do not know about China, but let me present a few facts about my beloved country:

# While the food and fuel consumption of the middle classes and above (about 300 million) has increased because of economic growth, there are hundreds of millions of people who still live in poverty in India. Their calorific intake is quite low and they use very little fuel - kerosene/LPG (in urban areas) and firewood/charcoal/bio-gas (in rural areas) for cooking, no fuel for heating - except for a few states that need heating only in winter, India is a hot tropical country that needs no heating, and very little fuel for their vehicles as they use public transport or bicycles or small mopeds for commuting. So even if one takes the average food and fuel consumption of Indians, it is way, way behind the developed countries. Actually, it would be closer to the poor countries of the world. So why the hell should UNCTAD blame India?

# India’s population has a large percentage of vegetarians. I do not have any figures for this, but I am sure that India would have the highest percentage of vegetarians among all the countries of the world, unlike China whose population is mostly non-vegetarian. So how the hell can UNCTAD blame India for rising food prices around the world?

# India is largely self-sufficient in food production and is even a net exporter of food. So how the hell can India be responsible for rising food prices around the world?

The developed countries are responsible for the rising prices of fuel and not India . . .

Image: www.classiccarrestorationparts.com

# India is the second largest two-wheeler market in the world, after China, but 99% of those two wheelers are ultra fuel efficient, low capacity (with an engine capacity of less than 200cc), low emissions motorcycles, scooters and mopeds. India’s emission norms are quite strict, just a notch below those of the E.U. and much, much better than those in China. Also, electric scooters are becoming very popular in India these days.

# India’s car ownership figure is 7 per 1000, compared to China’s 10 per 1000, Mexico’s 142 per 1000, South Korea’s 218 per 1000, Qatar’s 335 per 1000, Japan’s 441 per 1000, the USA’s 465 per 1000, Germany’s 546 per 1000, Canada’s 561 per 1000, Italy’s 590 per 1000, New Zealand’s 592 per 1000 and Luxembourg’s 647 per 1000. So who the hell is UNCTAD trying to fool?

# About 80% of the cars sold in India are eco-friendly, fuel-efficient, compact cars that meet the government norms for small cars - less than 4m in length with an engine capacity of less than 1200cc for petrol/gasoline engined cars and less than 1500cc for diesel engined cars. Though there is no weight limit for small cars, almost all compact cars weigh less than 1150kg. Compare this with the ugly, humungous, fuel-guzzling, fume-spewing cars, SUVs and pick-up trucks that litter the roads of North America. How the hell can UNCTAD blame India for rising fuel prices around the world when the fault lies with the developed countries?

# Thanks to the government’s policy of encouraging compact car production, India is all set to become the global hub for the design, development and manufacture of compact but spacious and comfortable, light but safe, ultra fuel efficient, ultra low emissions and affordable cars like the Tata Nano. One international car manufacturer who was churning out ugly, humungous, fuel-guzzling and fume-spewing SUVs and pick-up trucks has been forced to shut down four plants that manufacture such vehicles due to rising fuel prices. Tata Motors has aggressive plans to market the Nano in the E.U., African, Latin American and ASEAN markets, so now there is a mad scramble by international (and Indian) car manufacturers to develop their own cars that adhere to the ‘nano’car philosophy of affordable, fuel-efficient, eco-friendly, safe and comfortable personal transport. So why the hell should UNCTAD blame India? If anything, they should thank India for showing the way forward to the rest of the world!

I am also surprised by the United Nations’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s statement that countries should not put export bans in place. That is a ridiculous statement from the UN Secretary-General. What does Mr. Moon want food exporting countries to do? Let the rising food prices lead to food riots within their countries? In times of crises, Mr. Moon, it is every country for itself and its people! Afterall, democracy is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people of that country!

If UNCTAD still wants to blame India for the ills of the world that are caused by the utterly wasteful lifestyles of the citizens of the developed countries, then it is time for the world to throw out that organisation lock, stock and barrel and find more competent people to do the job!

Rice price rise may lead to rice riots!

Though the title mentions rice, this post is all about the rise in prices of staples (rice tops the list of staples) that has caused serious unrest in several parts of the world. Haiti’s government was thrown out and there were food riots in several parts of Africa and sporadic violence in other parts of the world. Even supermarkets in developed countries have begun rationing rice to their customers. Click on the link to read the post I wrote a few days ago about a looming disaster for many of our planetizens.

Paella is a very popular rice dish in Spain . . .

Image: Tony & Lisa Sierra(taken from about.com)

World leaders have woken up to this serious threat to the well-being of all Earthlings. The issue has become so serious that the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon has said that the U.N. and its affiliated organisations will set up a task force that will be headed by the Secretary-General himself. For more information, read this article on the site of Associated Press.

The U.N. has realised that rising food prices are a serious threat to growth and security and world peace itself. Development would be set back by seven years if this situation is not tackled immediately. Even a person like the World Bank President has warned that rising food prices would push 100 million into poverty and those who are already poor will suffer terribly. Read more about the threat to development goals in this article from Reuters.

The most heartening fact is that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development feels that farm aid and fair trade is the key to solving this extremely urgent problem. I am delighted that someone has finally managed to call a spade a spade! Read more in this article.

I am shocked by the double standards of the ill-informed guys in the so-called ‘mainstream’ media who think that farm aid and small loan waivers for small and marginal farmers are ‘election sops’ while waiving multi-million dollar loans for corporate entities that are facing a crisis due to the deliberate mismanagement by the top brass is an act of ‘offering incentives’ for growth. Despicable double standards!

I think the time has come for the whole world to unite and put an end to the notorious ‘free market capitalism’ that has led the world to the present situation. ‘Free trade’ that is neither free nor fair should be replaced by fair trade! ‘Free market capitalism’ must be replaced by an economic system that is harmony with the universal ethical principles of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity and Human Rights!

