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After Beijing, the heavyweight EU delegation led by José Manuel Barroso has been in New Delhi. Among others, Barroso is accompanied by EC Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and his good friend British Prime Minister Anthony Blair. Since July, the EU council is being presided over by UK. Council is supposed to be represented by the member-states’ foreign ministers but the Prime Minister has the privilege to represent his country if he wishes so. On this occasion, Mr. Blair has exercised the prerogative.
   The result of the EU’s ‘operation China’ sounds nothing impressive. As the media saw it, the aim of the summit was, so to say, only to reach a deal to unblock 88 millions of Chinese bras, pullovers and trousers and 7 other categories of garments held up at the European ports since July. Fifty percent of these products will be adjusted against quota for 2006. Nothing has been said about the rest.
   If one wants to quickly read the European mind these days on India, it is enough to closely follow Peter Mandelson’s remarks ever since he took over as EC Trade Commissioner in November 2004. On 14 January 2005, Commissioner Mandelson said : You look at India and you see the future. By 2030 India will probably have overtaken China as the world’s most populous country. It will be the world’s largest democracy and the world’s third or fourth largest economy [‘The Business Standard’, 15 January 2005, New Delhi].
   On the following day Mr. Mandelson said: ‘China is already transforming the economic map of Asia and the world. Yet China will not be alone in reshaping the global economic order. In India there is an economy with the potential to match it. In its likely impact on the global economy, India is the ‘coming China’.
   However, Mr Mandelson balanced his remarks by immediately adding that the new India sometimes seems like the world in a single country. It combines first-world capabilities in information technology, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology with third-world levels of poverty. Indians buy 2 million mobile phones a month, but 300 million Indians live on less than a dollar a day.
   According to CIA Fact Book, as of 2002, 25 percent of the Indian population survives under the poverty line.
   Although India has visibly emerged as a major economic powerhouse, there are yet miles to go. Raising per capita income of a population well over 1 billion from USD 3,100 (ppp : purchasing power parity) to anywhere near European average of USD 27,000 (for Norway it is USD 37,000), will be a colossus task. Even a ‘magic wand’ will need some good time for bridging the gap. It is a marathon ahead that India has to run through.
   As the 21st century sets in, a new outward looking Europe appears to have emerged that is keen to build up strategic partnership with some countries, including China and India. One can certainly question the EU’s bilateral approach as such. The EU’s immediate past Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy during his four-year tenure always sounded like the most avowed advocate of multilateralism. No wonder that the world has accordingly rewarded Mr. Lamy with the helmsmanship of the World Trade Organization (WTO). He took over as the Director General of WTO last week.
   While one listens to the European leaders there remains no doubt that Europe seeks to raise its game in India: intense presence, obvious visibility, greater importance. Hence the summit. The summit is scheduled to endorse an ambitious and result-oriented Action Plan as well as a political declaration to inform the world of ‘a new regime of EU-India partnership’. Before leaving Brussels, EU President Barroso stated : ‘The European Union and India know and show that they matter to each other more than ever before. With our ambitious Action Plan we will be able to jointly work against terrorism and build up a security dialogue. We will be able to meet common environmental challenges and strengthen our two-way trade and investment. Based on our joint values, on our shared commitment to freedom and democracy, we will forge an ever closer relationship and make the strategic partnership a huge success.’
   Unfortunately, nothing as such has been echoed by the Indian leaders. Maybe they have already learned from the Chinese the virtue of silence.
   The decision to launch an EU-India Strategic Partnership was taken in 2004. Recently the EC published an official communication titled ‘An EU-India Strategic Partnership’ officially acknowledging India as a strategic partner besides the US, China, Canada and Russia. The Action Plan slated for adoption at the 7 September summit gives an overview of the mutual initiatives in some broad areas, namely global politics, trade and economy.
