Seventy-Third Year
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1962 NIGHT EDITOR: GAIL EVANS
THE BORDER DISPUTE:
Approach Marks Turning Point for india
4
,Al
India-China Ceasef ire:
Shooting Isn't Over
PLAYING THEIR OLD GAME of "fight, talk;
fight,. talk," the Communist Chinese have
announced that they have offered to cease fire
by midnight tonight and withdraw, by Decem-
ber 1, 122 miles behind the India-China border
of Nov. 7, 1959-the McMahon Line.
It seems strange that the Chinese in the
midst of a seemingly unstoppable military of-
fensive would offer to halt and give up their
hard won and undoubtedly costly gains. How-
ever, a number of forces are at work which
have apparently squelched Chinese imperial
ambitions.
The Chinese could be halting for political
advantage. One of Mao-Tze Tung's basic politi-
cal axioms is fight, then negotiate while se-
cretly building forces. After this diversionary
maneuver has succeeded or played out, fight
again. Then talk, then fight until the enemy
is worn out or so frustrated that it will agree
to your conditions.
FITH THE ONSET of winter, the cease fire
offer comes at an opportune time. The
Chinese have already demonstrated their mili-
tary prowess. However, the war is being fought
over long supply lines in the mountainous Him-
alayas. A further advance depending on such
tenuous supply lines may prove disastrous. The
Indians could regain their lost territory, chop-
ping up the Chinese army in the process.
The Chinese have also succeeded in bringing
several long range political advantages out of
the war. The most important is the disruption
of India's already strained peace-time economy
and its turning into a war economy.
Despite China's own poverty, its economy is
better equipped to fight a war than India's.
India's mounting and diverse population cannot'
stand the long-term strains of war. The Chi-
rese, on the other hand, are used to semi-
starvation and regimentation; "glorious victory"
will psychologically ease their lot.
THE CHINESE have succeeded in undermin-
ing the Nehru regime. Although the Indian
people have rallied around their Prime Minister,
the great reverses cannot help but erode confi-
dence in him. As the immediate crisis lessens,
political instability will follow.
The Chinese have forced the Indians into a
very difficult foreign policy position. Needing
armaments, the Indians have aligned themselves
with the West while trying to maintain some
semblance of neutralism. This works for the}
Chinese advantage, exemplified by India's con-
tinued insistence that China be seated at the
United Nations. The continued desire to re-
main neutral will also make India's relations
with the West difficult, but the need for West-
ern arms and support will hurt India's status
with other neutrals. The Chinese can only bene-
fit from this bind.
HOWEVER, there are a number of negative
factors that may have halted the Chinese
drive. World opinion has almost unanimously
condemned the invasion; but, more important-
ly, the Soviets are opposed and have been put
in an embarrassing position by the Chinese at-
tack.
This aggression demolished the Soviet policy
of wooing India and neutralizing her. Relations
between New Delhi and Moscow cannot help
but be cool after the Russians vacillated in sup-
plying planes for India's defense. The Russians
were caught between their Chinese allies and
their Indian friends.
The Russians may also have used their lever
over the Chinese to halt the fighting. China's
undeveloped economy cannot support itself or
a war machine without outside-Russian-as-
sistance. Soviet displeasure at the Himalayan
adventure is enough to make the Chinese think
twice before starting. The Russians may have
applied more tangible threats to end the con-
flict.
THUS THE CURRENT PHASE of the India-
China war ends. It has been a rude night-
mare and awakening for India, and an inter-
iational prestige calamity for China. The In-
dians have been jolted out of their naive neu-
tralism, probably for good. Slowly, but surely
the Communists have forced India solidly into
the Western camp.
For the world this is an unfortunate loss,
India has often been a lost voice of sanity in
the face of hysteric crises. She has led the
truggle for disarmament and has always been
willing to aid the United Nations.
Now, under pressure from the Chinese, the
Indians will have to abandon both causes. The
United Nations will suffer a grievous setback
when the Indians will be forced to remove their
troops from the Congo and Middle East.
The Chinese have lost world prestige, but
this is of little concern to them. The internal
prestige gained by successful warfare is more
important to Communist leaders.
Even with a cease fire, the India-China war.
is not over. Neither side is satisfied with the
current situation and the struggle will continue
on some military level for some time to come.
It is unfortunate that the Chinese gave up
peaceful means for settling the border dispute,
but not surprising. The Indians have been
rudely shown Communism's true colors.
