Aid To India Urged

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32359, 27 July 1970, Page 11

Aid To India Urged

A scheme of paying Indians with food in return for work had made a remarkable impact on agricultural conditions in many parts of India, a Christchurch Jesuit priest, the Rev. B. J. Donnelly, said on Friday.

The “food for work” scheme was now the principal way of dispensing relief to the rural population of the country, which represented 400.000,000 people. The scheme had brought two major results. It had spared the Indians from sinking into the mentality of beggars, and bad brought permanent improvements to their fairly simple farming methods.

The scheme began about five years ago, at the behest of major external relief agencies, and was put into practice by oragnisations within the country responsible for the distribution of aid. Father Donnelly, who has been in India for 12 years, said that the programme had solved some of the potentially disastrous effects of the 1967 famine. Even while people watched their rice crops wither away at a time when the monsoon rains would have saved them, they had enough food to keep them going. In return for various quantities of wheat, flour and maize, they dug wells, built new houses, improved irrigation and learnt new farming techniques.

“Without the aid from all over the world the death toll from starvation would have run into many thousands,” Father DonneHy said. Father Donnelly is attached to a mission in South Bihar with 64 Jesuits, of whom about half are from Australasia. He said that the mission’s work was to make the Indians self-sufficient in food production, and to educate them. The priests had help from volunteers from Aus-

tralia, the United States, Germany and England, who provided a great deal of expertise in teaching methods of agriculture, medical care, industrial production and general education. Father Donnelly said that during his time in India the standard of living, though poor by New Zealand standards, had improved. Health services had reduced the infant mortality rate, and had increased life expectancy by about 12 years. But, he said, the country was so vast, the needs so great and the problems so complicated that aid would be required from outside for a long time. Because of the magnitude of the problems he thought that aid to India from New Zealand could best be given on a government-to-govemment basis. He urged New Zealanders to commit themselves to finding out about India, to be sympathetic to its problems and to support any aid programme for the betterment of the people. “You must press the Government to tackle this problem,” he said. Father Donnelly said the assistance of the people of the

United States had warded off the extinction of whole villages in India. But the aid from New Zealand was no less appreciated by the Indian people. He said his work was for the benefit of humanity in India. Only a few of the people, who came into contact with the mission were Christians.

Father Donnelly will spend about 12 months leave in New Zealand before returning to India. Hr is living with his parents in Aorangi Road.