   The remaing part of this article will appear on Sunday

The prolonged flood’ 04 and frequent floods in Bangladesh have opened the eye of the food experts, and planners to the necessity of adequate food reserve for supply in time of needs. There has been a prediction of fall in world grain stocks. Meanwhile, with the rise of oil prices worldwide and implication of WTO Bangladesh consumer market is constantly facing the challenge of price hikes. The government had to resort to arrange OMS of essentials including rice to contain market price. Despite producing some 30-40 mmt of cereals, Bangladesh imports 2.5 to 2.8 mmt tons of cereals (1.0 – 1.1 mmt rice and 1.5-1.7 mmt wheat) at the cost of some 4.09 mUS$. The cereal deficiency in the country appears to be artificial as we take more carbohydrates than our physiological needs. The irony of the fact is that, we sacrifice other essential food elements : protein, fat, vitamins and mineral in the process, often because of ignorance and historical rice based food habits.
   An average Bangladeshi eats three meals a day. Rice alone provides about 75 percent of calories, equivalent to some 13.6 ounces of rice per capita per day. Wheat provides about 10 percent and the remaining 15 percent of the calories are supplied by different food groups. Starchy roots and sugars together supply some 6 percent of the calories. The important protein foods – pulses, animal products and fish provide only 5 percent of the calories. Particular characteristics of the family diet vary with season, socio-economic status, geographic and ecological area. Review of consumption behavior and food availability of Bangladeshi people suggests not only a quantitative but also a qualitative deterioration. The protein/calorie ratio of the overall food supply is 8.9 percent and that of fat/calorie is 6 percent, which are too low. Millions of Bangladeshi do not have enough balanced food to eat. Protein cannot function normally in calorie deficit condition, because in such condition protein must be used to overcome the calorie deficiency. Thus protein will not be available for vital functions such as body maintenance and growth.
   Potato is a versatile food and one of the three leading staple food crops of the world. It can substitute rice to a great extent by being taking in different forms. In the light of existing nutritional as well as food deficit situation in the country, the article is designed to elucidate the role of potato in changing the dietary habits in order to reduce dependence on cereals, especially main staple, rice.
   Food production and its availability, have effects on the consumption pattern and food habits of the people. There is a prevalent thinking that food deficiency, which mainly means cereal deficiency, is an artificial deficiency, because from balance diet point of view, the country can be said to be self-sufficient, if not surplus, in cereal production. Many prevalent systems of nutrition are due to deficiency in nutrient intake which is also the direct consequence of prevalent food habits.
   Food intake is an essential biological need for human survival. This need has contributed much to shape the human society in respect of activities particularly relating to food production, distribution and utilization. But food habits of an individual or a population, are much more than a mere biological impulse. Sticking to a particular food habit may be detrimental for a nation especially when sudden scarcity of certain food item occurs.
   Potato can be instrumental in changing food habits in parts of the world-particularly in Bangladesh, where cereal is eaten in abundance and somewhat too large in quantity without sufficient consumption of vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, milk or eggs. Potato can serve as a king of compromise between the two extremes. Potato diets offer better nutrition intake. Potatoes have the highest food value on dry matter basis and are the most nutritions to its calorie content. According to USDA Agriculture Hand Book, 100 gm of boiled potato and 100 gm of cow’s milk with 3.7 percent fat content have the same calorie value of 65. Though low in dry matter content (25%), due to its high yield potential (about 10-12 ton/ha in average in Bangladesh) the total quantity of dry matter and calorie produced by potato is more than 2 times that produced by rice or wheat. It is well known that potato is deficient in protein content as compared with wheat and even rice. However, the protein of potato is of a superior quality compared to that of rice, wheat or soybean in the sense that it contains substantially more of all the amino acids expect histidin. Potato is the richest source of vit-B6 among all the principal food crops as economical source of this vitamin.