-PHILIP SUTIN
Reply
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Former Daily
City Editor Philip Sherman is teach-
ing English at Madras Christian Col-
lege in India this year. This article
was written about a week ago but
includes important background ma-
terial for more recent developments
in the Indian situation.)
By PHILIP SHERMAN
Daily Guest Writer
MADRAS-A month ago it look-
ed like just another ugly turn
in the drawn out Sino-Indian
bickering over common frontiers.
With winter approaching, the
Chinese followed their usual cus-
tom and stepped up military ac-
tion. Then, as he got on a plane
for Ceylon, Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru casually averred
his troops had been ordered to
drive the Chinese out. A week
later, the Reds replied with a
major offensive, including attacks
in the relatively quiet but criti-
cal Northeast Frontier Agency.
Then the India government hit
the alarm bell.
The reverberations could make
October, 1962, a watershed mo-
ment in India's long history. It is
the month when the modern In-
dian nation went to war.
IN CLOSE ORDER:
Nehru made a war broadcast to
the nation, which, if lacking in
specifics, clearly summoned all In-
dians to the defense of the vio-
lated motherland. Sounding tired,
disillusioned and perhaps quietly
bitter as he spoke first in English
then in Hindi, Nehru admitted
significantly: "We are living in
an artificial atmosphere of our
own creation and we have been
shaken out of it." He was an-
ticipating a major policy shift.
A concerted government pro-
paganda campaign was thus begun
which has roused the nation as
nothing since the early days of
Independence and Partition. The
continuing theme: it is not a
border incident, but a full scale
invasion-a wartime response is
needed. With even a confused
Communist party lining up behind
the government, a major com-
mittee on "national integration,"
one of India's most pressing prob-
lems, suspended its deliberations
as unnecessary.
All efforts were made to
strengthen India's out-manned
and out-gunned border forces.
Politicians and economists agreed
the Third Five Year Plan would
have to be retailored in khaki
cloth. Institutional changes were
made to facilitate this and to
spur output.
* * *
PRESIDENT S. Radakhrishnan,
who had been insisting all along
that the Chinese were a serious
menace, gave Nehru war-time
authority by declaring a national
emergency. This gave the govern-
ment broad though temporary spe-
cial powers. Already, special plans
have been made in northern bor-
der regions to train men with
rifles and special local defense
councils established. All students
will be given some military train-
ing.
Nehru sent out feelers both East
and West. Although apparently
softening its stand now, at that
moment the Soviet Union found
it had to support China. The
West, glad at Panditji's change of
heart, was only too happy to help
on his terms.
/ American and British arms be-
gan rapidly to arrive in India,
to be paid for later on easy terms.
More are coming. It is a mild
form of aid only and nothing
more.
Nehru bowed to immense pres-
sure by demoting Defense Minis-
ter V. K. Khrishna Menon, sup-
posed architect of the border pol-
icy. Later Menon completely re-
signed. The change made every-
one west of Suez very happy and
apparently most Indians too.
The Chinese underlined all these
points by continuing their drive
into NEFA, capturing the impor-
tant town of Towang and threat-
ening to go all the way down to
the Assam Plain. But stiffening
Indian resistence, the mountain
winter and lengthening lines of
communication were apparently
slowing the Chinese down, and
relative quiet eventually fell over
the front.
WHAT HAPPENED?
"The artificial atmosphere of
our own creation," India's post-
Independence foreign policy, has
virtually collapsed. Building on
a similar but definitely different
foundation, the government is now
trying to erect a new and sounder
structure.
The major casualty so far is
the weakest beam in the old policy,
trust and friendship for China.
India has many reasons for con-
ciliating China and admittedly
some were quite sound.
Though developing India was
and is markedly weaker than big-
ger China. Her army is at best
one quarter as large and hardly
as well equipped. The industrial
base is smaller and cannot be
so easily diverted to war produc-
tion. The military action that In-
dia had hoped to prevent would
have been exceptionally costly in
terms of national development.
The price was too high so it was
to be avoided.
Nehru said there seemed to be
no possibility any other nation
would be interested in invading
India, as he now says China is
doing. Invasion simply wouldn't
be profitable, he thought. And
there was an unspoken feeling and
hope that China might go away
if not unduly provoked.
Finally, in the interests of peace
and therefore internal develop-
ment, India wanted to keep the
Cold War far away, hence was
willing to talk.
* s s
IN ALL THIS hope and solid
analysis mixed, and India left
her northern frontier weak even
This has left, in essence, only
the West, and it is there India
has had to turn. She's turning
cautiously, and all the arms ar-
riving now presumably will be paid
for some day or returned. But
Western speed and easy financing
are in fact a form of aid.
