Famine In India

After you've heard a dramatic portrayal of India's famine on the Pacific story, keep tuned to 660 for NBC's Midnight News summary. Brought to you each evening at 12 over WAF, NBC in New York. The National Broadcasting Company at its affiliated stations presents the Pacific story.

This is the story of the Pacific, the drama of the millions of people who live around this greatest sea where the United States is now committed to a long-term policy of keeping the peace. This is the background story of the events in the Pacific and their meaning to us and to the generations to come.

Famine in India. Not a cloud in the sky. No.

Not a breath of wind. And the Earth is feathered. Perhaps tonight the wind will come and bring the clouds. No. It is too late if the monsoons come tonight or tomorrow. He is dead in the ground.

The sky is clear and blue. They must come. It is time to suffer and die. The first warning came in September 1945. Millions of Indians stood on their seared soil, shaded their eyes from the sun and looked to the southwest.

The monsoons were late. The monsoons that blow in off the sea and bring water-filled clouds. This meant the rains would fail, the crops would fail, and the people would suffer and die. Today a population almost equal to that of the United States faces famine in India.

Famine is an old story in India. A very old story. It's been going on for thousands of years. This is an historian. In the famine of 1770, for example, a third of the population of the province of Bengal died.