India, China eating more is a good sign: Gorbachev

Unlike United States President George W Bush, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Wednesday hailed the growth of food consumption in India and China as he sought expansion of the United Nations Security Council to include some 'most important states' to address the global food crisis.

Growth of food consumption in rapidly developing India and China is named as the primary reason for the crisis, which some have dubbed as silent tsunami, the former Soviet President wrote in the official 'Rossiskaya Gazeta' daily.

"This is an objective reason: we need to rejoice that millions of people are coming out of poverty and can afford a normal diet. Our planet is capable of feeding them," he said, ahead of the meetings of the foreign ministers of India, Russia, China and Brazil in trilateral and quadrilateral formats, beginning on Thursday in this city situated in the Urals, on the border of Asia and Europe.

His comments follow Bush's statement earlier this month that prosperity in countries like India is good, but it triggers increased demand for better nutrition, which in turn leads to higher food prices.

Food security would be one of the key issues at the meetings here. Russia has 40 per cent of the world's arable land, half of which remains unused due to lack of work force and infrastructure.

Gorbachev also blasted the UN Security Council for limiting its role to that of a fire fighter of the already razing conflicts instead of focusing on challenges of tomorrow, like food security.

"Of course, there is an urgent need to rectify the situation, when such most important states like India, Brazil, Japan, Germany and South Africa are not its members," Gorbachev underscored.

He claimed that even with today's technology, the planet could easily feed eight billion people.