By Moira Dynon B.Sc.
1968
Talk given by Moira Dynon at P.S.A. on Sunday 21 January 1968
My recent visit to India was an unforgettable experience. I travelled from Kashmir in the North to Kerala in the South, and from Bombay on the Arabian Sea in the East to Calcutta in the West. Some of the things which were indelibly impressed on my mind were the kindliness, the friendliness and the courtesy of the Indian people in all walks of life whom I had the pleasure to meet. Despite the tremendous difficulties created by the worst drought in living memory, I found it an India in which the most wonderfully dedicated work is being carried out by both public and private organisations.
Today, India is just emerging from two successive years of unprecedented drought which brought terrible suffering and hardship to millions of her people. I was able to see at first hand much of the work which was being carried out to avert a calamity in the scarcity areas. In the 10 States I visited, I studied scientific development and social welfare work being undertaken, by both public and private institutions.
My overall impression was of a country, freedom loving and democratic, multi-racial and multi religious and of a country dedicated to peace, progress and the raising of living standards of all the people of India.
Drought Crisis
For the past two years the problems faced by India have been acute particularly owing to the shortages of foodgrains resulting from crop failures consequent on the failure of the monsoon rains.
In 1966, the Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, inaugurated an appeal for funds and other assistance to meet “the grave emergency” caused by successive failure of the rains over large parts of the country and more particularly in the States of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. As the Indian National Committee on Drought Relief pointed out, the country was faced with an agricultural crisis of the first magnitude and a major human tragedy loomed darkly on the horizon.
Governments and people of goodwill throughout the world rallied to help avert a calamity. The Australian Government made four contributions of wheat, powdered milk and other goods totalling $(A)25 million in value. To this stream of help was added the powdered milk and other assistance so generously contributed by Australians.
Feeding Millions
Feeding 40 million drought affected people in Bihar was no doubt the biggest problem the 1966-67 drought brought in its wake. But this was not the only one. Needing great patience, sympathy and sustained care were the feeding and treatment of countless under-nourished children and adults suffering various ailments as a result of prolonged malnutrition.
The entire nation and its economy has been affected by the unprecedented drought. The National Committee on Drought Relief recently stated that over nine million tons of imported grain and nearly four million tons of internally procured grain were moved from the ports and rail heads to interior villages by rail, truck and bullock cart and distributed to some 239 million people all over the country through a network of over 150,000 ration and “fair price” shops. (These shops are supplied Government food grain at rates much lower than the market price.) Food for Work Programmes, free kitchens where necessary, and a much larger programme of midday meals and milk for school and pre-school children, the provision of tanks, wells, tube-wells and roads are significant features of the vast co-operative effort.
The aim of the Government and its administrative machinery was not to allow anyone to die of either hunger or thirst. Numerous voluntary charitable organisations both Indian and international gave assistance. The largest peace time operation undertaken by the Indian Red Cross was the drought relief work which the Society commenced in April 1966. Over 8700 distribution centres were set up in 14 States. More than 6000 tons of milk powder and 4000 tons of other foods were distributed by the Society to children and nursing mothers in dire need. It is well known that Mr. Jayaprakash Narayan identified himself with the suffering people of Bihar and brought succour to the distressed by his ceaseless efforts. He was the Chairman of The Bihar Relief Committee.
International organisations including Aid For India Campaign, Community Aid Abroad, A.F.P.R.O., Care, Oxfam and the Churches and their agencies made important contributions in the task of providing food and water and in the anti-epidemic campaigns.
At a Meeting of the National Committee on Drought Relief held in New Delhi on 26th November, 1967, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi paid tribute to “the Indian people for the courage and sense of sacrifice with which they had met the grim challenge”.
A resolution adopted by the Committee noted that “a grievous calamity has been averted as a result of the unbending spirit of the people of the affected areas who rose magnificently to the challenge with the generous aid and support of their fellow-countrymen and foreign friends”.
The tremendous achievement and prevention of the threatened mass starvation merits greater recognition than it has so far received in Australia.
