St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1953-01-16

"eAANo SSAS"H avn
enough houses or Mrs. Cowles
rooms or beds for them nor for
millions of others.
tuberculosis Carries Heavy Toll
Only the utter exhaustion of a
traveller allowed sleep to over
come the sound of the racking,
tearing coughing which rose all
too clearly from those sidewalks
and to blot out the miserable
thought that, according to govern
ment report, 5 million Indians die
of tuberculosis EVERY YEAR. And
5 million more are, in varying
degrees of severity, suffering from
it.
walked up the steps of a tene-
ment where there are ~ rooms on
a floor with an average of ten
IlVing I'm each room and with one
water tap for all purposes for
all 720 people.
Depleted Forests Furnish Problem
In the country 1 saw women
picking up the freshly dropped
dung of cows in their hands. 1t is
not used as it should be to enrich
the earth, but after being formed
into cakes and baked in the sun,
it is used for fuel for their tiny
fires. to cook their scanty meals
of to heat the water still brought
from the wells in jars carried on
the heads of the women. After
centuries of thoughtless deforesta-
ton, there is not enough fire-wood.
There isn't enough of anything
for all the people of India. BY
1856, there will be 1888 million Of
them. There are million more
every year, the difference between
the birth and death rates. so mill
lion more every ten years.
But there is an awareness of
their country's problems, from the
textile union leader with whom I
talked in the slums of Bombay to
the Prime Minister himself. Mod
ern industrial techniques, farming
methods, power and irrigations
projects to create more productive
land, educational schemes along all
lines, are being undertaken by the
Indian government.
Family Planning Needed
And the Indian Government is
acutely aware of the population
problem. 1t is carefully considered
in midas First Five Year Plan.
I will quote ...
reference has been made in an
earlier part of this report to the
rapid growth of population and the
consequent pressure on the limited
resources of the country. There
Is insufficient awareness yet
among the people of the need for
family planning. On the whole, it
Is evident that unless steps are
taken deliberately to reduce the
birth rate, the upward trend Of
population will continue, since i'm
provement in medical facilities and
better control of epidemics, to-
gether with measures to provide
a certain minimum Of food for
the poorer sections of the COM
munity should help to lower the
death rate further.
while family planning is in
tended to bring down over a period
of time the rate of population
growth, Immediately, it is a step
in the direction of Improvement
in health, especially of mothers
and children. Frequent and ILL
spaced births undermine the health
of the mother. A high birth rate
under conditions of poverty and
maInutrition is inevitably connect
ed with a high rate of infant
mortality and a high incidence of
disease and deformity among chill
dren. In planning for a rising
standard of life, the provisions of
a more healthy and cheerful exist
ence for children in the formative
period of their life is matter of
great importance. Family plan