- The US provided food aid to India during a 1966 famine, but the way President Johnson went about it left India with a sour taste in its mouth that hindered future cooperation for decades. - Relations between India and the US remained strained through the Nixon administration due to disagreements over regional conflicts and India developing ties with the Soviet Union. - Beginning in the Clinton administration, the US and India began building strategic partnerships in areas like science and technology, though political relations remained uneven at times. Recent administrations have worked to strengthen economic, defense, and strategic cooperation between the two countries.

1. Zechariah Sindt
December 7, 2018
Prepared for Professor Armen Baibourtian
POLISCI 397DN - Diplomacy and International Negotiation - Spire #81546
Building Bridges: The Difficult Road to
Partnership Between India and the US
India is one of the most heavily populated countries on Earth. It is also one of the most
resource-rich countries in terms of food production, manpower, and natural resources. However,
there have been a number of instances where India has fallen upon hard times due to drought or
man-made food shortages, but the country has always been able to pull out of each crisis,
occasionally with the help of its friends. The famine of 1966 was such a case. Leading up to that
crisis, India had two years of drought. With poor storage and transport systems for grain, the
country fell upon hard times. The United States, under President Johnson, bailed India out, but
the way Johnson went about it left such a sour taste in India’s mouth that it hindered progress on
future co-projects between the two countries for decades afterwards.
Brief History
India has a very proud history. Of all countries in the world, it is one of only a handful
that can trace its civilization and heritage through archaeological evidence and written records

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dating back over 8000 years. India, or Bharat as it is known within the country, considers itself to
be one of the “cradles of civilization” (Pandey). Throughout the centuries, the power structure
controlling the country has changed hands numerous times. After 1498 CE when Portuguese
explorer Vasco da Gama became the first European to visit India by ship, the Portuguese,
Mughals and British fought back and forth several times over Indian territory and control over
the region. In 1757 CE, British East India Company defeated the Mughals and took control of
India. In 1858 after the Sepoy Rebellion, the British government itself took over and set up a
system known as the “British Raj.” In this way, it remained under British rule until the 20th
century (History of India Timeline). In August 1947, following a three-decade long freedom
struggle that involved many now-famous people such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru, the British
gave in to the nation’s demand for freedom from British rule and divided the region into East and
West Pakistan for the Muslims, and the country of India as we now know it for the Hindus
(Bates).
In the 2000 years leading up to British rule, recorded history shows India only faced
seventeen famines. That all changed when the British took over. In the 120 years of British rule,
the country faced thirty-one famines and food shortages, almost all of them man-made (Sanyal).
Here is one example.
In 1942, India had a bountiful harvest, but the British took all of the grain from India and
sent it to Europe to feed the war effort. In 1943/44, there was a major food shortage in the areas
now known as West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Bangladesh. Almost four million people died.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill refused to send any grain (Simha).

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By 1943 hordes of starving people were flooding into Calcutta, most dying on the streets.
The sight of well-fed white British soldiers amidst this apocalyptic landscape was “the
final judgement on British rule in India”, said the Jawaharlal Nehru (Simha).
This was the last famine to occur under British rule. India won its independence three years later
in August 1947 (Bates).
Independence
The first years of India’s Independence were a struggle. The British had divided the
country into East Pakistan, West Pakistan, and India. They designated the two Pakistans as
Muslim countries, and India to the South as a Hindu country. These divisions created a lot of
turmoil because many Hindus lived in Pakistan, and many Muslims lived in India. Due to the
tension between religious groups at the time, as soon as the countries were created, many
Muslims left India for Pakistan, and Hindus left Pakistan for India, especially along the border
region. Over 10 Million people were displaced, and over a million people died in the ensuing
chaos. In addition, the borderlines were not figured out by the time of British withdrawal so there
was a lot of gray area. This became especially evident in the now-Indian state of Uttar Pradesh
and the Sindh region of Pakistan. As Muslims fled west from Uttar Pradesh into Sindh, they
competed with locals for jobs and land, thereby creating a lot of ethnic tension in addition to the
already existing religious tension in the region (Bates). As the British pulled out, this was the
chaotic mess left for India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to clean up.