Milk Powder
I travelled through Bihar State and other drought affected areas by car, by jeep and on foot and saw so much evidence of the life-saving programmes. In many centres I saw supplies of the milk powder gifted by Australians and I mixed, cooked and distributed relief food in which this milk powder was an ingredient. In each of the ten States I visited, I met children whose health has been improved as a result of milk powder sent by Australians. It is a very moving experience to give a cup of milk from Australia to a child in need. Medical and social experts assured me that insofar as it helps to safeguard the health of the future generation, powdered milk is of both long term and short term significance.
In addition, gifts of milk powder are creating goodwill for Australia amongst all segments of the population. The Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Cabinet Ministers and leaders of organisations expressed sincere and grateful thanks for these gifts and asked me to convey their appreciation to all whose who are helping in this cause.
Gratitude
I am sure that our late Prime Minister, Right Honourable Harold Holt, will be remembered in India with everlasting gratitude for the response by the Australian Government and people in India’s hour of need and for those outright gifts of wheat, milk powder and other assistance including well drilling equipment.
It was a courteous and significant gesture of esteem for Mr. Holt and Australia that Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister, sent a special representative to be present at the Religious Service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne on 22nd December last.
The Struggle Continues
Due to the combined efforts of the Government and the voluntary organisations, the recent rains, the great crisis of what has been termed “The Famine of 1966-67”is over.
But the end of the drought is not the end of the struggle to lift the people from poverty and to ensure each individual the minimum necessities of life. Poverty is the central problem facing India. The vast majority of the people are poor – their poverty surpasses the imagination of those who have not seen it at first hand.
Agriculture is India’s largest industry supporting 70 per cent of the population and contributing half of the national income. The average land to worker ratio is less than an acre per person.
Recent experience has clearly shown that the progress and economic stability of India is dependent on satisfactory levels of agricultural production. Two years of drought has had its repercussions in other sectors of the economy.
The severe drought depressed farm output, production suffered due to the recession of demand and shortage of raw materials. The general index of industrial production increased by only 2.7 per cent in 1966-67 compared with the average annual growth of 7.8 per cent in the first four years of the Third Plan. Unemployment and under-employment rose. The foreign exchange position remained difficult. These acute stresses and strains are the result of conditions beyond India’s control. They are a passing phase and with the 1967-68 harvest prospects in excess of 90 million tons of foodgrains, the situation appears brighter for the coming year. This current harvest, although 90 per cent greater than the 1950 harvest, is still short of India’s requirements. India aims at self-sufficiency in foodgrains by 1971.
As a result of the base built in the first Three Plans and as a result of the prevailing emphasis on agriculture, I believe that given normal seasonal conditions she can achieve that target. Because of her population of 500 million, when India plans for food she has to produce more than 100 million tons of food grains annually to be self-sufficient. But self-sufficiency in food grains will provide a firm base for her economic and social progress.
It may come as a surprise to some Australians that India is by far the largest single rice growing country in the world – except perhaps for China for which no satisfactory figures are available. Against Japan’s 11 million tons, Thailand’s 6 million, Burma’s 5 million, India produces 39 million tons.
Today everyone in India is concerned with the problem of food – how to produce enough, how to store enough and how to keep prices down. In the present battle for food, emphasis is placed on the necessity to provide irrigation wherever it does not exist and wherever it is possible. India needs to accelerate her irrigation projects and to utilise more fully her vast water resources for increased food grain production necessary for her economic stability and growth. But, as is well known in Australia, irrigation requires capital on a considerable scale – raw materials, money and machinery.
In agriculture India needs to plan for a surplus to build buffer stocks; she is doing this by modernizing her agriculture, by extending her irritation, by the provision of higher incentives to farmers, by the production of high yielding varieties of seed, by soil nutrition and the elimination of pests and disease. Good officials are speaking of intensive agriculture. Many farmers having seen the effects of fertiliser on crops are now demanding fertiliser instead of having to be persuaded of its value. New fertiliser factories are being built to meet the increasing demand.
Progress
Without doubt there is an impressive record of progress in Independent India. Progress there has been in all spheres of economic activities – industrial, agricultural, education and health.
Agriculture and industry are proceeding side by side as there cannot be better agriculture without industry. Agriculture, transport, power and industry are linked – fertilisers is one example of this.
