It is true that certain places, like India, are known for their periodic famines. But the current food shortage is distinctive. A fifty-year-old Indian government clerk says: “This is the worst I have ever seen in my lifetime.” Aggravating this famine is the fact that it was ‘not supposed to happen.’ But were there not warnings several years ago of such coming famine?

Yes, there were. In fact, the book Famine​—1975 (published in 1967) quoted Dr. R. Ewell as predicting: “The world is on the threshold of the biggest famine in history. If present trends continue, it seems likely that famine will reach serious proportions in India, Pakistan and China early in the 1970’s. . . . Such a famine will be of massive proportions affecting hundreds of millions.”

After the 1971 season, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi felt confident enough to declare that India would not be importing more grain.

But in less than a year that country has gone from a record surplus to a national food crisis. In one state 50 percent of last year’s corn plantings died; only 30 percent of the rice could even be planted. The entire national grain harvest fell about 60 percent below normal. Men are compelled to work long stretches without food. And matters are predicted to worsen​—but not only in India.