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The Nehru Government and India’s First Food Crisis
Nehru was Prime Minister of India from 1947 through 1964. He is often referred to as the
“architect of India” because of the way he managed to steer India through the transition from
British rule to independence. Almost immediately following India’s rebirth, war broke out
between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Riots plagued Bengal and Bihar. Then Gandhi, who
was known as the “father of India” or “Bapu,” was assassinated in 1948 by a Hindu Brahmin
fanatic. Nehru worked hard to bridge the many divisions in the country by speaking out against
India’s caste system and its emphasis on glorifying the priest class. He was from the Hindu
Brahmin caste, so he was one of the very few leaders who could do so without facing much
criticism. Because of his popularity, charisma, intellect, and his vast knowledge of India as a
whole, he was able to steer India towards progress, even with all of the chaos. He won three
consecutive elections and stayed in power until 1964 (​Srivastava). During this time, he attempted
to build a relationship with the United States, especially over food imports (Malholtra).
The first food crisis under Nehru’s leadership happened in 1949, only two years into the
country’s rebirth. India had still not fully recovered from the one in 1943/44, and the country still
relied heavily on aid, but it was making progress. Suddenly, in 1949, the situation made a turn
for the worse. In November 1949, Nehru visited Washington for the first time, and during his
talk with Truman he mentioned the problem. Truman was positive at the time, but nothing really
came of the talks. The United States never pursued India to find out if they needed help, and
India never pushed for help. Finally in 1950, the food situation deteriorated enough that Nehru’s
sister and ambassador to the US, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, formerly requested two millions tons of

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wheat from the US. By that time, tensions were really high. The US said that India had not
“followed up” on Nehru’s request for food, and India claimed the US was being “ungracious”
and “stingy,” and accused the US of using food aid as a “policy lever” because of US opposition
to India’s stance on regional affairs (Malholtra).
At that time, India was trying to maintain friendly ties with China, a communist country,
and they wanted peace in Korea, something the US Congress strongly opposed. Most people in
Congress knew very little about India or its proud history. Truman enlisted the help of former
President Herbert Hoover and sent a proposition for food aid to Congress. Congress drug their
feet for over a year before they finally got around to passing the bill. By this time, Nehru was
extremely frustrated because he saw the US as trying to take advantage of India’s desperation.
"We would be unworthy of the high responsibilities with which we have been charged if we
bartered our country's self-respect or freedom of action, even for something we need badly,” he
said. Finally, on June 15, 1951 President Truman signed the India Emergency Food Aid Bill into
law. The bill authorized a loan to India for two million tons of wheat worth $190 Million at that
time (Malholtra). After the India Emergency Food Aid Bill was passed, other than basic foreign
aid that was an absolute necessity to survive, India did not pursue any further ties with the US for
years to come. Nehru died on May 27, 1964, and two years later his daughter, Indira Gandhi,
took his place in January 1966.
Indira Gandhi and the 1966 Food Crisis
When Indira Gandhi was elected, she inherited a country filled with strife and starvation.
India had faced years of poor monsoons, had spent much of its resources on war with Pakistan,

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and there was still a lot of division in the country. Sikhs were demanding their own separate
state. The US, World Bank and IMF were all putting pressure on India to devalue the Rupee.
Gandhi visited Washington D.C. in 1966, and as part of her visit, she asked for more aid to the
country, aid that had been cut off in 1965 shortly before she was elected. President Johnson made
it clear that no aid would be delivered until India made a deal with the World Bank, a deal that
meant devaluing India’s Rupee (Public Interest Research Group).
In June 1966, Indira Gandhi authorized the Indian government to devalue the Rupee by
37.5%. It went from Rs4.75 per dollar to Rs7.50 per dollar overnight. President Johnson and the
World Bank had promised to raise $900 Million in aid if they devalued the Rupee, but then they
failed to keep their promise. Five months after devaluing, India had only received about half of
the promised amount, $465 Million.
The project and non-project aid fell from $1.6 billion in 1966-67 to $0.64 billion in
1967-68 and $0.76 billion in 1968-69, as against $1.7 billion per year promised by the
World Bank. This led to sharp criticism of Government's policies by many political
groups in India. "You sold the country and have not even got the price" a parliamentarian
accused the government (Public Interest Research Group).
Johnson’s demand that Gandhi meet the demands of World Bank and devalue the Rupee only to
have World Bank pony up merely a small portion of the amount of money that had been
promised was a major breach of trust in the minds of the Indian public, and in the minds of their
elected officials (Public Interest Research Group). In addition to not keeping their promises with
financial aid, the United States did not do as promised by supplying food, either.

