Rising food prices is not a recent problem faced by India alone, but its a global phenomenon, which is getting grimmer with each passing day. There are so many causes and reasons which are responsible for this problem.
Today most of the natural resources are controlled by men and our mentality today is to make efficient use of every natural resource to such an extent which is beyond the limits of the nature i.e. we are trying to use things at there maximum capacity without even thinking about the consequences that the whole world will have to face in case we loose this control due to any reason.
We are already aware of scarcity of water and now its food which is now being used for power generation as an alternative to fossil fuels. This is just a trend taking place and once it is adopted globally we can see a really critical situation. One can read a insightful article on Rising food prices at hubpages.
Last year a news was published in which US President George Bush blamed India for rising global food prices. India has a vast middle class which is expanding at a rapid rate and this middle class now needs better nutrition and food. May be this is partially true but what is Indian Government (i.e. its system) doing. They know what is going on and must have plans to meet any unforeseen circumstances. We cannot depend on imports as they may or may not be available in future as per our requirement. We must have our own dependable food policy which can guarantee good security to every Indian. (Read more in Bush blames India for rising food prices)
