In 1965 and 1966 India suffered two failed monsoons. The country was desperate for food grains. It turned to the US which had a policy of helping nations with food shortages. Called PL480 the Peace for Food initiative had the full support of President Kennedy and President Lyndon Johnson. The US had signed agreements with India going back to 1955. India was receiving Wheat, Rice and Corn under the agreement. The revenue raised by the Indian government from the sale of these grains was used for Indian Government approved projects. They were categorised as long term loans to India. President Lyndon Johnson however linked the aid to reforms being introduced by recipient countries so as to boost their food production. He also expected foreign policy support. The US was heavily involved in Vietnam at the time. There were irritants as India under Nehru had opted for heavy industrialisation rather than agricultural reforms. Indian sympathies also seemed to be with Vietnam. It condemned the bombing of Hanoi. Johnson refused to commit food aid until an agreement to adopt the Green revolution package was signed between the two countries. On the fiscal front, foreign aid, which was hitherto a key factor in preventing devaluation of the rupee, was finally cut off and India was told that it had to liberalise its restrictions on trade before foreign aid would again materialise. Newly elected Prime Minister Indira Gandhi made a trip to the US in March 1966 and met President Lyndon Johnson. An Alabama newspaper wrote : ‘New Indian Leader comes with a begging bowl’. With a change in government policy India had a Green revolution and became self sufficient in food. The introduction of Mexican high yield seeds also helped. The US helped India in its need of the hour and also helped to prompt a Green revolution. Canada too had been giving grains to India with no strings attached. Today as the world grapples with CoronaVirus, India is returning the favour. India is the largest provider of generic drugs globally. Indian pharmaceutical sector industry supplies over 50% of global demand for various vaccines, 40% of generic demand in the US and 25% of all medicine in the UK. Last year India earned over $ 6 billion selling the drug and related products. The US wants the malaria drug Hydroxychloroquine as well as Paracetamol. It believes that Hydroxychloroquine might be a cure for CoronaVirus. India has a huge stockpile of the drug. Many more countries including Brazil and Britain want the drug. Prime Minister Modi is ready to oblige. Just shows how far India has come since it started with nothing in 1947. Successive occupying countries had left it stripped of all wealth and infrastructure. The world is a family, ‘ Vasudev Kutumbakam’. Prime Minister Modi is following this eternal Indian teaching.
Nitin Mehta
9th April 2020.
Surat, India.