BAN ON FLOUR

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30529, 26 August 1964, Page 9

BAN ON FLOUR

Food Crisis In India (N.Z. •Press Assn —Copyright) LONDON August, 25. .White bread has gone out of circulation in. New Delhi because the production of fine flour has been banned by Government order as part of the campaign to meet the food crisis, the “Guardian” reported from New Delhi. Only hotels approved by the Department of Toqrism will be allowed limited quantities of fine flour for their private bakeries. Nearly 40,000 employees at private bakeries are threatened with unemployment.

Reasons given for the ban were that production involved a certain amount of wastage of wheat, and it could be boarded for profits longer than the less refined variety, atta, the staple base for Indian cbappatis. . ' An equally important reason was the Government’s desire to give a political reply to agitation against its food policy. Much of the agitation reflected genuine discontent but some of it was clearly political. White bread, which has come to be a status symbol, will be made scarce to prove official concern for the masses.