A Potatoe - what a luxury!

A Potato – what a luxury!

Over the past two days we have enjoyed catching up with what has been happening in India since our last visit. We are always very keen to read the newspapers and talk to the locals to find out about the way they view the issues of the day and the battles they face in their everyday lives.

One of the biggest issues is the massive increase in food prices over the last 12 months. Headlines in yesterdays paper read “Soaring food prices threaten Indian stability” and suggests there could be political unrest as the cost of many basic foods is now so high, with a particularly horrific effect on the poorest people. Pulses have increased in price by 40% over the past year and the price of vegetables has shot up. Potatoes have increased in price by 136%. Catching up with one of our partner NGO’s we were told that he ordered one of this favourite potato dishes in a restaurant and it arrived but did not include any potatoes.

The situation has been magnified by the other major crisis which relates to water shortages. Mumbai in particular faces an acute water shortage, with supplies being reduced by 30% in the worst shortages in history. I am trying to refrain from making comments about the responsibility of Climate Change negotiations in Copenhagen at this point – oops, did that just slip out!

NGO’s in India are seeing 10 - 20% reduction in charitable giving from overseas. This is partly attributable to the current economic climate around the world, but there is also a great concern that trying to fundraise for India is becoming harder because of the perception that India is now a wealthy country. This is tragic when India still has 800 million people living on less than $2 per day and the gap between the haves and have nots seems to be getting wider.

PICTURES : The contrasts of India - a Rolls Royce showroom and a family of pavement dwellers.

Today we did take some time out to do some sightseeing, something we have not had time for in the past. Quite bizarrely the stories surrounding the terror attacks of November 2008 seem to be a point of national pride. Our driver was very keen to point out where the terrorists landed their boat, the obvious damage to some of the hotels they raided and other details of that day.

Sorry to hear you guys are struggling with the snow, we are having the opposite problem here with temperatures in the early 30’s.