(EDITORIAL) The public has long been eagerly looking forward to the day when enough cloth would be found to go round the family, but the recent announcement in the Press that reductions in the per capita quotas of cloth for 1947 were inevitable must have given them a rude shock. …We do not believe that the public is getting a fair deal in the matter of cloth. The mill-owners have, it seems, entered into an unholy alliance with the British Government to supply the bulk of their productions to foreign markets at the cost of the Indian consumer.

...There is a persistent rumour that Indian cloth is being sold at huge profits in the Middle East and other foreign countries. Under various pretexts the Indian consumer is made to put up with the scarcity of cloth while the British Government plays the part of an honest broker. No doubt a show is being made of appointing a committee to go into the question of fixing fair prices for cloth and yarn, but we fear it is more for the purpose of keeping the public quiet than with a genuine desire to succour them.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2022