"But then again, has Gandhi's hunger strike ended?" Sir Barron spoke vaguely. The veal steak in his mouth obviously had a certain negative effect at this time. The juice remained between the teeth, hindering the clarity of the vocabulary.
sex.
"The one-week hunger strike, plus one month's daily food, is probably over." A flash of thought flashed across Alan Wilson's face, and he took a sip of whiskey and continued, "The good news now is that we are probably over."
Knowing the scope of the drought, it is already mid-July. The drought should not expand. This drought mainly affects the upper reaches of the Ganges River. The United and Central Provinces are the hardest-hit areas. The precipitation in other places is also less than in previous years. The Deccan
The plateau has also been affected, but compared to the north, the losses are still acceptable."
"They are all inland areas. This is good news and will help us control the situation." Sir Barron nodded and said with an expression of relief, "Just like the Great Famine in Bangladesh, in important coastal industrial areas, Wuduwu
If you can't live there, that's a big deal. As far as the current situation is concerned, it's okay. The Deccan Plateau isn't a big problem, it's mainly the upper reaches of the Ganges."
What Sir Barron said is not serious is that compared with the drought in the upper reaches of the Ganges, it is not that the situation in the Deccan Plateau is not serious.
The Great Famine in India in 1876 mainly affected southern India, with the Deccan Plateau being the first to be affected. Many of the photographic materials of the Great Famine in India in later generations were left behind by that famine.
In the eyes of some people, although the Deccan Plateau is a plateau, because it is located in a low-latitude tropical area, the water and heat conditions are very good and the production is rich; just like the Boroving Plateau in Laos, although it is a plateau, it has the largest rice production in the country.
granary.
The main thing about a granary is not output but stability, otherwise Punjab would not have become the granary of British India. The climate in most places in British India is far from stable, so we have to mention the role of the roof of the world.
For the subcontinent, the Himalayas are a ladder to heaven. Just looking at the straight line distance, the snowy plateau should belong to India since ancient times. But in fact, it has the same meaning as Siberia to China. It is just out of reach. It seems not far away, but
A place that can never be reached.
Generally speaking, the Governor's Office is still optimistic about this drought and famine. The book losses are only 200,000 people. Most of them are not due to famine, but because of dehydration, heat stroke and other diseases caused by hot temperatures.
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"In the statistics, the numbers of tuberculosis and cholera are too conspicuous." Sir Barron, who was holding the statistics, shook his head. He knew the inside story clearly, but he just put the number of deaths caused by famine above the disease, and said seriously
, “Is there no plague outbreak this year?”
Alan Wilson slapped his head, took the handed report with an apologetic expression, and solemnly assured, "It will explode soon."
I forgot, there are statistics on plague. Even in the 21st century, almost all diseases in the world exist in the Indian subcontinent, including diseases that have been eliminated by various countries. Plague is just a trivial matter.
Against the background that plague has been almost eliminated worldwide, there was an outbreak of plague in India in the 1990s.
The hospital in Surat, an industrial city in India, received 30 patients with similar conditions. Their symptoms were: high fever, coughing, sneezing and vomiting blood, and soon fell into coma.
Within half a month, more than a thousand people were hospitalized with this symptom, and then news of the plague spread like wildfire. In order to avoid this disaster, residents, old and young, used all available means of transportation to escape in a hurry.
The city was struck by the plague.
Then, as expected, the plague spread throughout India.
This was even the case in India in the 1990s. It was still the period of British India, and the occurrence of plague was normal. Otherwise, why would Sir Barron be the commissioner?
Alan Wilson was convinced and quickly stated that the disaster was an order, and if the plague did not break out, it would be too late.
"That's good. In many backward areas, the prevention and treatment of diseases is still very primitive, which is really worrying." Sir Barron said with a pained expression, "We also want to develop colonies, but people in the colonies are generally resistant.
Psychologically, helping backward ethnic groups is not an easy task..."
"It seems that the next stage of the work of the Governor's Office is to formulate a comprehensive health bill." Alan Wilson still held the report and nodded to Sir Barron before leaving the commissioner's office.
The house was leaking and it rained all night. When British India was united under the leadership of the Governor-General, the Congress Party and the Muslim League had given up their differences and were as quiet as chickens, a plague struck, leaving the British who had already gritted their teeth.
India is even worse off.
This plague came suddenly and violently. Even in areas where plague outbreaks were recorded decades later, the elderly had no memory of the plague, only remembering the hunger of that year.
