India's Community Development Programme has been hailed by the United Nations Evaluation Mission, organised by the U. N. Technical Assistance Administration (TAA), at the request of Government of India, as "one of the major experiments of

(Continued from previous page) to remove any or all of the members of the Panchayat by passing a no-confidence motion with a two-third majority. The scheme formulated by the Special Officers, after being considered by the Cabinet, will go before the Vidhan Sabha, the Minister said.

He added there will be a special provision for the representation of women and Harijans if the election process fails to achieve this object. There will be no Nyaya Panchayats but judicial functions will be performed by Gram Sabha executive.

The Minister said that the Panchayat elections in the State which were postponed recently will be held after the legislature has passed the new enactment, giving greater scope to the Panchayats to assert in the dayto-day affairs of village, and give them bigger budgets and greater powers to raise revenue through taxation.

Rajasthan

Decentralisation Not An Experiment

Mr. S. K. Dey, Union Minister for Community Development, told a study camp in Jaisamand, 30 miles from Udaipur, that the introduction of decentralisation to Rajasthan and other States was not an experiment but an essential step towards strengthening democracy and enlisting popular participation in community development. Mr. Dey remarked that the Union Government and the Planning Commission were thinking of decentralisation in the field of industry along with decentralisation in the administrative and developmental spheres. He suggested the formation of a four-tier plan for every villagea village level plan based on self-help, one based on State-assistance, another flowing from Central assistance and the last a perspective plan to develop roads, wells, drainage, marketing places and medical facilities.

the 20th century", the results of which are of "work-wide interest". The Community Development Evaluation Mission, appointed by the Secretary-General in consultation with the Government of India, consisted of the following members:-Mr. M. J. Coldwell (Canada), Prof. Rene Fernand Dumont (France) and Dr. Margaret Read (United Kingdom). Mr. A. Wojcicki (Community Development Officer, Division of Social Affairs, Economic Commission for Asia and Far East) was assigned to the Mission as Secretary.

had a broad assignment to assess the results Under its terms of reference, the Mission so far achieved by the community development programme in India, its basic objectives, its actual impact on the process of general development and of changing attitudes in the villages, and its capacity to contribute to the economic advancement of the country.

The Mission was impressed by the extent of the plans promoted by the Government of India to raise standards of living among approximately 400 million people. Its report says: "India today is a country of about 400 million people, the great majority of whom live in villages and depend upon farming for their subsistence. The economic under-development and poverty of India are due, in part, to the dominance of agriculture in the economy. A country with 70 percent of more of its labour force engaged in agriculture cannot achieve a high level of production and consumption unless exports, are extraordinarily high: the nation will be too absorbed in meeting the primary requirement of

existence-food production-to leave much energy or resources to cover other needs. The problem of India, however, is not only of the relative size of the agricultural sector; it is primarily, one of under-production in this sector. With most of its manpower engaged in agriculture, India has, nevertheless, had to import food from foreign countries in recent years-largely from the United States where only 10 percent of the labour force is now engaged in agriculture ".

An obvious answer to over-population and under-production in agriculture is the development of industries that will absorb manpower and permit mechanised production. Thus, industrialisation is currently is currently India's primary goal, but rural overpopulation and under-production make it difficult to achieve this goal. In the opinion of Mission "there actually seems to be little prospect that population pressure on the land in India can be reduced in the near future, and the country will be fortunate indeed if there is not a critical increase in this pressure". On the other hand, India faces the prospect that its agricultural population, already excessive, will continue to grow, and, in all probability, to grow very rapidly, unless there is a marked expansion of industry combined with a considerable decline in birth rate.

Continuing, the Mission said: "Broadly "Broadly speaking, the growth of industries, the application of new agricultural techniques, the use of savings for productive investment, economic enterprise and other ingredients of economic development are not merely impersonal processes, but forms of human behaviour which require new motivations, attitudes and skills. The problem of change is particularly difficult in the villages of India, where the force of ancient culture is still strong and pervasive and where two of the major traditional systems, the land tenure system and the caste system, are inherently conservative and opposed to change. There is much that needs to be done and that can be done to improve life in the Indian villages, provided the people will accept to change their habits and institutions.

"While change can be brought about by compulsion, India has chosen the way which involves local initiative and voluntary cooperation. This is the method of community development as applied in rural areas. A major aim is to increase agricultural production and support industrialisation. That is not, however, the only aim, nor the ultimate aim, which is to raise the levels of the people, in both a material and nonmaterial sense.

"The Government of India has embraced the goals of the 'welfare state'. A highly modern set of social objectives has been

adopted- far more advanced than the social objectives of the now developed countries when they were at a similar level of industrialisation. The problem is how to make the social programmes support rather than impair higher production; without increase in production, welfare programmes will only lead to bankruptcy.