The longer the action, the more
India will have to rely on Western
aid, and ties will grow. More arms
shipments are in the cards, and
India has requested aid for pro-
duction. Training cadres may be
provided. There should be less
difficulty than usual In Congress
next session about increasing eco-
nomic aid, little different than
' p. ,F I +k y' d
f tt
- y".COMIt sV^K t 1 R &oot ,5 "tV1 ! -
to more prosaic ends. Increased
popular enthusiasm for community
progress programs and agricultural
extension programs, for instance,
would enable India to realize a
great part of a potential and ab-
solutely essential fivefold increase
in food production. It's been lack-
ing so far.
Since the days of the Freedom
Movement, Indian unity has sag-
ged. Hopefully, the negative anti-
Chinese feelings can be trans-
muted into a more positive alle-
giance to a greater India, rather
than to a particular language-
cultural-geographical region. Hope-
fully, the collective national breast
A LOOK at the map indicates
China could be aiming at a good
deal more. The most limited in-
terpretation is that she will use
her NEFA conquests as a gambit
to gain title to Ladakh, whose
resources and roads she values. In-
dia has always conceded" the Chi-
nese case in Ladakh may be par-
tially valid, and this is theopen-
ing wedge.
Or the Chinese may want to
keep Ladakh and also stay put in
NEFA. They would remain a con-
tinuous and diverting threat, even
if they did nothing else.
They could drive further, and
after a relatively short downhill
march reach Pakistan and cut off
the Indian state of Assam and
some special territories. China may
want Assam's oil, though its hard
to se how she'd get it home.
Looking eastward, such a con-
quest could open the gate to
northern Burma, and Burma is
one of the world's leading rice
exporters, a heaven to hungary
China. The jungle terrain is tough,
but is could conceivably be tamed.
Prodigal of manpower, the Chinese
may be the ones to do it.
LOOKING EASTWARD, China
could use her NEFA conquests as
a political and military spring-
board into Bhutan, Sikkim and
Nepal. Indian administers Bhutan
an Sikkim's military affairs, and
both countries have pledged al-
legiance, but a strong Chinese
force could change everything.
King Mahendra of Nepal has
long been making anti-Indian
statements and the Chinese are
building a road south to Kath-
mandu. The Chinese could replace
the Indian pre-eminence in Nepal.
And the stark fact is that south-
western Nepal is a scant 250 miles
from New Delhi. Talk of a full-
scale invasion of India is indeed
alarmist at this point, but a
Chinese communications network
in Nepal would stretch all the
way over the mountain barrier to
the edge of the Gangeatic Plain,
industrial and emotional heart-
land of India.
NEHRU'S GOVERNMENT ob
viously thinks the threat is serious.
It's taking the Munich lesson that
tons of prevention are worth meg-
atons of cure.
Another.reason for the strong
reaction: it takes quite a shock
to galvanize somnolent India and
a combination of military reverses
and slowing economic develop-
ment call for massive action i-
mediately. Politically speaking,
Nehru has been under heavy pres-
sure to do something like this, and
now he has acted.
Related to this is the some-
what peripheral matter of Mr.
Menon, whose numerous oppon-
ents took advantage of the crisis
to force him out, probably forever.
They argued the wrong policies
were his, that he was responsible
for the troops being very poorly
equipped (a fact more aparent in
Western reports than Indian ones)
and that his sarcastic presence
was a disunifying force.
Menon is an old and tried
friend of Nehru, one of the few
intellectual and personal compan-
ions left for the 73 year old Prime
Minister. His departure is a per-
sonal blow.
* * *
IN GERMANY or Great Britain,
such errors would bring down the
government. In India Nehru rules
unchallenged. But now that the
buffer Menon is gone, the politi-
cal situation may assume a new
complexion. Nehru isn't going to
be forced out tomorrow. His power
and popular support are too great
and anyway the Congress leaders
too are committed to his policies.
\ But there will likely be a new set
of political dynamics in India
whose effects are shrouded in the
future.
But the most presently critical
developments are India's new ap-
preciation of the world and, the
more important, new national
spirit.
Of course, what happens along
these lines depends" on India's
success
ASKED FOR his opinion of the recent tele-
vision "political obituary" for Richard
Nixon, John Birch Society head Robert Welch
came' up with the brilliant reply that his
henchmen will soon mail out "hundreds of
thousands of postcards" demanding that the
United States get out of the United Nations.
