FERTILIZER INDUSTRY IN INDIA 33 dence has come to be widely held/together with its corollary that the remedy lies in the development of a technological base. Once they build an independent technological base, the developing countries, it is argued, can come out of the exploitative relations with the developed world. Without minimising the importance of technological dependence in contributing to overall dependence, the present paper argues that exclusive emphasis upon the technology factor alone leads to a rather simplistic understanding. Indeed even the development of a considerable technological base in a Third World country is no guarantee against the perpetuation of unequal relations with imperialism. To illustrate our argument* we would be considering the case of the development of the fertilizer industry in India and would show how the various external forces in different phases, have tried to undermine the development of an indigenous technology base, thereby attempting to perpetuate the ties of dependence of the country with the transnational corporations. We would first briefly discuss the evolution of the fertilizer industry in India and the development of an indigenous technology base in the industry. In Section II we would discuss the role played by the two An^erican organizations, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in undermining the technological development in the Indian industry. The effect of the operation of the transnational corporations and of the World Bank would be discussed in Sections III and IV. Finally, in Section V, we would try to provide some explanations for the extent of foreign influence discussed in the earlier sections. I: Evolution of the Indian Fertilizer Industry The process of development of the Indian fertilizer industry in a planned way began in the post-independence period. The industry had, however, made its beginnings in the country in the early years of the present century with the commissioning of the plant set up by the East India Distilleries (Parry) at Madras. But it was not before the commissioning of the first plant under public sector management in 1951 that serious thoughts were given to the question of the expansion programmes of the industry, and the limited role that the government visualized for the private sector in this area of industrial activity was made explicit in the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956. The fertilizer industry figured in the list of Schedule B industries, which meant that the future expansion of the industry was to be taken up by the public sector. The public sector, however, could not provide much stimulus for the growth of the industry. In the Second Plan period (1956-61), the production capacity in the industry increased only marginally with the commissioning of the Nangal plant The beginning of the Third Plan (1961-66) saw a relaxation of the government's policy in respect of the fertilizer industry. The government, for the first time after the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956, invited both Indian and foreign private capital to assist it in the development of the industry. The change in the policy of the government was in response to the recom-