"The task of community development is of great magnitude. of great magnitude. India today has one of the lowest per capita national incomes in the world, and the average rural income is estimated at considerablyss than half of the average urban income. The disease rates are among the highest in the world. Less than half the children of India were in school in 1955-56 (50 percent of the 6 to 11 agegroup and 20 percent of the 11 to 13 agegroup were enrolled). Only 12 to 16 percent of the rural population was literate in 1951. Housing is bad everywhere and may be deteriorating with the population increase. There is no security against crop failure and the ravages of nature. While famines of the type prevailing in the immediate post-war years have apparently been conquered, there is still wide-spread malnutrition, due mostly to the poor quality of the diet and local and seasonal shortages of grain.

"The community development programme is attempting to meet all of these problems through an integrated, comprehensive approach which is simultaneously economic and social, aimed at both future production and current welfare. Its theory is that change cannot take place in isolated fragments of society, but must be a total process, involving the total person and the entire community. The energies upon which it depends are mainly those of the people; the chief source of capital upon which it must draw is the surplus labour of the villagers.

Burma

Civic Elections

The "clean" Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL), led by the former Burmese Minister, U Nu, won elections in three municipal towns and in one town was beaten by the "stable" AFPFL.

In the first municipal elections held since. Gen. Ne Win took over as head of the Government, the former Premier's party won all the 21 seats, including two uncontested, in Pakokku town in Central Burma. U Nu's party own 10 out of 14 seats in the Municipal Council of Yenangyaung in Central Burma, the other 4 going to the "stable" faction of the AFPFL, led by U Ba Swe. U Nu's party won 12 of the 13 seats in the Municipal seats in the Municipal Council for Sagain, near Mandallay. The re

social structure in a hierarchical (caste) society".

Since all parties support planned community development, the mission suggests that MPs and MLAs might assume even greater responsibility for leadership in this move

ment.

The mission discounts the criticism that the cost of the staff is excessive. The block funds spent of staff salaries, it points out, cannot be regarded as an overhead administration charge because most of the staff is not involved in administration but engaged in the programme of assistance and guidance to rural people.

The mission attaches supreme importance to the need for increasing agricultural production and pleads for greater concentration of staff and funds in areas where irrigation facilities have been provided or new land has been reclaimed. In such areas, it suggests formation of an "emergency task force" by increasing the number of village-level workers and strengthening the agricultural extension staff by addition of crop and irrigation experts.

The main task from now on, the report adds, is to protect the soil from destruction and increase its productive capacity. A series of measures, including speedy land

maining seat went to the "stable" AFPFL. In the Myinmu Town Council, however, the "stable" AFPFL beat the "clean" faction by capturing 5 of the 8 seats.

Ghana

Civic Welcome For Duke

Drums throbbed and cymbals tinkled in greeting as the Duke of Edinburgh drove into Accra's gaily decorated main square on November 23 in an open Rolls-Royce with Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah, to receive a civic welcome. The Duke went under a huge yellow umbrella-the symbol of chieftancythrough cheering crowds past a group of chiefs wearing multicoloured robes. A priest poured two bottles of alcoholic liquor on the ground before an address of welcome was

read.

reforms and public works programme centred on soil improvement, have been recommended by the mission.

The rate of expansion of the programme, in the opinion of the mission, will be "crucial" to the ultimate success of the programme. It urges the Government of India to consider whether for several years to come expansion should proceed at the rate accepted for 1959 (300 blocks or whether the additional efforts should rather be concentrated on consolidating the existing blocks. "A too fast and unrealistic rate of expansion can only mutiply existing difficulties and create illusory coverage achievements."

Weeding out of inefficient and undesirable persons which, in some states, is estimated at 25 per cent of the total, seems advisable to the mission. Strengthening of supervision and better in service training are also recommended.

The report contains suggestions for utilising unskilled labour, which is abundant in villages, for intensification of agriculture, soil conservation, minor irrigation, afforestation, etcetera. In all these labour intensive activities, the community development workers must play a key role as stimulators, advisers and organisers of people in local communities.

(Continued on page 100)

Mr. David Ben-Gurion's Moderate Labour Party, Mapai, won 48 of the 120 seats Israel's Parliament in the November elections. Mr. Ben-Gurion, who was Prime Minister in the last coalition Government, will also have the direct support of four seats from Arab groups affiliated to his party. In the last Parliament, the Mapai had 40 seats, and the Arab groups affiliated to it 5 seats. Almost one million Israeli voters, over 81

percent of the electorate, went to the

polls

on November 3 to elect 120 members of the fourth Knesset, Israel's Parliament. Most of them also voted in the Municipal elections held at the same time, but in adjoining voting booths.

Results in the municipal elections were similar to those in the Knesset elections, with Mapai gaining many seats. Mapai has now 11 seats, instead of 10 in Tel Aviv's 31-man municipal council, with good possibilities of the head of its list, the Minister of Labour, Mr. Mordechai Namir, being the next Mayor. It has 9 seats, instead of 8 on the Haifa Municipal Council and is expected to retain the mayoralty. Mapai also gained in Jerusalam, but it is not yet clear whether the mayoralty will go to a representative of one of the religious parties, which also inereased their representation on the Municipal Council. The Communists lost 3 places of

the 6 they formerly held on the Nazereth Municipal Council, parallelling the heavy losses which they suffered in Arab and Jewish areas alike.

