INDIA: From Hunger to Worse

For many Indians the line between perpetual hunger and real starvation is thin. Last week that line was thinner than ever.

The loss of Burma deprived India of 1,500,000 tons of rice. This year there were crop failures in several large provinces. In Punjab, where crops were good, they rotted because too many farmers came down with malaria at harvest time. All over the subcontinent hoarding was predicted by farmers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers who expected greater shortages and higher prices. Railways were so overburdened with war traffic that it was difficult to move grain from areas of plenty to those...

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