Statement by the President Upon Signing Resolution Supporting U.S. Participation in Food Relief for India.

I HAVE approved H.J. Res. 997, "To support United States participation in relieving victims of hunger in India and to enhance India's capacity to meet the nutritional needs of its people."

Through this joint resolution the Congress has acted with dispatch, statesmanship, and humanity.

It supports and endorses my recent offer to enlarge our food shipments to the people of India to help them avoid the suffering that would otherwise result from the worst drought in a century.

India simply cannot sustain its 500 million people from its drought-stricken resources until the next major harvest in November.

When others were in need and we could help, our people have always responded with responsibility and compassion.

However distant other lands may be, in the end our people understand that we are a part of a human family.

I am confident that the prompt reaction of the Congress will encourage the governments of other nations to help bridge the gap left in India by this great natural disaster.

Some nations, among them Canada, have already responded on a substantial scale. Others, with limited resources of their own, have, nevertheless, reached out generously to help.

We hope that all nations will pause now and ask themselves: What more can we do?

At stake is the salvation of countless families and, in particular, millions of children-a great nation's future citizens.

None of us can rest easy until we know in our hearts that we have done everything that is possible to protect them from malnutrition, hunger, and even from starvation itself.

I am confident from my talks with Prime Minister Gandhi that the Indian Government will use the time gained by our assistance-and that of others--to mount a determined and effective policy to raise India's own agricultural production. In the end, only by its own efforts can the people of India be fed.

Our assistance has already looked beyond the present drought to enlarging the next harvest. We granted some time ago a $50 million loan for chemical fertilizers and are helping Indian agriculture in many other ways. The assistance of many governments, international organizations, and private industry will all be required in this essential, long-run effort.

In other times, famine in one nation was regarded as a fact to be passively accepted.

Now, however imperfect our organization, we must learn to behave like a world community; for modern communications have brought nations closer than our own States were, not so long ago.

The joint resolution I approve today recognizes and contributes to this vision of where we are and where we must go.