To agree that Indians should keep their rice.

[orangeleavesinautumn]

Of course Indians should not be going hungry while the rest of the world eats the rice they have grown- that is madness.

They should keep and eat their own rice, and the rest of the world should eat something else - we have other cheap food in the UK, carrots, potatoes, bread, etc - we absolutely do not need to be eating Indian rice while Indians have nothing to eat.

I understand there is a problem where other populations rely on cheap rice imports, but we don't so I can't understand why anyone in the UK feels hard done by missing out on non premium rice

The real strength of the Indian space programme is it's value for money- their engineers achieve on the cheap what NASA engineers give up on because it is to expensive.

The space programmes around the world work together to defend the Earth by monitoring tens of thousands of NEO (Near Earth Objects), and planning a response for anything on a collision course. The Indian space programme contributes hugely to this, and therefore to your personal safety, as well as being an industry that brings in a profit to India.

Who are you to decide what India can and can't do in Space?

No, but I think you should sit on your hands @orangeleavesinautumn!!

metaphorically bangs head off wall

It is entirely up to them, obviously - if they choose to keep their rice that is their right. Have they done so? As far as I know they haven't banned any rice exports as yet, but they are well within their rights to do so if they judge that they need to.

However, India is the source of 40% of all rice imported to other countries, so it won't have so much of an impact if other countries, that export less rice anyway, also ban exports.

And yet curiously the nation was better nourished during the war (presumably when everyone got the minimum fair share) than before the war, when the poor could go starve themselves.

https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=history_theses

Did it ever occur to you that they might need the income from exporting their rice?!

I don't disagree - but if they don't sell rice, how are the Indian government going to fund their space program, their nuclear weapons program...?
Equally smacks of colonialism to dictate what they prioritise in running their country.

India are still exporting premium rice, that much of it's population can't afford anyway

They should definitely be making sure their own are fed first 🤷‍♀️

There are almost 2 million people of Indian heritage in England and Wales. Can they have some Indian rice please?

Yes it’s not so much us in these situations that will get hit hard

I don’t see how that’s entirely true, it isn’t stopping production, it isn’t stopping the sale of the product, it’s merely redirecting. For the most part it shouldn’t result in mass job loss across the sector.

Yes, rationed items were price controlled and some non rationed foods were subsidised.

There was a class element involved, but not the way you’d think. It was the foods eaten by working people that were price controlled/ subsidised. Some foods were rationed by price - so if you were used to buying cheaper cuts of meat, you got more meat.

As a few people have already said, vegetables weren’t on the ration, so you could use them to fill out the ration. The other things that could fill out the ration were British Restaurants, where you could buy meals without ration tickets, plus work and school canteens.

@ThinWomansBrain Equally smacks of colonialism to dictate what they prioritise in running their country.

Who is trying to dictate what they prioritise in running their country though? It was literally a decision made in India.

Who are you to decide what India can and can't do in Space?

I quite agree that India, as a country, should be allowed to make its own decision about its involvement in space. However, I struggle to understand why we are saying that India can’t make its own decision about exports?

Presumably the Indian government has made the decision that it is in their interests to export rice. We may not agree. But I could look at the decisions made by every government in the world and find decisions that I think are wrong or stupid. (And when Trump was the US president I could keep finding them for days!)

But I don’t think we have the right as a country to refuse to trade with another country and announce that we are “doing it for them”. We are not the parents here. We tried that - we fucked up about a quarter of the world by invading them.

Who are you to decide what India can and can't do in Space?

A working citizen of a country funding them? A member of the female half of the population whom they treat like shit, and set a model and practice for the treatment of women worldwide? Who are you to tell us what we should and shouldn’t eat here if it comes to that?

Theres a report on food security in the UK available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021-theme-2-uk-food-supply-sources#united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021-theme2-indicator-2-1-1

Apparently another due in 2024. Not much being said about the degradation of soils and possible climate impact yet I don’t think. I also vaguely remember some headline about the Tories over committing land use after Brexit. Vegetable and fruit growing could be expanded but won’t while allotments are being cut back in favour of golf courses. Thanks for making me look the report up though.

I go with food writer Michael Pollan.

Eat food your grandmother would recognise.
Not too much.
Mostly plants.

And don't waste food.

If everyone gets into these habits, there will be enough to feed the world.

But yes, India needs to feed itself first.

sorry, I have no idea what you are responding to, or what ay of you post means

I don’t see how that’s entirely true, it isn’t stopping production, it isn’t stopping the sale of the product, it’s merely redirecting. For the most part it shouldn’t result in mass job loss across the sector.

That's not the point, is it? If India doesn't export and earn foreign currency, then it can't buy things they need to enable other industries eg computers.

We don't STEAL their food they sell it to us. Then BUY food from us. No one forces them to sell the rice. It's called trading.

I think some people need to know that India, which is the world's sixth largest economy with a GDP of USD 2.7 trillion, is currently classified as a developing nation. India is expected to grow at over 7% in the current fiscal year ending in March 2023 - the fastest among major economies.

Modi is not internationally the most popular because he prioritises clean water, security of food and sanitation. Oh plus education 43% of Indian STEM students are female. The rural areas may take a while to catch up, but when they do, they will be ahead of the UK.

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/how-long-before-india-becomes-a-developed-country/articleshow/93589480.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

I don’t think advertising your inability to read a report on food security in this country is a particularly good look if you want to talk about its relation to another country’s food security.

Yes, my Mum told me about this. She lived on a farm so had plenty of milk, eggs and vegetables and some pork when a pig got slaughtered.

Is UK forcing Indians to sell their rice to them?

Food trading is murky and can become immoral when food security is at stake. https://www.ft.com/content/481f3646-6b0f-4512-a0f8-f4746fc4c7ab

The put the part she was responding to in bold at the beginning of her post.