May all concepts that are opposed to those four principles perish! May such concepts be completely annihilated as humankind searches for ways to solve the present food crisis!

My previous article on the food crisis:

Here comes the horseman riding the black horse!

India: a country of rich richies and poor paupers!

The Indian media has been giving plenty of coverage to the recently released Forbes list of billionaires which has placed four Indians in the global top ten while India has 36 dollar billionaires. They have been describing it as a “coveted list”. I simply do not understand what is so coveted about a list that makes me uncomfortable, not because I hate or dislike billionaires but because I prefer to look at the reality.

A majority of people are barely able to eke out a living . . .

(A woman selling vegetables - photo from the International Labour Organisation)

. . . things are improving for a sizeable minority . . .

(Computer generated image of a planned apartment building)

. . . while a microscopic handful lead ostentatious lives right in their midst . . .

(Photo: Rolls - Royce Phantom from BS Motoring)

The fact remains that in a country of more than 1.1 billion people, only a very few have benefitted enormously by India’s growth over the past decade-and-a-half. While some of the benefits have trickled down to the upper middle class and fewer to the middle class, the fact remains that life in India is a struggle for the vast majority of people including the lower middle class. The plight of the poor is terrible and that of the destitute is simply mind-numbing.

A reality check

Here are a few facts that Indians and Indophiles should be seriously worried about:

• Take a look at this map from wikipedia. India is a low-income country. The fact is that despite the growing wealth of a tiny number of billionaires, India is still classified as an underdeveloped nation along with countries such as North Korea, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea and many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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• India’s rank in the human development index actually slipped by two places to 128th in the list. India is actually ranked below Equatorial Guinea at 127, Gabon at 119, Mongolia at 114, Indonesia at 107, the Palestinian authority at 116, El Salvador at 103, the South Asian countries of Maldives at 100 and Sri Lanka at 99, Paraguay at 95, Ecuador at 89, the People’s Republic of China(PRC) at 81, Venezuela at 74, Brazil at 70, Russia at 67, Libya at 56, Cuba at 51 and Barbados at 31. What is worse is India’s position is slipping while that of others is improving. India is nowhere near the first world countries or even the second world countries.
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• India is ranked 145th in the world in terms of life expectancy. This is below Tuvalu at 144, Peru at 136, Iran at 130, Nicaragua at 126, North Korea at 117, the Gaza Strip at 115, Colombia at 113, the PRC at 103, Suriname at 96, the West Bank at 94, Sri Lanka at 84, Dominica at 78, Paraguay at 73, Libya at 58 and Cuba at 56. The European Union is ranked at number 36.
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• India is not exactly a good place to be born in. The infant mortality rate is shockingly high in India. In the negative ranking infant mortality list, India is ranked at 53. This is below Nepal at 55, Bangladesh at 58, Laos at 59, North Korea at 62, Botswana at 63, Bhutan at 65, Western Sahara at 67, Maldives at 72, Guatemala at 79, Honduras at 84, Indonesia at 87, Brazil at 90, China at 93, Ecuador at 100, Vietnam at 103, Colombia at 106, the Palestinian Authority at 111, Russia at 115, Sri Lanka at 137, Guam at 143, Guadeloupe at 157, Cuba at 168. Switzerland is ranked at number 187.
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• India is not a great place for women either. The sex ratio is extremely skewed in India due to female foeticide and to a lesser extent female infanticide. Have a look at this map in which red represents danger for women. India values its women only as much as countries like China, Iran, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. Women in India are valued even less than their sisters in Pakistan and Bangladesh. I wonder if Indians should be proud of this. I am terribly ashamed of it, even though I am a male.
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• India lags behind even the rest of the developing world in terms of literacy rate. Only 61% of the population in India is literate. And more women lack literacy skills than men in India. India is ranked at 152, below Malawi at 151, Uganda at 149, Congo at 148, Cameroon at 146, Nigeria at 142, Madagascar at 139, Kenya and Cambodia at 136, Lesotho at 122, Iran at 120, Gabon at 118, Equatorial Guinea at 108, Zimbabwe at 98, Myanmar at 96, Sri Lanka at 93, China at 92, Philippines at 83, Mongolia at 62, Kryzystan at 55 and Tonga at 52. India is nowhere near the almost totally literate countries like Uzbekistan, the U.S., the U.K., Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, Guyana, Haiti, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Eritrea, Comoros, Australia, Austria and others at 15. The top 14 literate countries in the world are Georgia, Iceland, Cuba, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Belarus, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Russia, Ukraine and Moldova in that order. Except Iceland and Cuba, the rest were a part of the former USSR.
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• India lags behind much of the world in terms of the percentage of population with access to the internet. This should be a bit surprising since India is getting recognised for her IT prowess but it not surprising in the least to someone who is aware of the poverty problem in India. Take a look at this map for further details.
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• The poverty figures in India should shock anyone! 80.4% of India’s population lives below the international poverty line of two dollars a day! Why should we take the international poverty line? Simple! Since India’s billionaires are now measured by the international wealth list, India’s poor should also be measured by the international poverty line! Is that not fair? Why should we apply double standards while measuring the wealth of citizens within a country?
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So India is a land of 36 billionaires and 884,400,000 (884.4 million/88.44 crore) poor people! What kind of growth is that? Which coefficient can measure such disparity? Why do we fool ourselves into thinking that India is an “emerging superpower”? Reality bites and bites hard!

Fellow citizens and Indophiles, we need to be aware of facts and should not believe what the Indian mainstream media dishes out to us.

I do not have any ideology to promote and I do not believe in any kind of ideology either. This post is just a small attempt to measure the disparity in my beloved country.