When fighting the drought, we also had to fight the plague at the same time, so it was very normal to add an additional anti-epidemic allocation. Now that British India had to supply local needs and fight disasters and epidemics, there was a slight financial tension.
A few days later, Alan Wilson, who had ordered the few health officials to formulate a health bill, returned to Sir Barron's office and said that while delivering benefits to the mainland, while carrying out anti-epidemic work, the financial
There will be some difficulties.
"The plague doesn't exist at all, so why do we need funding?" Sir Barron sneered. It was just a statistical report. Alan Wilson became serious, "What kind of health bill should we make? Let Nehru and others draft it after independence.
.”
"This is also for the sake of the legacy of the British Empire, dear Sir." Alan Wilson lowered his head and said softly, "In fact, everyone is not afraid of having a job, but is afraid that nothing will happen."
"Hmm!" Sir Barron, who heard the implication, leaned back and nodded to continue.
"Sir, in fact, there is nothing we can do about the financial allocation." Alan Wilson organized his words and thought about how to start the persuasion work.
"Issuing public bonds? This is a colony, not a mainland." Sir Barron frowned. He understood the motivation of civil servants to work, but is this matter? It is really difficult to handle.
The issuance of public bonds in British India requires London's approval. Even if it is approved by London, as a group of colonists, the independence of British India has become a consensus, but it is forced by drought to unite with the Governor-General. Is there anyone?
Subscribing to public bonds is still an unknown.
"Actually, we can print a little!" Alan Wilson said to your immediate boss, you are overthinking it. The banknote printing machine production line in the suburbs is still open. He has been there, and even the recent consumption in New Delhi was the banknotes he brought out last time.
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Precious metals are on the rise? In fact, Alan Wilson himself is partly to blame, but he has never been a greedy person, and he also gave some banknotes to his subordinates in Hyderabad for market testing.
"Printing money? Do you know that unlimited money printing will eventually lead to economic collapse?" Sir Barron was shocked and shook his head. "Once something big happens, London will definitely be held accountable."
"Sir, you are talking about unlimited money printing. We just want to get through the current difficulties. It is limited money printing. Just balance the allocation of the health bill. With the huge land and population of British India
, an allocation of only 30 million rupees will not worsen the situation. Isn’t there still cover for famine?”
"Now that private capital flows are almost solidified due to the drought, this is also done to increase the economic vitality of British India. It is not simply printing money. It is more appropriate to call it quantitative easing."
Alan Wilson, who was categorically rejected by Sir Barron, worked tirelessly to persuade him to explain what quantitative easing was.
Calculated in rupees, the annual tax revenue of British India is already close to 2 billion, and the health allocation of only 30 million will not be noticed by anyone, at least not by Indians.
Quantitative easing policy is an intervention method that increases the base money supply and injects large amounts of liquidity into the market. Quantitative easing policy encourages spending and borrowing. Quantitative easing refers to expanding the issuance of a certain amount of money. Easing means reducing the financial pressure on banks.
Quantitative Easing When the securities of banks and financial institutions are acquired, newly issued money is successfully put into the private banking system.
Alan Wilson was a restrained gentleman who would not waste his money. The last time he spent only 7 million rupees on himself, this time he used it to serve the health bill of the entire British India, and the health budget requested was only 30 million rupees.
"Alan, this is a big deal." Sir Barron wanted to veto it, but when he thought that this assistant was quite capable, mainly because of the relationship with General Mountbatten's daughter, the veto was not uttered. It just showed the seriousness of the matter.
sex.
"Of course, Sir. Our imperial civil servants have always acted responsibly when defending national interests." Alan Wilson did not mention quantitative easing, but still gave assurances.
"You must exercise restraint." Sir Barron thought for a long time and finally nodded, asking Alan Wilson to pay attention to the scale and handle the matter.
Alan Wilson nodded, and then left the Governor's Mansion. It was not the first time for him to go to De Laru Company's banknote printing plant in New Delhi, and he was already familiar with it.
The second time he came here, Alan Wilson was still excited and breathed a lot harder. It seemed that the air was filled with the smell of money. After all, after India became independent, it would take back the right to print money. If you don’t use it now, you won’t be able to use it later.
Already.
This printing of money is a test for the official start of quantitative easing in the future. Naturally, Alan Wilson will use this method with absolute restraint, as promised, and spend all the money on the health bill.
As long as nothing goes wrong this time, when this weapon is used in the future, there will be much less opposition.