   There is a general notion that consumption of potato leads to increased body weight; but in fact potato has got the lowest percentage of fat (0.1%) among all the major staple food crops as maize (3.4%), wheat (1%), barley (1.3%) rice (0.5%) etc. Potato deserves special reference for its unique quality of having an appreciable quantity of Vit-C ((17mg/100gm).Daily consumption of 200-250 gm of potato is enough, to meet the entire daily requirement of Vit-C (40 mg) (source: K U Ahmed and M Kamal 1980. Wealth from Potato). Equal weights of potato, mango and pomegranate contain about equal quantity of Vit-C and by less than doubling the weight of potato, it is possible to reach that Vit-C contents of tomato, orange, grapefruit and litchi. Intake of minerals is much higher through a potato dish than through a rice or wheat dish. Potato dish give much more calcium than a rice dish. High fibre content is an additional benefit of potato dish.
   Potato Recipes: Potato is a versatile food – because it can be used in various forms both as staple and vegetables. Ahmed and Kamal (1980) prescribed 69 recipes of potato of various forms: soups, salads, baked potatoes, stuffed dishes, mashed potatoes, crisp potatoes, fried potatoes, sour potatoes, potato-meat, stews, potato mixed vegetables, potato-fish, snacks, desserts and sweets. Every recipe has its own specialty in composition and use of ingredients. Different ingredients such as onion, flour butter, milk, egg, sugar, pepper and other spices, different vegetables and fruits etc are used with potato in right amount and proportion for the preparation of a particular recipe. Potato dishes also vary in dignity based on style of preparation. It is a diet of the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich in society. Potatoes are industrially used in preparation of french fries, potato chips, potato flakes and potato starch/powder. Recent studies reveal that fresh juices prepared from potatoes help fight cancer!
   In Bangladesh, cultivable land is very scarce. It is not possible to increase the area of any crop without affecting other crops. Additional production has to come from vertical expansion. Potato fits very well into this scheme. In the future, we may be compelled to adopt potato as a supplementary staple food. If that happens, we will have to take up a much bigger program of production, processing and its marketing. The program can be implemented through an integrated approach of agricultural research organizations (BARI, BRRI, BINA, BAU), extension services(DAE), financial institutions (BKB/RAKUB/NCBs), marketing (DAM) and NGOs. Potato has therefore a very considerable prospect for expansion in Bangladesh depending on the strategy adopted for solving the food problem and also from food security point of view.
   Bangladesh has been meeting the food deficiency by importing food grains worth thousands of dollars every year. Potato can play a vital role in reducing dependence on food grains. Per capita availability of major food items such as food grains, potato and vegetables decreased steadily over time. However, it is satisfying to note that availability of potato and vegetables increased gradually in the recent past. With advanced technology and better management practices potato average yield can be increased to 15-20 t/ha in Bangladesh condition. That means that with both expansion of area and better yield (say 20 t/ha) an estimated quantity of about 7.5 million to 10.0 million tons of potatoes can be produced in Bangladesh. The calorie value of the estimated quantity of potatoes is about half of that obtained from the imported quantity of food grains.
   There is virtually no scope to further increase rice area and level of production of cereals in Bangladesh as production period of major cereals is prone to vulnerable natural calamities and cereal technology and extension services have almost reached a saturation point. On the other hand, potatoes can grow well even with the residual moisture of the soil under properly mulched condition.
   Change in dietary habits can also help attain self-sufficient in food grains. Dietary habits largely determine and demand and requirement of a particular food item. By simply reducing the intake of cereals to the level of Philippines, Japan or Thailand, cereal requirement in Bangladesh can be reduced by 25 to 35 per cent, which is about 5 to 7 million tons. This quantity is again 2 to 2.5 times of the import volume. Thus, by only changing our dietary habits presently based on heavy dependence on cereals to moderate/less dependence on it – we can be a rice surplus nation! A day will come when we can as well export rice and good quality potatoes to other countries if we learn how to change our dietary habits. We need to educate our people and inspire them to take balanced diets for leading a healthy life and develop a healthy nation. Dr Kellog a physician of reputation belonging to the Battle Creek Sanitarium wrote ‘If the consumption of potato of this country (USA) could be quadrupled the result would undoubtedly be the saving of many thousands of lives annually and an incalculable amount of suffering from disease’. If this verdict is true for an advanced country like USA— how much more so it is for us?
