Growth, Inflation, and Food Sovereignty

The BBC tells me that the inflation rate in India just passed the growth rate (bbc.com). Pakistan is fairing far worse: the 5.8% growth rate is outpaced by the 19% inflation rate (economist.com). I do not pretend to understand all of the factors that fuel inflation growth, but monetary policy at a central bank usually has a strong influence. The central bank in India, though, has relatively tight policy--inflation seems to be driven by other factors including the meteoric growth of a few sectors of the Indian economy, global commodity prices, biofuels (bbc.com) and the like. When Americans (myself included) look at the growth rates for South Asian countries, they seem to be doing quite well on a relative scale, but looking at GDP alone hides the reality of a developing economy.

I recently heard a report from Andhra Pradesh (the central Indian state containing Hyderabad) that childhood malnutrition rates have actually increased there in the past five years from 55% to 60%. Yes, 60% of all children are clinically malnourished. This isn't just in Andhra, it is all over India. As the population dramatically increases and arable land is infinitely subdivided past the point of recognition, food sovereignty evaporates. India may be food secure in the sense that it produces more than it consumes, and more food is available than is required; however, most of the rural poor do not have food sovereignty. They no longer control the source of their food: crops are now a globally fungible commodity and those without purchasing power lose. Talking about controlling the means of production may sound a bit Marxist, and it is in a sense, but basic nutrition differs drastically from industrial production. Access to food is a fundamental human right that no successful society can deny for long. This right is being eroded across India and across the world, developed and developing.

The media has carried a number of stories about the "two Indias" lately. The successful and wealthy one that American protectionists fear alongside China, and the destitute one. Looking at India from the outside, the first is much easier to see, but the second is much more prevalent. In this, I see many similarities between America and India: we are all too eager to craft a national image of prosperity at the expense of forgetting those without decent food, education, or health care. If the minority of the country grows while majority languishes, and even slides backwards, India's success is more of a threat to itself than it is to the established world powers.

I am not trying to suggest that growth here is a bad thing--economic growth and rapid decoupling of material provision from material consumption, alongside population stabilization, is the only way that India will succeed. Ultimately, the only path that can sustain economic growth and avoid large-scale suffering and unrest must include equitable access to food, clean water, and other critical resources.

If you are not thinking about food, start. It matters--nothing happens in a vacuum.

Enough pontification for one night.

June 30: check out the NYTimes article on the effects of food hoarding, World Bank policies, and the globalization of food markets (or lack thereof): nytimes.com