The ‘smart set’ in Hyderabad ahs reasons to be worried. The Governor of Andhra, announcing a series of austerity measures with ‘Spend Less’ as the motto, has ordered drastic cuts in the number of dinner and lunch parties at the Raj Bhavan.
What’s worse, even the menu is to be considerably reduced. Caviar may now be substituted by bread crumbs (without butter) and – as they once did on the railways in a similar mood of economy – the thickness of chappatties will be transformed to thinness.
What the Governor has in fact done is to sign an ‘austerity pledge’ that he will avoid all waste and restrict to the minimum his expenditure on food and clothes. It is a pledge that must be commended highly to other Governors, Ministers and even Deputy Ministers.
Government officials in general, especially those who have an expense account, can make a great difference to the national economy by adhering to a similar pledge. As for the people, a pledge is unnecessary; even if they wanted to, they could not possibly spend so much on food and clothes.
(EDIT, August 17, 1960.)
