333. Memorandum for the Record1

SUBJECT

  • Summary Record of the President’s Meeting with Indian Planning Minister Asoka Mehta

The President met with Indian Planning Minister Asoka Mehta and Ambassador B.K. Nehru this morning at 10:45 am. Messrs. Bell, Rostow and Handley were present.

The President began the meeting by saying how delighted he was to meet with Minister Mehta . He said that he had had good reports about the Minister’s discussions in Washington and invited him to tell him about what was going on in India. The President added that there was no area or people in which we were more interested or more concerned about. He said that the recent visit of Prime Minister Gandhi has been applauded in the United States and that we were inspired by what India was doing.

Minister Mehta made the following points:

(1)
He had just returned from Canada.
(2)
While the United States was building a “Great Society”, India was embarked on a “Great Change.” He spoke of the transformation of the structure of production and of the changes taking place in the minds of so many Indians. These changes kept people like him going. He spoke at length about progress in agriculture, family planning, and about the way younger people were coming to the fore. Farmers want to break away from traditions, putting pressure on him for electricity, fertilizer and irrigation. They are “clamoring for changes.” He mentioned a recent meeting to discuss how best to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth and he said that it was virtually unanimous that the best monument to Gandhi would be a program for rural electrification. (The President recalled that a substantial part of the talk he had with Prime Minister Nehru when he visited India concerned rural electrification.)
(3)
He said that the supply of fertilizers is the chief subject the Chief Ministers of the various Indian states discuss with him these days. They say they cannot go back to their states without some commitment on this subject.
(4)
In discussing family planning, he said that in 1965 there were more vasectomies than in the preceding 10 years. In five states annual [Page 638] targets for “the loop” had been reached within five months. Twenty-nine million IUD’s would be fitted within the next five years.
(5)
There were subtle changes taking place in the Indian society which gave him great confidence. India is no longer an under-developed country, although still not fully developed. Within a few years India would be largely self-reliant in transportation and power. India’s power program for the next five years was of the same order as that of Great Britain. At the end of the British rule in India, there were 35,000 miles of railroad but only 2.5 million kilowatts of power. In 1966–67 alone India was adding 2.5 to 3 million KVA’s.
(6)
When he told the Ministers of the various states that they had a choice between cutting development planning or raising taxes, they decided to raise taxes. India is collecting 8–900 million dollars additional taxes this year, the worst year in terms of economic and food problems in recent history.

The President then made the following points:

(1)
We were in a heavy budget year. He had moved the budget from $99 billion to $113 billion this year and with add-ons by Congress, Viet Nam and other things it may well go over $120 billion.
(2)
We had made no request of the Prime Minister or Subramaniam nor had we demanded conditions. He thought that relations between India and the United States had moved forward.
(3)
Subramaniam had made quite an impression on Secretary Freeman, our technicians and on himself. He felt that India was genuinely trying to face up to its problems.
(4)
He had seen in the newspapers that we had demanded concessions from the Prime Minister but this was not true. He had demanded no concessions but had listened to her and was inspired by what India was doing.
(5)
Americans were pleased with Tashkent. He realized that this was an election year in India—we had ours too—and therefore, he could understand certain problems. But we longed for both India and Pakistan to “bend a little” so that their resources would not be used for war. He pointed out there will be difficulties but that Tashkent was an important achievement and should be carried forward.
(6)
He hoped that Minister Mehta would go over economic criteria with George Woods, Secretary Rusk and AID Administrator Bell. While he could proceed on the general assumption that the Prime Minister and Subramaniam had demonstrated India’s needs and what India was doing to cope with its problems, we had to take into account certain standards and criteria since we had commitments to others, e.g. Pakistan, the Western Hemisphere, etc.
(7)
He thought that the talks with Subramaniam and the Prime Minister had fully justified his decision last year to wait until the Aid Bill was out of the way. There was now a complete atmosphere of trust and confidence between India and the United States.
(8)
He was grateful to Prime Minister Shastri for his efforts with Kosygin to get Hanoi to the peace table. He had understood that Shastri’s letter to him on this subject2 was probably the last he had written to a chief of state.
(9)
The visit of Prime Minister Gandhi was as perfect as any visit could be.
(10)
Despite the advice of some of his best friends and advisers, he had sent a special message to Congress on the Indian food problem and other matters. Congress had come through with a unanimous vote of confidence and was now part of the program. He attributed much of this success to the effect of the visits of Food Minister Subramaniam and Prime Minister Gandhi.
(11)
He had made no request of the Prime Minister or of India on Viet Nam. All we want is peace. If India can help, she will find that the United States and this administration would lean over backwards to achieve a lasting peace.
(12)
He invited Minister Mehta to attend the Diplomatic Reception tonight and hoped that they would be able to find a few minutes to talk together. He then said that since he was already late for his appointment in Detroit for the funeral of Senator McNamara (“funerals don’t wait even for Presidents of the United States”), he would like to see Minister Mehta again before he returned to India.

Following the President’s departure the group adjourned to Mr. Rostow’s office. A second meeting between the President and Minister Mehta was tentatively set up for 5:30 pm, May 5.3 Minister Mehta in reviewing his schedule noted that he was having luncheon on the Hill tomorrow with Senator Morse and others.

In responding to a question from Mr. Bell and Mr. Rostow, Mr. Mehta said meetings at the Bank were going well, although they were only now getting to the heart of the problem. He said that the extent of India’s economic liberalization depended on assistance that would be available from the Bank and other donors. He was seeing Mr. Woods this afternoon and hoped that they would come to grips with this problem at this meeting.

  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, India, Planning Minister Mehta Visit, 4/19–28/66. Secret. Drafted by Handley.
  2. Document 275.
  3. According to the President’s Daily Diary, there was a meeting between President Johnson and Mehta at 2:54 p.m. on May 5. (Johnson Library) No other record of this meeting has been found.