Weekly Radio Report: Rich Hawkins and the India Food Crisis

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c031_063.mp3

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Extent (Dublin Core)

5 Minutes, 21 Seconds

File Name (Dublin Core)

c031_063

Title (Dublin Core)

Weekly Radio Report: Rich Hawkins and the India Food Crisis

Description (Dublin Core)

In this weekly broadcast, Congressman Bob Dole talks with Rich Hawkins of Atwood, Kansas, who has just returned from a six-month stay in India, as a part of the International Foreign Youth Exchange Program. They discuss the reasons for India’s current food shortages, as well as the future of the newly-independent nation and its development in the agricultural sector.

Date (Dublin Core)

1966-04-02

Date Created (Dublin Core)

1966-04-03

Congress (Dublin Core)

89th (1965-1967)

Topics (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueFood supply--India

See all items with this valueAgricultural assistance, American

Policy Area (Curation)

International Affairs

Creator (Dublin Core)

Dole, Robert J., 1923-2021

Record Type (Dublin Core)

radio programs

Rights (Dublin Core)

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

Language (Dublin Core)

eng

Collection Finding Aid (Dublin Core)

https://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=84&q=

Physical Collection (Dublin Core)

Collection 031, Box 1

Institution (Dublin Core)

Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Archival Collection (Dublin Core)

Dole Audio Reels Collection, 1960-1979

Full Text (Extract Text)

Bob Dole (BD): This is Congressman Bob Dole with our radio report from Washington. I'm certainly pleased to have as a very special guest today, Rich Hawkins, who's a radio man in his own right, from Atwood, Kansas. But more particularly at this time, just recently returned from a six-month visit to India — in fact, from several different states in India. And I thought perhaps since the Indian food crisis is a matter of concern — not only to the Indian people, but to the world and specifically the Congress — because just last week we passed a resolution in the House Committee of Agriculture ratifying the initiative taken by President Johnson to supply some 6.5 million tons of food grain to India. I think it's particularly interesting to have Rich in the studio today. And, first of all Rich, we certainly welcome you back.

Rich Hawkins (RH): Well, thanks. It's really good to be home.

BD: You've been home — what — about the 24 hours, in time to make this broadcast? I think it'd be interesting to the people in Kansas, Rich, that you've had more first-hand experience in India with agriculture than any of us. You've been there six months, which isn't a long time, but you certainly have some impressions. I visited the White House last Wednesday morning and heard the President tell us of the need for acting quickly to help India before people start starving to death. Now, do you have any impressions on the general agricultural picture in India? Why is it that they're so short of food?

RH: Well, they’re short of food mainly because they've had a bad crop year. There’s been a bad drought, especially in the West, in some of the better crop-producing areas where they normally expect a carry-over that they can give to the states that don't produce so much food grain. This year and the year past, they've had very little rainfall. Now, in the last state where I stayed in, Rajasthan, they had eight inches of rain this past year. Their normal rainfall has about 35 inches, so they couldn't grow any crop at all and a lot of fertile cropland was practically desert. Now, they should have two cropping seasons a year, and sometimes three if they have adequate moisture, so this means that they didn't get even one crop where they should have had three during this past year. And as a result, no people are starving thanks to United States aid, but the cows are starving, and a lot of the land is open to soil erosion because it doesn't have any cover crop on it. And the surplus crops that would have been sold to other areas haven't been grown, and so in those areas that don't produce enough food for themselves, they don't have any food grains except what they're getting from the United States.

BD: Do you find, Rich, that the Indian people generally recognize that this is American aid, that is American generosity, or do they know where the aid comes from?

RH: Well, these people are pretty smart. These village people may not have the kind of formal education that most of us have, but they know where the help is coming from, and they're greatly appreciative of the help that we give them — whether it's technical assistance or grants and aid or food grains. And I think they probably appreciate the food grains most because that's a real vital necessity to them. Food grains make up almost their total diet.

BD: I know I was impressed with a statement by the President that enough people could potentially starve in India — in other words, more people could starve there if we don't do something — than we have in the entire country of Vietnam that we're struggling for right now. And he also pointed out that there has been some development in agriculture in India. They are producing more today than they were, say, in 1950 or 1960. Do you find this to be true also?