Jerusalam Mayor's Death

Mr. Gershon Agron, Mayor of Jerusalam since 1955, and the founder of "The Jerusalam Post", Israel's English language Daily, died on November 1, on the eve of elections to the Knesset and the local authorities. Since his election on the Mapai list, he had done much to beautify and develop the City. He was again Mapai's candidate for Mayor in the November, 1959, elections, but died two days before the elections.

The population of Tokyo has marked an all-time high of 9,021,313 as of May 1, according to a survey by the Statistcs Division of Tokyo Metropolitan Government. In the past year the population of Tokyo increased by 291,477. It is estimated that the population of Tokyo will swell to 10 million by 1964, if the present trend of population increase continues.

New Assembly President

The newly elected Metropolitan Assembly of Tokyo in May co-opted Mr. Michiharu Uchida, Liberal Democrat, as its President and Mr. Ichiro Kitada, Socialist, as its VicePresident. On June 12, Governor Azume appointed Mr. Shunichi Suzuki and Mr. En Ota to the posts of Vice-Governors, with the consent of the Metropolitan Assembly. Japan-American Mayors' Conference

The fifth Japan-American Conference of Mayors and Chamber of Commerce Presidents was scheduled to be held from November 4 to 7 in the City of Osaka. In the past four conferences participants were limited to Mayors and Chamber of Commerce Presidents from the Pacific Coast, but from this time other cities throughout Japan and America were invited. The Japanese and American delegates were scheduled to discuss their common problems on city and metropolitan administration, social work, education, culture tourism, public nuisance, traffic, sewage, treatment, Japan-American trade, co-operation between the Chambers of Commerce of

the two countries.

Andhra

No Telangana State

Mr. Alluri Satyanarayan Raju, General Secretary of the Congress, said in Hyderabad on November 6 that whatever might be the decision on Vidarbha, the question about a separate State of Telangana did not arise. The integration of Andhra and Telangana physically and psychologically had been complete and satisfactory, he said. Asked about recent statements of Telangana Mahasabha about reopening the question of a separate Telangana along with the opening of the Bombay issue, Mr. Raju said all grievances of the Telangana region were being promptly looked into and efforts made to redress the backwardness of the region. The vigorous way the Pochamped project over Godavari, which would be totally for the benefit of the people of Telangana, was pursued was abundant proof of the State Government's anxiety to improve the economic conditions of Telangana. Assam

Future of Naga Hills

Mr. Bimla Prasad Chaliha, Chief Minister of Assam, told the Assam Pradesh Congress Executive on November 5 that the recommendation of the Naga People's Convention about the future administrative set up for the Naga Hills was under close examination. The people of Assam, he said, would be happy to see their Naga brethren occupying "a proud position in the nation's joys and sorrows".

A top Naga leader said in Shillong on November 11 that talks between Naga leaders and representatives of the Government of India were expected to begin in Shillong early in December over the Naga Convention's demand for the establishment of a separate Nagaland State within the Indian Union. A negotiating committee of the Naga Convention, as decided at Mokokchung in October, would be constituted. Dr. Inkongliba Ao, President of the Convention, was touring the Naga areas to assess the situation and generally apprise the people of the Convention's decision.

Dr. Inkongliba Ao, after the conclusion of his tour of the Naga areas met the Governor of Assam, General Srinagesh, in Shillong on November 18 and apprised him of the present state of affairs in the area and the steps taken so far by the Convention for constituting a Negotiating Committee. Dr. Ao, who was accompanied by Mr. Chubatoshi Jamir, Joint Secretary of the Convention, is understood to have told the Governor that the unanimous decision of the Convention recommending formation of a Nagaland within the Indian Union had full support of an overwhelming section of Naga population, including extremist elements. "Climb Down"

Giving up the demand for a sovereign independent Naga State and asking for a State within India, Dr. Ao said, was a big climb down as far as the people of the area were cencerned and "one cannot expect underground Nagas to accept the decision straightway openly just now". But there had been no opposition to the demand and over three lak loyal Nagas were behind it, he added.

There was no official confirmation in Shillong on November 19 of the reports that A. Z. Phizo, the hostile Naga leader, who had fled the country in 1957, had returned to the Naga Hills-Tuensang area. Reports current in Shillong said that Phizo had returned to the country in the last week of October through Burma where he had been since August this year.

The Prime Minister stated in the Rajya Sabha on November 26 that a deputation of the Naga People's Convention held at Mokokchung might come to Delhi after meeting the Governor of Assam, and therefore, he could not go into details of this matter at this preliminary stage. Earlier, Mrs. Lakshmi Menon, Deputy Minister for External Affairs, said in a written reply that the proposals of the Convention held in October had not been formally presented to the Government so far. "These will be considered as and when they are received through proper channels."

Mr. Nehru said in reply to supplementaries that Government had seen the reports