Its leadership had no choice but to curtail exports in order to avert a potential socio-economic and humanitarian catastrophe at home after unforeseen climatic conditions ravaged its rice crops earlier this year.
India’s decision last month to temporarily restrict the export of non-basmati rice is intended to manage domestic prices and secure reliable supply for its people at home, but the Mainstream Media (MSM) is exploiting this reasonable policy to fearmonger about a global food crisis so as to discredit that country. The BBC explained “Why India’s rice ban could trigger a global food crisis”, while CNBC declared that “India’s rice export ban to hurt millions globally. These countries will be the worst hit”.
While there’s no denying that this move will have an adverse effect on the market, which India dominates by far due to supplying 40% of this commodity, it was forced to do this lest the world’s most populous country risks being unable to feed its 1.4 billion people. CNN reported at the time that “late but heavy monsoon rains caused significant damage to crops”, thus leaving its leadership no choice but to curtail exports in order to avert a potential socio-economic and humanitarian catastrophe at home.
The liberal–globalist MSM is politicizing this as part of their faction’s campaign to smear Prime Minister Modi as revenge for their pragmatic rivals’ success in finally wresting control of the West’s policy towards India after a long behind-the-scenes struggle over this since the start of Russia’s special operation. For ideological reasons, they can’t accept that India’s blend of nationalism and internationalism isn’t against the West’s interests. Instead, they remain crazed about carrying out regime change there next year.
The world’s largest democracy will go to the polls sometime in spring, and the liberal-globalists want to manipulate enough of its people’s perceptions about the ruling BJP to ensure that they vote it out of power. To that end, the MSM is closely colluding with the newly assembled Indian National Congress-led “INDIA” opposition to push the Soros– and Obama-influenced information warfare narratives misportraying Prime Minister Modi as a bigoted dictator who’s now overseeing a genocide in Manipur.
The latest spin on his government’s decision to temporarily restrict some rice exports adds another malicious label to the preceding description by implying that the Indian leader might be responsible for a global food across the developing world. This is intended to suggest comparisons with what they’ve falsely claimed about President Putin regarding his decision not to extend the grain deal last month, with the reader’s impression being that those two leaders might be conspiring to starve the Global South.
Russia is an increasingly significant force in Africa while India has described itself since the start of the year as the Voice of the Global South so the MSM’s associated defamation of their countries is also partially meant to undercut the image of those two whose recent strides there make the West nervous. India shouldn’t be condemned for putting its people first due to unforeseen climatic conditions ravaging its crops since any patriotic leadership would have done the same despite the adverse effect on others.
(The article was published on Korybko.substack.com on August 2, 2023 and has been reproduced here.)
