Foreign Aid to India (An Old and Rare Book)

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The Indo-US bilateral relationship which was based on US-Aid to India had no deep roots. Its growth was rather greatly retarded by constant misunderstandings. India did not want American friendship on the basis of US-Aid. Every country gave aid or received aid some way or the other. What India received as "AID" was loan repayable with interest. India received US aid in large quantity. But the US economic assistance was very expensive to India. It helped India in some areas but it helped the United States to a greater extent.

India followed a policy of non-alignment because India wanted permanent peace and did not want to get entangled in Cold War or such agreements. But the United States did not believe in India's non-alignment policy. Neither did the United States appreciate the development of heavy industries in the Public Sector of her economy. Although the initial talks were with some US company for setting up of Steel industry in India, they backed out. Under those critical circumstances, the Soviet Union came in and helped India with the steel mills in India for India's development and prosperity.

BROJENDRA NATH BANERJEE, M.A. Econ, LLB (INDIA), M.A. Commn (USA) is a professional Consultant in Management, Marketing and Export promotion. He was appointed to take the position of Vice-President in charge of Consultancy and Research Development with an American Corporation in the USA. His Consultancy services have been commissioned among others by the leading Manufacturers Exporting Houses, Missions and the Export Promotion Councils. As a Free-Lance Journalist and Special Correspondent, Mr. Banerjee contributed numerous articles to various trade journals both in India and abroad. Among others, he is the author of books: "Management of Christian Organisations in India. 2. No Flow of Foreign Money. 3. How to Communicate the Good News (in Press).

The present project on foreign Aid began some years ago when I was the Principal Purchasing Officer of the Ford Foundation India Field Office in New Delhi (1963-66). The concept of foreign aid and particularly the US aid to India, striving for peace, stability and prosperity as a promise of global co-operation, which was inherited from the post-war era, remained elusive as a self fulfilling potential for the preservation of human life and human society. When I completed my Master degree of Arts in Economies from the Calcutta University in 1956, US aid no longer appeared to be a blueprint for an expanded economic relationship between India and the United States. In fact, it gradually became a potential source of conflict.

As a research scholar with the Institute of Asian Economic Affairs, Tokyo (Japan). I conducted study on "Industrial Productivity of Public Enterprises in India during 1960-62" along with a Japanese research fellow. Professor Noboru Tabe, when at the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta I noticed that US aid to India was a mere feeding programme and as such was either arresting or reversing the development and progress of India so painstakingly achieved. While a decisive advantage of the US aid was hard to calculate, the appearance of India in front of mighty America as "inferior" whatever its actual significance fostered a degree of dependence. So the relationship of "equality" between India and the United States was incompatible while the United States was aiding India with PL-480 surplus foodgrains. Still both the countries were equally Sovereign Democratic Republics. This mutual constraint between India and the United States, led to the gradual and cordial relation and association of India with the Soviet Union through India's ability to shape her destiny while retaining her individuality as a non-aligned nation.

**Contents and Sample Pages**