By holding higher grain consumption in India and China responsible for global food crisis, US President George W Bush and his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, have needlessly started a blame game which is so far removed from the facts as to be laughable, which does not improve Mr Bush's already dodgy reputation on sticking to the facts, and which in any case leads the world nowhere in its combat against hunger. While making his insinuation against the world's most populous countries, Mr Bush could not have been unmindful of the backlash that it would evoke from those who are quick to take umbrage at even the ludicrous, notably India's political class (one is not aware of any similar reaction from the Chinese). Still, at the risk of being accused of over-reacting, it is important to recognize the bare facts. For starters, the per capita consumption of food in the US is some five times that in India. More importantly, of the increase in grain consumption in recent years, roughly two-thirds has been accounted for by the US