No Strings Attached ? India’s policies and Foreign Aid (1947-1966)

India made non-alignement the cornerstone of its foreign policy and opted for a self-reliant model of development whereby external financing was meant to play a marginal role. This uncompromising political credo, which resisted foreign interference, however, had to face harsh economic realities leading to a growing recourse to foreign aid, as well as to military assistance when threats to security began to escalate in the region. This book discusses the repercussions on India’s policies that the dependence on foreign aid might have had at the behest of a donor state. It also focuses on the factors that have motivated the United States and the Soviet Union in their aid policy to a country whose geo-strategic importance and whose human and natural resources constituted an important component of the Cold War. It also considers the reactions that these motivations gave rise to in India. This study relies extensively upon primary sources, offering a first hand insight into the decision-making process, with archival material drawn from American, British and French diplomatic records.