UN General Assembly
1954

22. These floods have, in a sense, another aspect. I think that the humble peasantry are the salt of the earth. In spite of these disasters which strike them year after year — and this year in an unprecedented way — they have shown remarkable courage; there has been no pilfering or begging or anything of that kind; they have tried to rehabilitate themselves. We are grateful for the considerable number of expressions of sympathy and the material assistance that have come from abroad. I hesitate to give the names of the countries which have come to our assistance for fear I might omit some in a list that is not complete; but assistance has come from our close neighbours, and from the United Kingdom, Canada, Thailand, Australia, the United States, the USSR, Switzerland, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Iraq. These countries have sent medical supplies and similar commodities to relieve suffering in India.