From 50 Years Ago: Western Aid and India

It is no longer a secret that India and the rest of the world, particularly the Western world, do not see eye to eye on external aid for development...What is involved is something much more fundamental, an understanding on both sides of the common interest in banishing poverty from the greater part of the world, without impairing peace and independence. In a world riven by ideologies and prejudices, this may be asking for the moon. But when science can make nonsense of that idiom, there is no reason why statesmanship should not…

There was a period a couple of years ago when it looked as if the natural relation between capital imports and economic development had at last come to be recognised as important in itself. Overtly, at any rate, it was accepted that developmental aid, to be effective, should be immunised from temporary factors and geared to a long-term programme. It was in this climate that the Aid India and Pakistan Clubs were formed, the IDA and the Development Loan Fund pushed into being.