December 20, 2007 (LPAC)-- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a stark warning about India's food security, and the potential effects of the "the clouds on the global financial market" and the U.S. economic slowdown, when speaking to the National Development Council meeting in New Delhi yesterday. Singh said India needs to enhance its stocks of food grains and consider creating buffer stocks for pulses and edible oils. "I will be failing in my duty if I do not draw your attention to the impending problem of food security. Global trends in food production and prices and our patterns of consumption are going to put increasing pressure on both the availability and prices of basic food items," Singh was quoted by The Hindu.

"The next decade is going to be one in which our food security will be under stress," he said, according to the news service, IANS. He said that the Eleventh Plan for the economy could achieve 10% growth, but warned about the dangers "... following the sub-prime lending crisis. There are worries that the growth of the U.S. and other leading economies may slow down and some may even go into recession." This will affect exports and capital flows, since India's external sector is now almost 40% of GDP. Therefore, "we cannot be fully immune to international developments," he said.

Subsidies for food and other basics are the big concern, as well as the power sector. Subsidies must go to the actually needy, he said. Regional disparity and the increasing rural-urban divide, coupled with poverty, could lead to lopsided development. The Eleventh Plan is to give 50% of the gross budgetary support (GBS) to the key sectors of agriculture, health and education. "We need to ensure that the quality of education provided in our rural areas, the health service in our rural areas and the infrastructure in rural areas are all of the same quality and standard as those available in the urban areas. This is absolutely essential if we have to mitigate impoverishment and large-scale migration from rural areas," Singh said. More specifically on rural poverty, Singh said that the agriculture sector should expand by 4% in the next five years.