Even though the most controversial par-
ticipant on that show, ex-convict Alger Hiss,
was a State Department aide when the UN
was organized way back in 1945, and even
though the John Birch Society has been after
our withdrawal from that body for ages.
Welch's statement so conflicts with the ques-
tion put to him in the first place that I am
moved to think that if he had merely been
asked the time of day, he would have responded
no differently.
-STEVEN HALLER
Credit Hours Too Inflexible
THE PRESENT SYSTEM of assigning credit
hours to courses is too inflexible for the
University. Although the credit hour arrange-
ment may work for the liberal arts and social
sciences, it creates unevenness and restricts
teaching in the physical sciences.
Under the only available definition, the
awarding of one credit hour implies one hour
per week, spent in class and two hours of
outside study with allowances for laboratories.
In reality, however, the proportion of two
hours of outside work to one hour of lecture
or recitation does not always hold. The ma-
terial of one course may be found entirely in
the textbook, whereas in another course the
material may not be sufficiently explained in
any textbook.
But the credit hour system requires that a
professor have class a predetermined number
of times. The result is that professors in some
courses deliver material and explanations that
can be found in textbooks, wasting both the
professor's and the students' time. Another
disadvantage is that students come to depend
on classroom instruction as the only source
of their knowledge of the subject.
ONE SOLUTION, which is in wide use, has
students just skip classes they feel they
can do without. But most scholarly fellows
always attend classes, as a matter of habit.
Also, faculty members consider it a personal
affront to lecture to vacated seats, and often
take into account absences in making out the
grade.
At a time when the cost of education is ris-
ing and the enrollment is increasing, the
solution of cutting classes would lead
undersired effect of dumping faculty
down the gutter. So this alternative
be avoided.,
to the
talent
should
Another solution would be to remove the
dependence of credit on the numbers of hours
spent in class. Then, credit for a course would
depend on a number of variable factors. For
instance, at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, the credit for a course is deter-
mined by the sum of the time spent in class,
in lab, and in expected outside study.
THIS TYPE of assigning credit is flexible
enough to cover the full range of science
and engineering courses. Classroom instruction
could often be replaced by the less expensive
textbook instruction. Finally, students would
no longer depend on instructors to bottle-feed
them their knowledge.
One can only conclude that the present
credit hour system is detrimental to the
physical sciences. Since a more flexible ar-
rangement of the MIT type could work for
liberal arts courses also, the present credit
hour system should be abolished in favor of it.
-MICHAEL SATTINGER
Short Subjects
UNTIL SCHOLARS prove conclusively that
they are a bad institution, the University
will remain committed to using the lecture
course as a main instrument for the presenta-
tion and transmission of knowledge to under-
classmen.
In efforts to find extra lecture halls without
pushing for state funds to build new class-
as the Chinese were building the
bases that undergird her present
success. India downplayed the
danger and lulled herself almost
to sleep.
Although the scale of the recent
fighting was small-the Chinese
are estimated to have but 50,000
troops on the border-India fin-
ally realized this sort of thinking
was incompatible with national
security. After years of skirmish-
ing and tolerant diplomatic ex-
change she scuttled her China
policy.
It was high time.
On a wider-scale, a two-fold
diplomatic setback has meant that
India had to move strongly be-
cause supposed friends did not line
up at her side.
It's said the trigger for the
emergency declaration was a pri-
vate warning the Soviet Union
would have to stand by China.
After that, Pravda endorsed the
unacceptable Chinese truce offer:
talks after each side withdraws
12.5 miles from the line of effec-
tive control.
India had counted on Russia.
But Mao disliked Soviet friend-
ship and aid to his major Asian
rival. Maintaining that the Com-
munist bloc must stick together,
he apparently forced Khrushchev's
hand. Reported recent modifica-
tions in the Soviet stand cannot
conceal the initial attitude, and
India knows it. Nehru now hopes
the Soviets will remain neutral.
It's all he can ask.
(Basically, the high altitude war
is a battle between Asia's giants
for continental supremacy with
the allegiance of half the world's
population hanging in the balance.
The question is simple: who will
be the dominant power in Asia
in a generation? India cannot
afford to come out second best,
and the war effort is geared to
prevent such a disaster.)
* * *
AT THE SAME TIME, the so-
called Afro-Asian bloc of rela-
tively old "non-aligned nations"
has failed to rally to India's side,
whether or not this would in fact
make any difference. Rather than
coming out behind an aggrieved
India, the bloc has concentrated
on a peaceful settlement of dif-
ferences.