With improved public health services and advances in the eradication of disease, expectation of life at birth has risen from 32 years to 50 years. The number of children attending school today has more than trebled to nearly 70 million. To cope with the number of children seeking education, there are many examples of shift schools. One group of children attend the morning shift commencing around 7 a.m.; another group attend school in the afternoon shift. Time and time again, as I passed along the roads I saw school being conducted out of doors in the shade of trees. Of course, the Indian climate lends itself to school in the open – but for me, there was abundant evidence of the fierce demand for education. In Kerala state, I can’t forget the sight of thousands of children walking to their homes from their schools. In some States, such as, for example, Jammu and Kashmir, education is completely free from the primary to the tertiary level. In the medical college at Srinagar, one-third of the medical students are women. Four out of five children under 11 now attend school.
Next only to the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R., India produces more engineering and technology graduates than any other nation.
Industry
In addition, vast advances have been made in steel production, engineering, manufacture of machinery, railways, mining, petroleum products, shipbuilding, the aircraft industry, to mention only a few. The overall production in industry is more than double what it was at the time of Independence.
India has embarked on a nuclear power programme and is demonstrating the many peaceful applications of atomic energy. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre at Trombay is an outstanding establishment and the technological achievements of India’s scientists in one of the newest sciences, nuclear energy, is most impressive.
Demand for Development
Progress has brought the prospect of even greater advance and the desire to move faster than is immediately possible. India’s masses have become impatient for progress – the desire for rapid development has now become a passionate demand. To an Australian their demands are not unreasonable – they want food to eat, health services, education for their children, opportunities for gainful work, a supply of water and power for their towns and villages. India is justly proud of the fact that 50,000 villages have been electrified in the past 15 years. This is no mean achievement but there are still 500,000 villages to be electrified. The countryside of Madras State is studded with electric pumps but there are many other States where this needs to be accomplished.
Throughout the Punjab State there are numbers of progressive villages. You see power driven pumping sets and modern implements. In a country such as India, life in the villages does not change easily but the process of development has begun.
The Indian peasants are being prepared to accept the changed attitudes demanded of them by modern society. But what is really changing them is the example of modernisation itself.
Even in the Indian village today you will find an urge for progress. Poverty, hunger, disease and ignorance are no longer accepted as inevitable. The people of India are determined to have a better life. India is endeavouring to meet these legitimate demands by economic progress in freedom and by democratic means.
The drought was a setback and we are saddened but we should not be surprised at the reports of turbulence, unrest and violence. In a democracy, food shortages and unemployment can always be exploited. The surprising fact is that a country as vast as India there was not more violence as result of the suffering and hardships caused by the drought. Man does not live by bread alone but equally he needs bread to enjoy liberty.
The rising expectations of the masses have overtaken the progress so far achieved. The lesson to be learnt from this is that India needs to achieve higher results more rapidly in the future. But India is a poor country – less than three million of her people earn sufficient to pay income tax and yet four-fifths of the cost of her completed Three Five Year Plans has been financed by the people of India. Only one-fifth has been provided by foreign aid. Today, poverty in India presents and explosive challenge.
The Future
Obviously what happens in a country of 500 million people, one-sixth of the world’s population, is of importance. Obviously what happens in India is vital to Australia. For generations, Great Britain has had considerable interests and influence in her “Far East”.
Now the announced early British withdrawal from this region presents an immediate challenge to Australia. It has become a matter of urgency that we face up to this challenge of reconciling our history with our geography and all that it means. Some people are saying that we should turn Australia into a fortress for our survival. The concept of a “Fortress Australia” is negative and defeatist. History has shown that fortresses are built up only to be knocked down.
It is more important than ever before that Australia and India come closer together on the basis of friendship and co-operation. India is the world’s largest democracy. She has a sound administration. Her leaders are dedicated to the task of rapid economic development. Geography has placed our two countries bordering the Indian Ocean. A friendly, strong, secure and Independent India is vital to the security of South and South East Asia. And let us remember there are more people in India than in the whole of South East Asia combined.
Geography has placed us in this Asian region, which today is in the throes of what has aptly been called “The Revolution of Rising Expectations” due to the demands of the people for a better standard of living.
