INDIAN MINISTRY BLAMED

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 4, 30 September 1943, Page 5

INDIAN MINISTRY BLAMED

Conditions In Bengal

LONDON, September 28. The famine in Bengal is almost entirely man-made, declares Sir Alfred Batson, ex-vice-chairman of the Union of Britain and India and former editor of the Calcutta “Statesman,” writing in the “Daily Telegraph.” He adds that Bengal is the most fertile province of India and had fed itself when the people in other areas starved. The Indian Ministry ruling the province in these days had looked on complacently till the crisis had developed. It bad even rejected offers of help. Meanwhile those having gram withheld it from the market for sale at iautasiic prices, he said. p , The “Daily Express says the Bubba public will expect instant action ticcause this is our ufimr, touching , o^ n honour and good sense. While ludit s drop dead from starvation we rend in the newspapers that Canadian wheat may ‘ converted into spaghetti lor Italian consumption. What about the Bengalis. The South Wales miners executive, in a resolution urging the immediate recall of Parliament to discuss the famine in India, demanded that the Government should take immediate steps to relieve the stress, and asked for an immediate inquiry into the allegations that profiteering had caused the famine. . The executive voted £A>O for rndian relief from the miners’ fund.