WITH THE PRIME MINISTER India’s vulnerable side

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33427, 8 January 1974, Page 10

WITH THE PRIME MINISTER India’s vulnerable side

From CFDRIC MEXTIPLA)

BANGALORE

Here in the south, three hours’ flight by Ilyushin jet airliner from New Delhi oter parched plains, India is still all about us. The forms and patterns of the British Raj remain, but it is no part of a linking with Britain — it is India’s own past and present.

Bangalore is still an Armypost. British forms and styles permeate the Indian Army, from the high-pitched bel-l lowed command to the style of weapon-handling. In .guards of honour there can .be detected the infamous (“Bombay bloomers”— a style of nether garment forced ;upon Second World War 'New Zealand soldiers m desert campaigns. Army camps were close to: Mr Kirk’s party’s hotel. The; notes of bugles rumpled the; dawn in well-remembered brazen music. Canberra aircraft — possibly formerly ’New Zealand’s — lay under I semi-camouflage on the near--1 by airstrip. They were partly 'dispersed. to indicate that al-

though there is peace, the call might be on short notice.

Industrial aims

This is the state of Karnataka, once called Mysore. Its population is 10 times that of New Zealand, and its people sneak the Kannada language. Though it is basically agricultural, producing rice, wheat, sugar cane, oilseeds and coffee, plus teak, sandalwood and bamboo, it is deeply committed industrially.

The two big river-basins, which produce hydro-electric-ity, were badly hit by the droughts early in 1973. and although the irrigation situation is now normal, the energy crisis has come as' another plague to this vast country. Around Bangalore itself are grouped 38 per cent of the state’s industrial, enterprises. look, electronics When India achieved independence there was little in the way of heavy industry: the okl India had imported its tools and machinery from Britain. So 20 years ago the Indian Government set up Hindustan Machine Tools. 1 Ltd. Today the company has five machine-tool factories ini four states. There is also a watch factory, installed 10! years ago with Japanese participation, which makes 360,000 watches a year.

These are not small organisations. The company has produced tools worth nearly s2om, and the figure is ex- ; pected to reach . $52.5m by ; 1975-76. It is well estab|fished, and has its own New 'Zealand agents. Another significant company is Bharat Electronics, Ltd. established nearly 20 years ago with the aim of self-sufficiency in electronics. In collaboration with a French company it manufactures 40 different types of equipment, including sophisticated and specialised translreceivers, transmitters, radar, radio valves, television pic-

Iture tubes, and cathode ray tubes. Another unit will soon begin to manufacture microwave and radar equipment. In 1970 this company supplied 27.000 transistors of various types to the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation. Range of planes Perhaps more interesting still is the work of Hindostan Aeronautics. Ltd. which is nine years old. The Bangalore division of this large enterprise builds seven types of aircraft. including the Basant (an agricultural type of some interest to New Zealand) and the Frenchdesigned Alouette 111 helii copter. Through this company. India has developed a special skill in building other people’s aircraft under ' licence, in designing specialJpurpose machines, and in (servicing a wide range of engines. New Zealand would have nothing to teach India here. Looking over these welli established industries, mem--1 bers of Mr Kirk’s party were 'impressed by the Indian ! capacjty for close, detailed (work without supervision. Qualified secondary-school ipupils. including many girls. Ido the delicate and detailed handwork of drilling, assembling and putting together the microscopic parts of a transistor unit to meet the highest standards. Lower price In many cases, the output !of these factories is sought on the international market. The manager of an electronics factory is proud of ithe fact that he could tender a lower price than did the internationally-famous Philips firm for a New Zealand order —which, he hastened to say. was guaranteed for quality by product analysis. We saw giant drill-presses designed for New Zealand and Australia, consignments of watches already selling on the New Zealand market (though not under a “made in India” label) and complicated electronics equipment accepted everywhere.. The Indian aircraft industry has already put. out its own all-metal basic trainer, known as the HT-2, and the ultra-light Pushpak, for civilian pilot training. Then (there is the Krishak. used I for air observation. The Kiran light jet, designed tn train ■pilots right through to highspeed flying, is well advanced in production.

In the past India has been considerably interested in the Fletcher and other New Zea land types of aircraft intended for agricultural work. In many areas the Indian soil has reached the stage where it produces onlx what is put into it. each crop exhausting the fertiliser applied. Constant reapplications are needed, and for this work India has pro duced the light-weight, single-engined Basant. which has performed well in trials Major threat All this industry, and a great deal more, is under threat because of the energy crisis. Indian manufacturing industry flourishes mainly because of its low wage-level plus the existence of a trained and educated group of youngsters eager to work even in the atmosphere of factory monotony. Quality control has en sured the value of the Indian product. Low costs have permitted Indian products to win world contracts against countries which are regarded as much more advanced. A hike in oil prices will destroy this advantage and ulti mately could close the factories. driving India back on to a basic agricultural economy, with its disastrous seasonal fluctuations. India's fifth Five-Year Plan, presented to Parliament only three weeks ago. calls for an annual growth-rate of 4.67 per cent in agriculture. 8.27 per cent in mining and manti facture, 10.84 per cent in electricity, 8.77 per cent in construction, and 6.13 pet cent in transport. Help for poor It will cost tire equivalent of $46.782m, producing an average growth rate of 5.5 per cent. There is a concentration on improving the lot of the ultra-poor, the bottom 30 per cent of the population who now have a monthly con sumption of only SNZ2.I9 a head. It is hoped to raise this consumption to $2.54 a head at the end of the plan, and $3.33 in 1985-6. But the costs of steel, newsprint, petroleum and fertilisers are rising sharplv and the implementation of the plan is hedged about by uncertainty. It is difficult for New Zea landers to realise the enor mous effort involved, and the amount of work already put in by this “free” democracx —in which the living stand ards are still so heavily stratified, and the past lingers on so pervasively.