"I don't ever want us ever to have to beg for food grains." - (former indian PM) Indira Gandhi
> While the war was raging in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific – a war in which an estimated 2.5 million Indians fought for Britain, with 87,000 being killed – back home in Bengal, a horrendous famine struck ... Churchill’s War Cabinet “ordered the build-up of a stockpile of wheat for feeding European civilians after they had been liberated. So 170,000 tons of Australian wheat bypassed starving India – destined not for consumption but for storage,” as well as exporting rice from India at a time when millions were dying back in Bengal. “The War Cabinet’s shipping assignments made in August 1943, shortly after Amery had pleaded for famine relief, show Australian wheat flour travelling to Ceylon, the Middle East, and Southern Africa – everywhere in the Indian Ocean but to India. Those assignments show a will to punish,” continues Mukerjee. This imperialist logic will not surprise many with a knowledge of the history of the British Empire – they did the same in Ireland in the 1840s, among other places ... ( - https://historycollection.com/julian-apostate-incredible-lif... )
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> In an unprecedented move, the President had taken charge of overseeing the aid supplies, almost becoming a desk officer reviewing the grain shipments on a monthly basis. With these checks and short supplies, a nearly 'ship-to-mouth' regimen had been imposed. Simply put, with short-tether at play, the supply lines had been tightened, ensuring only enough grains were released to last about a month's supply. This was POTUS playing hardball and holding onto the shipments ... A series of liberalization reforms were undertaken, that among other things, included a new agricultural policy, delicensing of various industries, ease on imports, and a massive 37% devaluation of the Indian rupee. Johnson was impressed ... But by July, the relations were already strained as Johnson was livid with India's strong stance on US actions in Vietnam. When told that the Indians were saying exactly the same thing as the UN Secretary-General and the Pope were, Johnson retorted: "The Pope and U Thant don't need our wheat."
> ... On August 23, 1966, US Aid Administrator Bell and Secretaries Freeman and Rusk urged the release of 2.5 million tons of wheat to avoid breaks in the supply. The President refused to act, and in response, he wrote, "We must hold onto all the wheat we can. Send nothing unless we break an iron-bound agreement by not sending." ... Even the American press — including the New York Times and Washington Post — criticised the US pressure tactics on a country facing a famine situation. ( - https://owlcation.com/humanities/Indo-US-Relations-Famine-Ai... )
Ultimately, this US pressure and extortion forced India to focus on self-sufficiency in agriculture, and pushed us towards a closer relationship with the USSR who were more "understanding" and "kind". After the Bangladesh liberation war, Indo - US relationship had sunk to a new low and India stopped accepting food aid from the US.
It was this kind of exploitation and bullying that taught India the valuable lesson of the need to be self-reliant in agriculture, to preserve its sovereignty. Today, despite our billion+ population and frail agricultural economy, India is the largest producer (25% of global production) of pulses in the world and the largest producer of milk, jute and pulses. It has the world's second-largest cattle population. It is the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, cotton and groundnuts, as well as the second-largest fruit and vegetable producer, accounting for 10.9% and 8.6% of the world fruit and vegetable production, respectively.