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| Eat chicken not rice: Kerala Food |
| However, the minister's statement also points to the larger issue of dwindling paddy cultivation in God's Own Country.
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| INDIA
, 11-December-2007
0:21:40 AM |
| Kerala Food Minister C Divakaran's statement urging people to eat eggs, chicken and drink milk instead of consuming rice has created a furore.
People have accused him of trying to do a Marie Antionnette, who asked her countrymen to eat cake if they didn't have bread.
However, the minister's statement also points to the larger issue of dwindling paddy cultivation in God's Own Country.
Youth Congress activists distributed eggs, milk and chicken to people in front of the state secretariat to lampoon the statement made by the Minister in the Left Democratic Front government.
Divakaran had reportedly said people should eat things like chicken, milk and eggs instead of rice. This, he said would reduce the rising prices of rice and would also be healthier.
Opposition parties said that he should check rice prices instead of making fun of people who can't afford his alternatives.
The Minister, of course, says he was misquoted. ''This controversy is quite unfortunate because my statement was misquoted by section of media people and they refused to go into the details. They have not published the full speech,'' said Divakaran.
But apart from the controversy, the Minister's statement has also brought into focus one of Kerala's biggest problems.
While consumption of rice has increased over the years, paddy production has gone down drastically.
In 1967, there were over 12 lakh hectares of paddy fields; today, it is less than 3 lakh hectares.
As a result, a kilogram of ordinary rice now costs 20 rupees in Kerala. So the Minister's solution of eating more expensive things makes no sense to people here.
''For poor it is difficult to buy even essential food item like rice and pulses, what to talk about chicken, eggs and milk. It is like making fun of poor people,'' said one of the Keralities.
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