Too many Asians / John Robbins.

  • John Robbins
Date:
1959
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Too many Asians / John Robbins. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    with widespread anti-Communist demonstrations which they couldn’t quell. These were prompted partly by a Communist proposal to take over control of the private and religious schools, and partly by the deteriorating economic conditions of the state. The state government used the police to limit the demonstra- tions, but because it was subject to the control of the central government in New Delhi, it couldn’t use the sort of forceful measure which seems to appeal to the Kremlin and Peking when faced with comparable circumstances. The basic trouble in Kerala, which any government of that unhappy state would have to face, is that there are simply too ‘many people for the resources of the land to support, even in the humble style to which Asians are accustomed. And every year the number of people grows larger. The land and the re- sources, if they are developed at all, are developed slowly. For a century and a half, beside their tropical seas and under their waving palms, Keralans have been increasing and multiply- ing. In that time the population has doubled, and doubled again. Despite its Utopian appearance, the state is one of the most crowded areas in the whole crowded country of India, and in the whole crowded continent of Asia. It is a state the size of New Hampshire—and just as mountainous—with a population comparable to that of all New England. There are more than a thousand Keralans for every square mile of land, or three per- sons for every two acres. Much of the land is too steep and rocky to be useful for farming. In some of the more fertile coastal areas, therefore, as many as ten persons must depend on each acre for a living. There is no industry to speak of to lighten the load on the land. Although Keralans are among the best educated of all Asians—the literacy rate is nearly 80 per cent—the unem- ployed number almost two million out of a population of 15 million. The shady palms and banana trees merely hide the hunger and misery of the people.
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