Introduction
On February 12, 1951, Harry S. Truman, at the time the President of the U.S., formally recommended to U.S. Congress that India be provided with two million tons of grain “in emergency assistance in order to meet a food crisis of potentially catastrophic dimensions.”1 Truman’s decision was influenced by several reasons. Firstly, it was driven by humanitarian purposes, aimed at meeting India’s food needs. Secondly, the centrality of India as a new independent state (created on August 15, 1947), with its vigorous leadership, rich natural resources, size, and population, convinced American policymakers to strengthen diplomatic ties with ‘a major Asiatic power.’ India, at the beginning of the Cold War, was led by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s non-alignment philosophy against Western colonialism. This stance was influenced by the Korean War, and India was alone in a position to compete with Chinese communism for hegemony in Southeast Asia.2
