official British census figures: in 1921, seven per cent of the population of India were literate; in 1931, this had gone up to eight per cent. “Just imagine,” Aryanaikam exclaimed with an irony that was obviously painful to him, “one per cent increase in ten years.” The 1941 figures on illiteracy have been pronounced unreliable.
Gandhi’s silence ended early enough to enable him to receive me at three this afternoon for my usual daily interview. I started by saying that we had not even mentioned India’s biggest problem, the problem most difficult of solution.
“What’s that?” Gandhi demanded.
“India’s population,” I stated, “is increasing by five million each year. British official statistics show that the population of India increased from three hundred and thirty-eight million in 1931 to three hundred and eighty-eight million in 1941. Fifty million more mouths to feed and bodies to clothe and shelter. Fifty million more in ten years. How are you going to deal with that?”
“One of the answers might be birth control,” Gandhi said. “But I am opposed to birth control.”
“I am not,” I said, “but in a backward country like India birth control could not be very effective anyway.”
“Then perhaps we need some good epidemics,” Gandhi laughed.