There are strong political reasons why we should be grateful to India that she is the protector of the Himalayas. India is playing a crucial role in this turbulent Asian region safeguarding her territorial integrity, promoting her economic development and striving for the betterment of all of her people.
India is fighting this battle through its devotion to liberty and freedom. India is fighting this battle through its perseverance in planned development and its struggle against poverty. Peace and progress and indeed the balance of power in this region depend on India’s progress and survival. The rising expectations of her people must be met and the poor must see more visible improvement. This is a matter of crucial importance not only for India but also for Australia. What is needed in Australia is the further development of a normal awareness that rich countries and people should pay, in proportion to the abundance they enjoy, towards the attainment of at least the minimum well-being to which all are entitled by virtue of their humanity. The logical extension of the “welfare state” pattern which we have come to accept as just and inevitable, is a welfare world pattern expressing in a practical and down-to-earth way the brotherhood of man.
And yet in this, the so-called Decade of Development, day by day the gap between the rich and the poor nations is widening. The failure of the Decade of Development must be attributed largely to the lack of adequate responses from the advanced countries to the needs of the developing nations. The amount of assistance has so far not been large enough to make any deep impact in world poverty. As the distinguished Indian Industrialist, Mr. J.R.D. Tata said, on 11th December: “Indeed in the implementation of Plans, in the industrial sector, the vagaries of foreign aid have become even more pronounced than those of the monsoon.” Even more important, the rich countries show a reluctance to provide the poor countries with meaningful market opportunities for their exports.
In the context of India’s foreign exchange position, she needs to further expand her export earnings. The terms of trade and the policies of the rich countries need to be re-examined and re-oriented to provide free and full access to the primary products, raw materials and manufactured goods of the less developed countries such as India. The greater the extent to which she can increase her export earnings the less she will require foreign assistance. Time and again the Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Gandhi, has pointed out that India does not wish to depend on foreign assistance for one day longer than is necessary.
What should Australia Do?
Obviously Australia alone cannot solve the vast and complex problems of India. Our small population limits what we can do. But there are many things that can and must be done. I believe that Australia should make a strong and firm commitment of assistance to India. This should be done by means of Trade, Aid and Mutual Co-operation. Firstly, I the matter of Trade:
- We should be prepared to give Special Favoured Treatment to the Entry of Indian goods to Australia.
- It is hoped that the Australian representatives will be empowered to offer constructive proposals at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (U.N.C.T.A.D.II) to be held in New Delhi in February.
With regard to Aid:
- Food. We should assist by the provision of gifts of Food.
(a) Wheat to bridge the gap until India attains self-sufficiency in the production of foodgrains and to help her build buffer stocks; and
(b) Australia should be willing to offer to India 50,000 tons of milk powder annually for the next decade. Already doctors have expressed concern at the irreparable damage to the central nervous system in infants and young children who lack sufficient protein. Such a gift would greatly assist the expansion of “Milk Feeding Programmes” aimed at combating malnutrition in needy Pre School and School children.
- We should offer to sympathetically investigate the possibility of a special contribution from Australia to assist in some aspect of India’s 4th Five Year Plan.
- Through the Voluntary Organizations and the Churches, the Australian people and schoolchildren have been giving generous assistance to India. Each in his or her own way. I hope they will continue and expand their help.
Mutual Co-operation
- In addition, there could be closer co-operation through increased interchanges of personnel – especially in the scientific, medical and business fields.
- At the present time there are in India many qualified English-speaking teachers who cannot find employment because their State Governments and Educational Institutions are short of funds to employ them. Some of these are Mathematics and Science Teachers who should be sought and brought to Victoria to teach at the same salary and under the same conditions as Victorian Teachers.
- And in the matter of the development of Atomic Energy for peaceful purposes, I would urge the Australian authorities to give consideration to seeking co-operation from an Indian Institute such as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
There are many things that can be done if we have the vision and the will. It is in our interest that we co-operate with all Asian countries of goodwill.
The peoples of Asia must be convinced that we Australians stand together with them in their rising expectations. The political and social complexion of the future of the Asian area depends on the outcome of the Revolution of Rising Expectations in India. It is in Australia’s interest to help India build.