Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi: Blaming the diversion of foodgrain for producing fuel and high crude oil prices for rising inflation in India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday hoped a normal monsoon would salvage the situation.
"The world economy has not done enough to address the challenge of price rise," the Prime Minister said.
"The diversion of land from food crops to bio fuels, and the increasing use of available foodgrain and vegetable oil for the production of bio fuels, have contributed to the rise in food prices," he said.
His remarks were an obvious reference to reports that even though the global production of maize went up by 40 million tonnes last year, close to 30 million tonnes was used to produce ethanol, making the commodity sharply costlier.
"Normal monsoon should play its own helpful role," he said.
The prime minister's remarks came against the backdrop of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's remark on Monday that an improvement in the diets of Indian and Chinese people was the main reason for sky rocketing prices of grain worldwide.
In India, policy makers in the government and at the central bank are concerned over spiralling prices that has pushed India's annual rate of inflation to a 40-month high at 7.33 per cent for the week ended on April 12.
The Prime Minister said inflation management was an immediate challenge.