   The writer is a technocrat banker

As the postponed 13th SAARC summit comes nigh, in Dhaka in the first half of November, we must once again go through the exercise of trying to understand our region beyond the matrix defined by SAARC. That formula itself is simple: seven nation states, seven capitals, seven power elites, one under-funded secretariat and a summit every now and then. This is good so far as it goes but South Asia’s people deserve better.
   While the seven-nation formula is of course one way to consider the Subcontinent and surrounding islands, we must seek other definitions. There is no reason why Afghanistan, Tibet and Burma should be neglected when we consider South Asia.
   As consumers of news, each of us is either enmeshed within our own national economies and politics or forced by the globalised television media to concentrate (as in the last month) on the evacuation of Gaza, Katrina and the bewilderment of George W. But if we look at the South Asia beyond the boundaries of SAARC, there is a surprising lot happening that we should be aware of. Take the cases of Afghanistan politics, railways in Tibet and Aung San Suu Kyi.
   Afghanistan goes for its first ever general elections on 18 September, a historic occasion even for those who detest the fact of the post-9/11/2001 American invasion. By the grace of George W, we have the cloak-attired former Unocal employee Hamid Karzai as our constant companion on the television screen, carefully maintaining his gracious profile, cloak and all. But this inevitable election exercise, pushed through to burnish George W’s credentials more than anything else, is bound to throw up new faces who are–at long last–politicians. If it happens, this will be a pleasant shift away from warlords like Dostum and the late Massoud.
   One of the persons to watch in the Afghan politics is Yunus Qanooni, leader of the New Afghanistan Party, a former cabinet minister under Karzai. He is unhappy with the way the elections are organised but is willing to go with it. He believes that the balance of power will have to shift from the office of the president to the new Afghan Parliament.
   If we need to know about Qanooni, so do we have to keep abreast with the fact that a 1,118-km railway line is reaching south from the Chinese mainland (Golmud in Qinghai) all the way into the heartland of eastern Tibet, crossing the Kyichu River and arriving right in downtown Lhasa. The railway is bound to change the face of the high plateau by opening it up for further population migration, industrial activity and demographic transformations that will make the Dharamshala government-in-exile even more beleaguered. What does Tenzin Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama, think of the railway line? And how will it affect the social fabric of the Tibet Autonomous Region, already in tatters?
   At the end of this month, the Nathula border point between Sikkim and the TAR is to open for trade under an agreement signed between Beijing and New Delhi in 2003. The expectation has been that this route, first opened by Francis Younghusband in 1904 but locked up since 1962, would provide Lhasa its closest access to the sea and that Siliguri and Calcutta would benefit mightily. What is going to happen now that a railway links TAR directly with the mainland on the other side?
   Aung San Suu Kyi, epitomising all the Gandhian values of mind over matter, should be the world’s most revered Prisoner of Conscience but we rarely ever think of her in her house arrest. As Burmese, she is more Southasian than Southeast Asian and has lived in New Delhi (Lady Shree Ram College) Thimphu and Kathmandu and written books on Bhutan and Nepal.
   Let us be frank, we do not really care that much for Aung San. The geopolitics that swirl around Burma makes her a heroine but holds her cause hostage. It gives Rangoon’s generals breathing space. The Thais just want to do business with Burma, all China wants is a docile neighbour and New Delhi has decided to engage the junta rather than let it disappear completely into Beijing’s sphere of influence. Which is why, in a roundabout way, we do not to get to hear about Aung San.
   Aung San Suu Kyi’s incarceration began on 20 July 1989. She has been under house arrest for 10 of the last 15 years, and is now. She refuses to be ‘bribed into exile’ in the words of Vaclav Havel. She is 60 years old. She is a Southasian Prisoner of Conscience.