RH: I think that India is undergoing a revolution. Let me use the words of Mrs. Indra Gandhi, whom I talked to last week; she said, “like an awakening giant, a nation stirs up a lot of dust as it begins to get to his feet.” So, we see a lot of the clouded issues that are being stirred up now, as this country is making progress, and they've just been independent for a very short time, since 1947, but in that time they started getting to their feet. Now, I've seen the agricultural research that they're doing, and this is prompted by American aid, but it's being done by Indians. And the Indian government itself is so concerned, that they set up a whole extension training program to reach the villagers, as well as their special service for research and development and agriculture, and they're doing a lot of things on their own. In some phases of research, I think they’re maybe just a little bit ahead of us. Now, the gap is that they haven't gotten this to the farmers yet, but they're working on it very hard.

BD: Well, Rich, I certainly thank you, and I'm sorry we only have a five-minute program, but I think I should point out that you were in India under the auspices of the International Foreign Youth Exchange Program, and certainly, this is one of the fine programs that we have in America. I know your friends and your boss back at KXXX are looking forward to your return, as are your parents and others. And again I thank you, Richard, for giving us some first-hand information about the crisis in India.

RH: Thank you, Bob.

Bob Dole (BD): This is Congressman Bob Dole with our radio report from Washington. I'm certainly pleased to have as a very special guest today, Rich Hawkins, who's a radio man in his own right, from Atwood, Kansas. But more particularly at this time, just recently returned from a six-month visit to India — in fact, from several different states in India. And I thought perhaps since the Indian food crisis is a matter of concern — not only to the Indian people, but to the world and specifically the Congress — because just last week we passed a resolution in the House Committee of Agriculture ratifying the initiative taken by President Johnson to supply some 6.5 million tons of food grain to India. I think it's particularly interesting to have Rich in the studio today. And, first of all Rich, we certainly welcome you back.

Rich Hawkins (RH): Well, thanks. It's really good to be home.

BD: You've been home — what — about the 24 hours, in time to make this broadcast? I think it'd be interesting to the people in Kansas, Rich, that you've had more first-hand experience in India with agriculture than any of us. You've been there six months, which isn't a long time, but you certainly have some impressions. I visited the White House last Wednesday morning and heard the President tell us of the need for acting quickly to help India before people start starving to death. Now, do you have any impressions on the general agricultural picture in India? Why is it that they're so short of food?

RH: Well, they’re short of food mainly because they've had a bad crop year. There’s been a bad drought, especially in the West, in some of the better crop-producing areas where they normally expect a carry-over that they can give to the states that don't produce so much food grain. This year and the year past, they've had very little rainfall. Now, in the last state where I stayed in, Rajasthan, they had eight inches of rain this past year. Their normal rainfall has about 35 inches, so they couldn't grow any crop at all and a lot of fertile cropland was practically desert. Now, they should have two cropping seasons a year, and sometimes three if they have adequate moisture, so this means that they didn't get even one crop where they should have had three during this past year. And as a result, no people are starving thanks to United States aid, but the cows are starving, and a lot of the land is open to soil erosion because it doesn't have any cover crop on it. And the surplus crops that would have been sold to other areas haven't been grown, and so in those areas that don't produce enough food for themselves, they don't have any food grains except what they're getting from the United States.

BD: Do you find, Rich, that the Indian people generally recognize that this is American aid, that is American generosity, or do they know where the aid comes from?

RH: Well, these people are pretty smart. These village people may not have the kind of formal education that most of us have, but they know where the help is coming from, and they're greatly appreciative of the help that we give them — whether it's technical assistance or grants and aid or food grains. And I think they probably appreciate the food grains most because that's a real vital necessity to them. Food grains make up almost their total diet.

BD: I know I was impressed with a statement by the President that enough people could potentially starve in India — in other words, more people could starve there if we don't do something — than we have in the entire country of Vietnam that we're struggling for right now. And he also pointed out that there has been some development in agriculture in India. They are producing more today than they were, say, in 1950 or 1960. Do you find this to be true also?

RH: I think that India is undergoing a revolution. Let me use the words of Mrs. Indra Gandhi, whom I talked to last week; she said, “like an awakening giant, a nation stirs up a lot of dust as it begins to get to his feet.” So, we see a lot of the clouded issues that are being stirred up now, as this country is making progress, and they've just been independent for a very short time, since 1947, but in that time they started getting to their feet. Now, I've seen the agricultural research that they're doing, and this is prompted by American aid, but it's being done by Indians. And the Indian government itself is so concerned, that they set up a whole extension training program to reach the villagers, as well as their special service for research and development and agriculture, and they're doing a lot of things on their own. In some phases of research, I think they’re maybe just a little bit ahead of us. Now, the gap is that they haven't gotten this to the farmers yet, but they're working on it very hard.

