Washington, May 10 (IANS) The US
has asked Indians not to look at its leaders' comments about the growing
prosperity of their middle class contributing to the rise in global food
prices in a negative fashion.
Commenting on angry public reaction to a statement by US Secretary of
State Condoleeza Rice, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said
Friday "I think the statement just gets to the basic fact that the world
and the international system is changing."
"Certainly, nobody in the US is trying to single out a government or
nobody in the United States is expressing the sentiment that it is not a
good thing that there is greater calorie intake among more people around
the world than ever before," he said. "That is a positive thing."
"And the fact that you have greater economic prosperity around the
world, whether it's in India or China or elsewhere around the world, and
as a result, there are different standards of living, a positive sense,
that is good for the international system.
"That really speaks to some of the goals that were expressed at the
inception of the current international financial, economic, and
political system when you look back to the immediate post-war period in
'46, '47, '48. It's a positive thing.
"So again, I'm not sure what prism people are viewing the remarks
through, but I would encourage them to not look at them in a way that is
intended to single out, in a negative fashion, the people of India or
anybody else around the world," McCormack said.
A remark by Rice citing apparent improvement in the diets of people in
China and India and resultant export caps among the reasons for the
skyrocketing prices of grain worldwide, had evoked an angry reaction in
India.
The Indian reaction turned into a furore when President George Bush too
joined his top diplomat in suggesting that the growing prosperity of
India's large middle class is contributing to rising food prices around
the world.
"... the more prosperous the world is, the more opportunity there is,"
he said describing it as a "good thing", but "It also, however,
increases demand."
"So, for example, just as an interesting thought for you, 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.
"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," said Bush joining Rice in suggesting India's role in the world food
crisis.
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