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When Gandhi visited Johnson in March 1966, he promised some aid, and to send 3.5
million tons of wheat and other foodgrains to India under the Public Law 480 Act, commonly
known as PL-480 (Malhotra). Signed into law twelve years earlier by President Dwight D.
Eisenhower, PL-480 became known in the US as the “Food for Peace Act.” PL-480 gave
permission to the president to authorize shipments of surplus food and other supplies to
“friendly” nations (U.S. Department of State). The problem was, at that time India was critical of
US involvement in Vietnam and Korea. They were also trying to obtain peaceful relations with
China. Members of Indian Congress viewed Western involvement in the region as “imperialist
aggression” (Chandra et al, 283). Many members of the US Congress took issue with India’s
stance on those regional affairs, and as a result, Johnson kept India on a tight leash. The food
came irregularly and only in small quantities at a time, literally “ship to mouth.” Indira Gandhi
was humiliated by Johnson’s approach. While meeting with Johnson, Gandhi had agreed to a
US proposal of $300 Million to fund an Indo-American Educational Foundation. She ended the
agreement and started pursuing ties with other countries (Malhotra). Gandhi attempted to
establish a friendship with the Soviet Union and China, and started building relationships with
Tito of Yugoslavia and Nasser of Egypt (Chandra et al, 283). Any possible relationship ties with
the US continued to falter even more when President Nixon was elected.
India and Pakistan went to war because East Pakistan wanted to break off into its own
separate country we now know as Bangladesh. The US sided with Pakistan, and India sided with
Bangladesh. Documents released in 2005 make very clear Nixon’s and Kissinger’s disdain and
contempt for Indira Gandhi and India as a whole at that time. “The Indians are bastards anyway,”
Kissinger said, while discussing the India-Pakistan War in 1971 (BBC). The US provided the

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Pakistan military supplies and support. In response, India signed a treaty with the Soviet Union
to obtain military assistance. Nixon verbally attacked his ambassador to India, Kenneth Keating,
who argued India’s case to the Nixon administration; "I don't want him to come in with that kind
of jackass thing with me. Keating, like every ambassador who goes over there, goes over there
and gets sucked in,” Nixon told Kissinger. Kissinger responded, "Those sons-of-bitches, who
never have lifted a finger for us, why should we get involved in the morass of East Pakistan?”
(BBC). This was the attitude of the Nixon administration, and it further pushed India away from
working with the US. Relations between the two countries stayed sour and stagnated until
Clinton’s presidency.
India’s 1998 Nuclear Tests and Building Strategic Partnerships
In May 1998, India ran a series of nuclear tests. President Bill Clinton decried the testing
as a “mistake” and cut off all economic aid and loans by American banks to Indian companies.
He also imposed tough sanctions. However, none of it lasted (Business Standard). In 2000,
President Clinton visited India, and from there relationships between the two countries started to
warm up. Clinton worked to establish the Indo-U.S. Science & Technology Forum, or IUSSTF,
an organization that promotes cooperation between the two countries in science, engineering, and
health (Neureiter). The head of India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in 2000,
Raghunath Mashelkar, who had previously described US-India science collaboration as a "frozen
chicken,” welcomed the partnership, and over the years it became successful. According to the
AAAS Center for Science and Diplomacy, it has been successful for four reason:
● The formal agreement of two governments gave IUSSTF a firm mandate and space to
operate, and legitimized India’s position

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● It was created outside of government so as to insulate it from the vacillations of the
political relationship,
● It was small and consisted of rupees held by the U.S. government (approximately $7
million equivalent in 2000), and its interest was matched by the Indian Department of
Science & Technology, and
● the small size of the endowment allowed IUSSTF to operate under the radar and support
high-risk, high-impact initiatives, and it forced IUSSTF to think of results in terms of
outcomes, not inputs.
(Neureiter)
Since 2000, there have been some ups and downs in the relationship between the United
States and India. While things have continued to progress in manufacturing, science, health, and
IT (Neureiter), there have been some hiccups at the political level. In March 2005, the US
revoked Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s visa over riots in Gujarat (PTI) because they believed
him to be responsible for them. Indian courts, however, ruled that he was not responsible. He
even offered his resignation, but the BJP party refused to accept it and requested that he stay in
his position. In 2014 Modi was elected to the Prime Minister position. US Secretary of State,
John Kerry, went to India for a week in what was the first U.S. cabinet-level visit with the Modi
government. Together with Indian External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, Kerry co-chaired
the fifth round of the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue on July 31, 2014 (Pant). Since that time,
Modi has visited the United States five times, with that last time being in June 2017. Each of
those trips has been to keep positive business relations flowing between the two countries
(Panda). They are now strategically working together in areas of defense, territorial issues in

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regards to China, and in development of trade, commerce, and investment. All of those issues
were highlighted in the last meeting with President Donald Trump (Panda).
Conclusion
It has taken almost a century for the United States to come around and view India as a
partner in world affairs, but it is finally happening. Since India is the largest democracy in the
world, the two countries have many shared values and ideologies. With India being one of the
most populated countries with a lot of resources, and with a history that no other country can
compare to, it is surprising in many ways that the United States has failed to recognize India for
what the country is and offer its support, and to see what India has to offer, or can afford to offer,
in return. After centuries of oppression by the Mughals, Portuguese, and British, it is amazing
how quickly India has climbed out of the hole and continues to shine, even when help is hard to
find. As long as the two countries continue to work together in the way they currently are, both
of them have a bright future ahead of them. The United States may be decades late, but at least
things are moving in the right direction.

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