United States Agency for International Development - India

History The United States has invested in India’s development since President Harry Truman’s signed the India Emergency Food Assistance Act in 1951. USAID’s program has evolved progressively over the decades from emergency provision of food, to infrastructure development, capacity building of key Indian institutions, support for the opening of the Indian economy and more. U.S. economic assistance has followed a similar trajectory. In 1960, food aid accounted for 92 percent of the annual assistance budget. In the late 1970s, projects included rural electrification, fertilizer promotion, malaria control, agricultural credit, integrated health and population programs, irrigation schemes and social forestry. By the mid-1980's, the program shifted to focus on science and technology with an emphasis on policy and institutional reforms. Programs addressed agricultural research, alternative-energy technology development, biomedical research, water resources management and family planning. Technology transfer and institution capacity building were integral to these activities. From 1992 to 2002, approximately 65 percent of the annual U.S. foreign assistance funding for India was dedicated to food aid. The sixty-year-old India food aid program ended in 2011, and the 2012 budget request has no food aid.