BD: Well, Rich, I certainly thank you, and I'm sorry we only have a five-minute program, but I think I should point out that you were in India under the auspices of the International Foreign Youth Exchange Program, and certainly, this is one of the fine programs that we have in America. I know your friends and your boss back at KXXX are looking forward to your return, as are your parents and others. And again I thank you, Richard, for giving us some first-hand information about the crisis in India.

RH: Thank you, Bob.

Bob Dole (BD): This is Congressman Bob Dole with our radio report from Washington. I'm certainly pleased to have as a very special guest today, Rich Hawkins, who's a radio man in his own right, from Atwood, Kansas. But more particularly at this time, just recently returned from a six-month visit to India — in fact, from several different states in India. And I thought perhaps since the Indian food crisis is a matter of concern — not only to the Indian people, but to the world and specifically the Congress — because just last week we passed a resolution in the House Committee of Agriculture ratifying the initiative taken by President Johnson to supply some 6.5 million tons of food grain to India. I think it's particularly interesting to have Rich in the studio today. And, first of all Rich, we certainly welcome you back.

Rich Hawkins (RH): Well, thanks. It's really good to be home.

BD: You've been home — what — about the 24 hours, in time to make this broadcast? I think it'd be interesting to the people in Kansas, Rich, that you've had more first-hand experience in India with agriculture than any of us. You've been there six months, which isn't a long time, but you certainly have some impressions. I visited the White House last Wednesday morning and heard the President tell us of the need for acting quickly to help India before people start starving to death. Now, do you have any impressions on the general agricultural picture in India? Why is it that they're so short of food?

RH: Well, they’re short of food mainly because they've had a bad crop year. There’s been a bad drought, especially in the West, in some of the better crop-producing areas where they normally expect a carry-over that they can give to the states that don't produce so much food grain. This year and the year past, they've had very little rainfall. Now, in the last state where I stayed in, Rajasthan, they had eight inches of rain this past year. Their normal rainfall has about 35 inches, so they couldn't grow any crop at all and a lot of fertile cropland was practically desert. Now, they should have two cropping seasons a year, and sometimes three if they have adequate moisture, so this means that they didn't get even one crop where they should have had three during this past year. And as a result, no people are starving thanks to United States aid, but the cows are starving, and a lot of the land is open to soil erosion because it doesn't have any cover crop on it. And the surplus crops that would have been sold to other areas haven't been grown, and so in those areas that don't produce enough food for themselves, they don't have any food grains except what they're getting from the United States.

BD: Do you find, Rich, that the Indian people generally recognize that this is American aid, that is American generosity, or do they know where the aid comes from?

RH: Well, these people are pretty smart. These village people may not have the kind of formal education that most of us have, but they know where the help is coming from, and they're greatly appreciative of the help that we give them — whether it's technical assistance or grants and aid or food grains. And I think they probably appreciate the food grains most because that's a real vital necessity to them. Food grains make up almost their total diet.

BD: I know I was impressed with a statement by the President that enough people could potentially starve in India — in other words, more people could starve there if we don't do something — than we have in the entire country of Vietnam that we're struggling for right now. And he also pointed out that there has been some development in agriculture in India. They are producing more today than they were, say, in 1950 or 1960. Do you find this to be true also?

RH: I think that India is undergoing a revolution. Let me use the words of Mrs. Indra Gandhi, whom I talked to last week; she said, “like an awakening giant, a nation stirs up a lot of dust as it begins to get to his feet.” So, we see a lot of the clouded issues that are being stirred up now, as this country is making progress, and they've just been independent for a very short time, since 1947, but in that time they started getting to their feet. Now, I've seen the agricultural research that they're doing, and this is prompted by American aid, but it's being done by Indians. And the Indian government itself is so concerned, that they set up a whole extension training program to reach the villagers, as well as their special service for research and development and agriculture, and they're doing a lot of things on their own. In some phases of research, I think they’re maybe just a little bit ahead of us. Now, the gap is that they haven't gotten this to the farmers yet, but they're working on it very hard.

BD: Well, Rich, I certainly thank you, and I'm sorry we only have a five-minute program, but I think I should point out that you were in India under the auspices of the International Foreign Youth Exchange Program, and certainly, this is one of the fine programs that we have in America. I know your friends and your boss back at KXXX are looking forward to your return, as are your parents and others. And again I thank you, Richard, for giving us some first-hand information about the crisis in India.

RH: Thank you, Bob.