The Constant Companion

The threat of starvation is a constant companion of India's 480 million people, many of whom live at a bare subsistence level. With the problem looming even larger than usual this year, the free world last week rallied to feed its hungriest member before threat turns into reality. The U.S., which has already started moving 4,500,000 tons of grain to India, granted a $100 million loan for economic aid. Burma and Thailand agreed to sell more of their rice to India. France, West Germany and Japan started sending powdered milk and vitamins for children and nursing mothers. Italians donated $6,000,000 for Indian famine relief. The response in Italy and elsewhere, said Pope Paul VI, "is one of the most beautiful things happening in our time."

Massive Airlift. India's food situation is not as bad as it was made out to be in last week's hearings of the House Agricultural Subcommittee, where experts predicted that "tens of millions will starve." But it is bad enough. The present shortage began after lack of rain ruined many of India's crops, and could develop into a crisis if anything happens to the winter harvest. In that case, even foreign aid might not be able to avert widespread famine, since India's overburdened ports and railways would probably be unable to distribute food fast enough throughout the country. What would then be needed would be a massive grain airlift to drop food into the remote needy areas.

Though shortages could be largely alleviated by proper management of food distribution, the government has barely begun that task. In Kerala, where the food shortage has struck hardest because its 19 million inhabitants shun all grains except rice as "foreign food," people must now subsist on a daily rice ration of only 5 ounces. The Keralans have been rioting on and off for three weeks in protest, and last week the rioting spread to other rice-short parts of India. A 15-year-old student died of gunshot wounds after police fired on a mob attacking a police station near Calcutta to protest food shortages. Not far away, in the West Bengal town of Baduria, police fired on a stone-throwing mob of 3,000 rioters who were demanding the release of rice supplies; one rioter was reported killed, and five rioters and several policemen were hurt.

Beef on the Hoof. The crisis has sparked bitter criticism of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Food Minister, Chidambaram Subramaniam, but much of the problem lies in India's backward agriculture and age-old dietary habits. India's land produces only about half as much per acre as U.S. land, largely because of primitive farming implements and practices, lack of pesticides and fertilizer, soil exhaustion and uncertain water supply. Besides, India's burgeoning population--12 million new mouths per year--has simply outstripped the country's ability to produce enough food to feed it.

Even so, Indians often ignore available food. Though Kerala fishermen haul in tons of shrimp, lobster, mackerel and sardines each year from the fish-rich Arabian Sea, the vast majority of the catch is sold for export, and Keralans use the money to buy extra rice at exorbitant black-market prices. They also largely ignore the sweet potatoes, bananas, pineapples and coconuts that abound in the state's lush tropical forests. And, though more Hindus discreetly eat meat, the vast majority in cow-rich India leave their beef on the hoof for religious reasons. Half of India's people are vegetarians, a fact that creates an especially heavy dependence on grain.

To solve its food problem, India needs both birth control and a massive agricultural program to double its per-acre grain yields. The cost of such an achievement, according to Dr. Roger Revelle, director of Harvard University's Center for Population Studies, would be an enormous $20 billion, much of which would have to come from foreign aid. Until India's parched acres begin to flower, huge shipments of U.S. food--perhaps as much as 15 million tons a year--will be needed to help the subcontinent's masses fend off starvation. Indians should also be educated to eat new foods, of course, but the education must be gradual. The problem is not just one of stubbornness: doctors know that a hunger-weakened stomach often simply refuses to accept unfamiliar food.

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