KERALA, FACES FAMINE.
The boasted civilization of the capitalist "free" world is offering humanity another lesson in its capacities. For months it has been known that the masses of Kerala in the south of India were on the verge of famine. Yet nothing was done. Only when the threat of violent demonstrations grew acute, did the Shastri regime and its) Washington backers decide to act.
. “At the moment special rice trains are rolling toward the stricken area and two U.S. ships are unloading wheat at Cochin, ; But the question is, will:these gestures prove too little and too late? . So egsy Pog
People. in the cities.are now on a ration of four ounces of rice and four ounces of wheat. daily. Outside the cities, three.and= a half ounces of each food grain are doled out. In this’ starvation area, people have become inured to an intake of only sixteen ounces © daily. . Half that amount spells. ‘bitter ‘hunger, and the children have become potbellied from malnutrition: .' : che
Meanwhile the. Ue Sy continues to ‘buy farm surpluses to keep up prices, often destroying the:food.. From 1944 to 1960, the U.S. stored 125, 000,000 tons of bread. grain. -Bertrand Russell has calculated that this is "enough to feed every Indian for a year."