indians eat too much food!! ??

last week i read george bush, the president of usa making a statement that the growing economies of India and China is making the people there eat more, hence causing food prices around the globe to go up. i was not at all surprised at the statement. only the stupid mr. bush can make such absurd statements. i am back in bangalore after a 9 month stay in dallas and was amazed that such an ironic statement was made by the president of a counrty that takes pride in splurging.
firstly, the people there tend to overeat. they then become obese and spend money on weight reducing regimens. ultimately most of them remain obese and eat more and more. more than what is required for survival or a decent healthy living. secondly, and more baffling was the fact that you have to buy large quantities of anything and everything you buy. the idea is to encourage the consumer to buy more of the same product. this is done by using "economies of scale". for eg. you get more milk for a comparatively lesser price. it seems to be a win-win situation where the producer sells more, makes more money and at the same time the comsumer get more at a lesser cost. but, the catch here is that food products are perishable, safety and hygenie standards expected are high. all of these products have a very small shelf-life and most people tend to dump the stale food. there is a big lobby behind not selling smaller quantities at resonable prices. the amounts of food that people wasted there made me very sad. the millions of starving people back home would immediately come to my mind.
contrast this with the scenario in most Indian middle-class households like mine. we buy in small quatities if the product has a very small shelf-life. (a liter of milk a day for a family of 3 for eg.) none of us are obese, nor are we sick and starved. we either eat edible leftovers or give them away to hungry road-side beggars. Indians tend to share food even in restaurants!!!! (this is save money mostly, ;-) but, it does save food as well) mr. bush's statement is not only baseless, it is also kiddish. you dont expect a big bully to complain!! ;-)
India could face an acute shortage of food in the coming few years. this is not because of higher consumption, but coz of the fancy, short-sighted plan called SEZ. most of these special economic zones are carved out from agricultural land. at this pace the backbone of the country might be broken sooner than expected. in a few decades from now, what will future generations of India eat?? software?? or something produced from these SEZ's?? its high time the babus and netas realize that land is a limited commodity and fertile agricultural land is precious. the SEZ's just solve existing problems temporarily and crop up bigger and larger problems. it is imperative for a counrty of a billion to be self-reliant on food. if we are to reach a situation where we need to export food, it may wreak havoc with our economy. :( like what fuel prices are doing to the growing economy now.
the solution to this is to use wastelands or barren land to build and promote SEZ's. care should also be taken to preserve the forest cover in the country. another reason for the popularity of SEZ's is that they provide tax-breaks. we should ensure that this is not misused by the large corporations.