PROBLEMS OF INDIA

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26633, 19 January 1952, Page 2

PROBLEMS OF INDIA

APPRECIATION OF HELP FROM CORSO “Two years ago. through CORSO. I had the opportunity of being in direct touch with New Zealand and without that close touch with CORSO, Mrs Hussain and myself would not have been in Christchurch to-day,” said Mrs R. Saran, of Madras, at a luncheon party given at the Y.M.C.A. rooms yesterday by the local committee of' CORSO. The informal gathering was arranged in honour of Mrs Saran and Mrs Hussain, Indian delegates to the Pan-Pacific Conference, and of Senator C. Cooray, Ceylon’s delegate to the conference and one of the two women Senators in the Ceylon Parliament. The guests were received by Mr R. W. Sharp (president of the CORSO committee, Mr T. Thompson (South Island organiser), Mr G. H. Coley (honorary secretary) and Mrs E. McConnell (president of the ladies’ auxiliary of the Y.M.C.A. and a member of the CORSO committee). After Mr Coley had briefly welcomedthe visitors, Mrs Saran thanked CORSO for the spontaneous help the Dominion had given to India—gifts of clothing, milk and medicinal supplies—without any conditions being imposed, a great blessing to both the giver and the receiver. India had had so many problems to tackle, she said. First there were thousands of refugees arriving famt and destitute, then the calamity that occured in Assam, four years drought in Madress, and locusts" and floods that destroyed half of the very promising crops in her own home state Punjab She was sometimes asked why India did not store food. Her answer was that the Government, mistakenly as it proved, relied on Nature for supplies; it was trying to balance exports and imports and it urgently required machinery and other goods that had to be imported instead of food. But that mistake had now been remedied P? ore £ ood w ? s being imported. Millions have died of hunger but famine no longer exists; we have turned the corner” said Mrs Saran but oui* people have been underfed for so long that they have no reserve. - ’ tin.L nt to beg,” sb e continued, but Ido want to tell you how ftPd t w y 2 Ur BiftS have been appreciated. We have organised sewing classes where our women are taught cutting out, sewmg iand tailoring and we make up the clothes you send into suitable garments that help to save our childop f r°m bronchitis and pneumonia, p?vm, th , e I? 66 ™ llk yOU Send US is given to the children who prompt!v put on weight.” The Government and xoluntary organisations, Mrs Saran VP»; wo S ki ?g J together on a fiveyear plan and India wanted to improve conditions; she would make misfriln S di bUt Wl l h - help and advi ce from ne wh,>h Un eS trained P Ch >i vas badly needed, conditions would improve. “Don’t think that your contribution is a drop in the ocean, said Mrs Saran, “it is in fact a big link between nations, a powervennng an wa°rs.” aintaing PeaCe and pre " k Thol P pS v, n tanked Mrs Saran Eiven he fo Va hu able lnf ° rrnat ion she had fX, , t0 > hls committee and friends, neal k response to the CORSO apfoH 1 h d b « en -good, he said, and he ■ visit B nf e th£ a |’ J? reely because of the visit of the Indian and Celyon delefn Christ°Ph the P ap - Pac ifie Conference hl i h ris tchurch, the next appeal, to rt launched in March, would be al record success.