(The seettlement proposed by
Egypt's Gamal Abdul Nasser is
acceptable to India but not to
China.)
actual military assistance in a
limited war situation.
* * *
INDIA ISN'T abandoning her
non-alignment policy. It still
serves legitimate national interests
and psychological desires. And a
big change would probably pro-
voke Russia really to back the
Chinese. India, in short, is not
becoming a Western puppet.
But the facts are the Weststood
by India and India felt the Chi-
nese whip. Her heightened sense
of international reality cannot
help but change the slant of her
non-alignment. It will affect
everybody, and it will also
strengthen the hands of India's
pro-Western politicians, of whom
there are many.
(The future may not be quite
so simple however. It's speculated
India will have to move into Tibet
in order to safeguard her borders.
But this would mean big war. Will
the West support it? India cannot
do it by herself.
(Or would the West support air
attacks on Chinese supply lines
in Tibet? Nehru hinted this might
be done when he said New Delhi
might be bombed. It would be
bombed in reprisal for use of the
Indian Air Force, which is doing
only transport duty right now.
(And, If India gets powerful
enough to push China around-
which seems unlikely-what would
she then do about Pakistan?
Would the West let her settle
outstanding differences by the
sword?)
ON THE HOME front, the gov-
ernment has used the crisis to call
out mass enthusiasm which must
now survive over a long period.
Recruiting depots are filled, and
gallons of blood are being given.
Women are giving their jewelry
to the National Defense Fund, and
even the poorest of India's poor
are pathetically chipping in their
meagre savings.
An American professor at Ker-
ala's Trivandrum University has
changed the names of his labor-
atory dishes from "China" to "In-
dia."
There is undeniable enthusiasm
among the students, even if their
demonstrations also represent a
desire to skip a day's classes. At
my college, students gave up a
"hall day," the year's biggest event
with expensive entertainment and
fancy food. They'll give the money
to- the df~nP funiil(T1hP ,vivf,,',
beating now going on can be
changed to a new and greater
sense of purpose and progress.
One Chinese motive may have
been to drain India's resources
and divert attention from impor-
tant internal problems. But if In-
dian national sentiment is really
mobilized behind national ad-
vance, India may thereby turn
the development corner and show
that the Chinese threw history's
biggest boomerang. This would be
immensely more important than
any and all changes in foreign
policy.
What precisely is China up to?
It's hard to say of course, but
a prime objective is probably this
attempt to set back fatally India
development. Democratic India's
failure to develop would mean a'
real ideological triumph for China,
whose Marxism would clearly be-
come the "wave of the future." It
would also mask China's own fail-
ures and destract discontent at
home.
An India setback would weaken
India's prestige and stabilizing in-
fluence in Asia, and open the road
for Communist subversion and ex-
pansion. And it would be a shot
in the arm for Mao's militancy,
current cause celebra of his es-
trangement with the apparently
easier-going Kremlin.
'OLIVER!':
Charming A daptation
"OLIVER!" deserves its excla-
mation point-plus ten more.
Lionel Bart's musical could
never have been if it were not
for Dickens' "Oliver Twist." Even
Rodgers and Hammerstein at their
sugary sweetest would not dare
to have an orphan sit on a coffin
and sing the haunting "Where is
Love?" But since such sentimen-
tality is true to the flavor of the
novel, no one laughs--in fact,
quite a few wipe away a tear.
And no modern playwright
would dare conclude a play with
the revelation that the orphan is
really the long-lost grandson of
the richest man in London and
have the grandfather chase his
grandson's kidnapper all over Lon-
don Bridge ending with the crim-
inal's fatal fall from the top of
the stage to the "river." How-
ev~r_ Tirkens, did4 if-andA it rma~r c
However, regardless of how
quaint the book is, how excellent
the score, anyone who misses the
original production now at De-
troit's Fisher Theatre for a three-
week stop-over on the way to
Broadway will wonder what all the
excitement was about-because
the production is more memorable
than the play.
"Oliver!" features the first set
that deserves star billing. It is
a series of intertwining stairs and
wooden platforms which revolve
on two turntables creating un-
believably weird effects. It is near-
ly impossible to imagine a suc-
cessful production of "Oliver!"
without this set which helps to
hide the play's episodic quality.
Clive Revill turns Fagin into an
ingratiating cross between t#he
Hunchback of Notre Dame, Silas
Man _and FI 1taff.