Shastri's "Hundred Days"

...The people of India, for the moment at least, will suffer no slur, no aspersion—however oblique— on the policies of their most beloved...

...But to these dodgers, and their system of values, the new Indian government has administered an impressive first shock...

...Shastri's primary task is obviously to mend fences with Pakistan, if any fences exist after 17 years of rock-throwing...

...Nanda and his committee have been virtually overwhelmed by public response to this campaign, and the next few months should show whether or not the people receive satisfaction...

...It can be said, however, that these problems are being faced with courage...

...Despite a heart condition that confined him to his home for a long period, Prime Minister Lal B. Shastri is tackling major national issues frequently cited but never really solved by his predecessor: inflation, inadequate food production, poor relations with India's neighbors, and corruption in public life...

...Despite discord at the London Commonwealth Conference, there is now a good chance that Pakistan's President Ayub Khan will visit India in September to review the whole roster of disagreements with New Delhi: the Hindu-Moslem question, border demarcations, refugees, evacuees, and river-water rights...

...Here, to some extent, Nehru prepared the way, particularly in Kashmir...

...Food and Agriculture, and Transport with improving distribution methods on a permanent basis, and the Planning Commission with upgrading the country's food production at once...

...Fertilizer prices and production pose other bottlenecks, and New Delhi is said to be considering an international consortium to set up new merchandising facilities and stimulate subsidized imports...

...And everywhere the supreme fact of these unhappy weeks is realized: the fact that the government of India can be changed without violence and without revolution...

...The Administration's tempo is consequently quickening...

...The atmosphere is thus one of urgency and anxiety...

...A pillar of the ruling Congress party and a favorite of Nehru ("He gets things done"), Kairon had ruled his northern frontier state since 1951 as if it were personal property...

...Alternatives are seldom black or white...

...What will emerge from this conference is anyone's guess...

...When he was nominated in early June, Shastri declared that he would give highest priority to the problem of spiraling prices—especially food prices—which have not only distorted the economy but have met with violent resistance from consumers...

...Relations with Nepal are more correct than friendly...

...antagonisms are deep-seated...

...It is realized that in the next two years of the current Five Year Plan, which roughly coincides with the term of the Shastri government, food production must be increased, even if it falls short of the 100 million tons anticipated by 1966...

...QUICKENING TEMPO IN INDIA Shastri's 'Hundred Days' By Sharokh Sabavala New Delhi Nearly three months after Nehru's death, India's dominant mood reflects amazement and relief: amazement that the nation survived the loss, relief that it seems to be surviving so well in the face of acute problems...

...Shastri has meanwhile charged the Ministries of Finance...

...When monsoon rains lashed the port city of Bombay, forcing 40 ships to delay unloading—a common occurrence—Subramaniam ordered the port cleared "come what may," and is reported to have threatened to set up makeshift harbors on the beach to unload food...

...India's system of licences and permits for virtually every commodity in regular use has enhanced the skill and power of an army of dodgers who, for cash or kind, show how easily results are achieved when one skirts the law...

...There is little confidence in opinion polls or quick assessments...

...They are preparing themselves for a rain of criticism, aware that they can no longer take shelter under Nehru's banyan tree...

...Backing Subramaniam to the hilt, Shastri informed some 6,000 private food-trading organizations that his government would organize a Foodgrain Trading Corporation of its own, dealing in all cereals and setting up 1,000 new rice processing mills and fair-price grain shops in every large city and industrial center...

...When the Das Commission issued an unfavorable report on Kairon in June, the Shastri Administration acted within 24 hours...

...A commission headed by Sudhansu Kumar Das, former Chief Justice of India, was empowered last year to launch an investigation into the Chief Minister's conduct of personal affairs during which, it was alleged, his family amassed millions...

...The Prime Minister's touch is less sure in foreign affairs— for 17 years Nehru's exclusive bailiwick...

...Within one month of its accession it removed from office the once omnipotent Chief Minister of the Punjab, Singh Kairon...

...In the sphere of public standards...

...A new Chief Minister now governs the Punjab, and the repercussions of Shastri's prompt action are being felt throughout the subcontinent—to the delight of the public and the press...

...Shastri's preoccupation at the moment is with India's immediate neighbors...

...But it is worth noting that since Nehru's passing the climate of negotiations has measurably improved through conscientious effort on both sides...

...Pakistan and Communist China remain openly hostile...

...There is very little communication with Burma...

...By May, for example, retail food prices had risen 16.4 per cent over the previous year, while the general index of wholesale prices had risen 11.2 per cent...

...Pandit Nehru's influence, after all, was pervasive, the people's love for him all-engulfing...

...Events rarely move to a clearcut climax in India...

...Nanda himself holds open house every morning and hears grievances against his own ministry, which is responsible for law and order...

...In assuming office, Shastri's new Food Minister, C. Subramaniam, minced no words: "In three months time," he said publicly, "either the profiteers will break me or I will break the profiteers...

...Production currently stands at 80 million tons...

...Officials are acutely aware that behind the food-production problem lies India's formidable population growth of 2.5 per cent, to which little administrative attention has been paid...

...All his successors, by popular will, still live in his shadow, restricted by public antipathy for any change that may be taken as a break with the past...

...The problems of the new regime are clearly enormous...

...And the situation in Laos and Vietnam causes mounting concern...

...He warned that no official, including Cabinet ministers, will be exempt from investigation if a complaint is found to have substance...

...Singh will be remembered for his tortuous negotiations with Pakistan last year, and for his work in organizing the AfroAsian conference of non-aligned nations which will be held in October...

...It is conceded that self-sufficiency in food, on which the whole economy hinges, will not be achieved with threats, palliatives, or the energy of individual ministers...

...Confrontation with Malaysia remains inconclusive...

...Six million citizens of Calcutta have now been brought under a modified form of rationing that assures every family of reasonable weekly amounts of wheat, rice and sugar at fixed prices...

...For the last five years, with an overburdened government on one side and an impatient public on the other, opportunities for graft, bribery, and corruption have greatly increased, causing a massive erosion of confidence in the government, and in fact, in the democratic process itself...

...They are waiting to see how Shastri grows to his tasks, to see how the new collective leadership meets its crises before they declare allegiance...

...Sharokh Sabavala, New Leader correspondent in India, also writes for the Christian Science Monitor...

...Ministers of the Shastri Cabinet admit openly that Indian opinion, hitherto long-suffering, will now be merciless...

...The problem of Indian settlements in Ceylon is unsolved...

...The problem is indeed a formidable one...

...In racket-ridden New Delhi, prices have not yet fallen appreciably, but basic commodities have suddenly become available...

...His habit of two decades has taken root...

...And Shastri's appointment of able and energetic Sirdar S. Singh as India's first Foreign Minister since 1947 should strengthen the government's hand...

...The rains continue, but the congestion has now eased...

...Water supply is also a chronic and major problem, which the government hopes to solve by concentrating on quick-yielding, shortterm projects...

...Four South Indian states—Madras, Kerala, Andhra, and Mysore—have been forced to announce minimum prices of rice that may not be altered, under any circumstances, until the December harvest...

...Two or three months is no time at all in which to judge a government or public response to its conduct and purposes...

...Home Minister Gulzarilal Nanda is supervising a national campaign against official corruption in which non-official committees will sit in New Delhi and, ultimately, in all state capitals to receive and evaluate public complaints and suggest appropriate action...

...Whatever his faults, Nehru lived his democracy...