Opinion August 4, Forty Years Ago: Reserves Dip

A look at the front page of The Indian Express, published on August 4, Forty Years Ago.

India’s foreign exchange reserves fell to Rs 500 crore, a report said. On July 18, they had fallen to Rs 500.23 crore. This was the level to which the reserves had fallen in January 1975, when fertiliser and fuel payments pulled them down. The reserves were Rs 704.24 crore a year ago. Officials claimed there was no cause for concern as there was evidence of stabilisation and fall in import prices. Exports were also said to be doing well, showing a 27 per cent rise, though price behaviour could adversely affect growth.

Talks Are On
US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger described the reports of a breakdown of the strategic arms limitation talks between the US and the Soviet Union as “absolutely ridiculous, total nonsense”. Kissinger said he cannot guarantee the success of the talks with the Soviet Union. “I am not saying it is going to succeed for sure. I am saying right now it is making progress, and if it is going to fail, it will be at some later stage, not now,” he said.

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Left Isn’t Right
Portugal’s leftist military junta, divided and floundering in a two-week government vacuum, met at an urgent session while frustrated political parties called their supporters into the streets, leading to renewed anti-communist violence, the lead report said. Angry crowds protesting Portugal’s leftward lurch besieged communist party offices in the northern town of Famalicao.

State vs State
Union Home Minister K. Brahmananda Reddy welcomed “healthy competition” among the states in implementing the prime minister’s 21-point economic programme. On the working of the Emergency, Reddy, while visiting Chennai, said: “It is good. I am glad not a single occasion has a risen anywhere in the country to use any type of force after the declaration of the Emergency.”