N045  1403  02 Dec 74
BENGALI
BY BERNARD WEINBAUB
   (C) OUR NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
   CALCUTTA, INDIA--IN A FEEDING KITCHEN IN CALCUTTA,
80-YEAR-OLD AIZAZ BUX STANDS BAREFOOT WITH A TIN POT AND
WAITS FOR A DOLE OF OVERCOOKED GRUEL.
   "MY ONLY MEAL," HE SAYS IN BENGALI.  "I CAME FROM A VILLAGE
IN HONRAH, A DISTRICT NEAR CALCUTTA,  I HAVE NO ONE--
NO WIFE, NO CHILDREN.  I WAS HUNGRY IN THE VILLAGE."
   WITH THE ONSET OF THE WINTER RICE HARVEST IN WEST BENGAL --
AND THE DECLINE OF STARVATION DEATHS -- THE STATE GOVERNMENT
HAS QUIETLY CLOSED DOWN MOST OF ITS EMERGENCY KITCHENS,
WHICH FED UP TO 500,000 PEOPLE.  SUCH GROUPS AS CARE AND
THE SALVATION ARMY HAVE TAKEN ON THE MAJOR SHARE OF THE 
RELIEF EFFORT, SERVING A DAILY GRUEL THAT INCLUDES POTATOES,
WHEAT, TOMATO SAUCE AND SPICES.
   ONLY THE AGED, THE WIDOWS AND SOME OF THE YOUTHS HAVE
REMAINED BEHIND IN CALCUTTA.  MOST OF THE DISTRESSED AND
FAMISHED VILLAGERS WHO STREAMED INTO THE CITY AND MAJOR
TOWNS HAVE RETURNED HOME TO EARN 5 OR 6 CENTS A DAY HARVESTING
RICE.
   YET IN THIS EASTERN STATE -- ONE OF THE MOST TROUBLED
IN INDIA AND THE RECENT SETTING FOR SOME OF THE COUNTRY'S
WORST FOOD PROBLEMS -- OFFICIALS AND RELIEF WORKERS ARE UNEASY.
THEY ARE UNEASY ABOUT THE INEVITABLE LEAN MONTHS NEXT YEAR,
THE INCREASE OF LANDLESSNESS, THE TAPERING OFF OF DEVELOPMENT,
THE NEGLECT OF IRRIGATION AND THE ABSENCE OF SUBSTANTIAL FOOD
GROWTH TO KEEP PACE WITH THE POPULATION SPIRAL.
   PERHAPS 70 PER CENT OF THE STATE'S 50 MILLION PEOPLE LIVE
IN POVERTY.
   "PEOPLE ARE SIMPLY FRUSTRATED, DAZED, DISENCHANTED,"
SAID ASHOK MITRA, A FORMER KEY ECONOMIC ADVISER TO THE CENTRAL
GOVERNMENT, WHO LEFT IN ANGER IN 1972.  UNTIL 1971, INDIRA
GANDHI HAD A VAGUE IDEA THAT CERTAIN THINGS HAD
TO BE DONE FOR POOR PEOPLE.  AFTER 1971, BANGLADESH WENT
TO HER HEAD.  PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT FELT THAT THEY WERE ON TOP
OF THE WORLD, THAT THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING TO 
RESTRUCTURE THE ECONOMY.  JUST LOOK WHAT'S HAPPENED."
   IN SOME WAYS, THE 1971 WAR IN NEIGHBORING BAGLADESH --
FORMERLY EAST PAKISTAN -- WAS MERELY ONE MORE BLOW TO DENSELY
POPULATED WEST BENGAL, WHICH HAS NEVER QUITE RECOVERED
FROM THE PARTITION OF THE SUBCONTINENT.  THE PARTITION DIVIDED
THE FORMER PROVINCE OF BENGAL BETWEEN PREDOMINANTLY HINDU
INDIA AND PREDOMINATLY MOSLEM PAKISTAN.  MORE THAN FOUR
MILLION HINDU REFUGEES POURED INTO WEST BENGAL, FOOD AND
TRADE ROUTES WERE CUT, TRANSPORTATION WAS SEVERELY DISRUPTED
AND, PERHAPS MOST SIGNIFICANT, THE BENGALI DOMINANCE OF
INDIAN POLITICS AND CULTURE WITHERED.
   THE OUTLOOK IN WEST BENGAL NOW IS BLEAK.  WHAT FRIGHTENS OFFICIALS
HERE IS THAT YEARS OF AGRICULTURAL NEGLECT MAY HAVE MADE
HUNGER AND POSSIBLY STARVATION A PERMANENT THREAT.
   A RECENT OFFICIAL SURVEY CONCLUDED THAT "RURUAL POVERTY
HAS DEEPENED."  THE GROWTH OF LANDLESS LABORERS HAS DOUBLED
IN THE LAST 10 YEARS, PARTLY BECAUSE LANDLORDS ARE INFLUENTIAL
IN THE CONGRESS PARTY.
   IRRIGATION WATER IS AVAILABLE FOR ONLY 25 PER CENT OF
THE CULTIVABLE LAND.  ONLY 10 PER CENT OF THE VILLAGES HAVE
ELECTRICITY.  DESPITE EFFORTS AT LAND REFORM 10 TO 20
PER CENT OF THE FAMILIES OWN 60 TO 70 PER CENT OF THE LAND.
   STATE OFFICIALS PIN THE BLAME FOR WEST BENGAL'S PLIGHT
ON NUMEROUS FACTORS.  BUT PERHAPS THE MOST POINTED CRITICISM
HEARDIS THAT FEUDALISM AND CASTE HAVE THWARTED DEVELOPMENT
AND THAT LANDLORDS HAVE A VESTED INTEREST IN KEEPING FARMERS
INDEBTED, POOR AND EVEN UNPRODUCTIVE.
   "IT'S A CULTURE OF SCARCITY," A HIGH STATE OFFICIAL SAID.
"THE WIELDERS OF POWER PERPETUATE SCARCITY.  THEY HAVE A
CAPACITY FOR A BREAKTHROUGH IN PRODUCTION BUT DON'T WANT
TO, IN ORDER TO PERPETUATE THEIR POWER."
   JB/KT504PED
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