Jimmy Carter Dies At 100: Why This Haryana Village Is Named After Ex-US President?

Jimmy Carter, the 39th US President passed away at the age of 100 in Georgia on Sunday. He was the longest-lived president in the history of the United States. 

He was the third American president to visit India, but the only one with a personal connection with the country. His mother, Lillian Carter, had served as a health volunteer with the Peace Corps in India during the late 1960s. 

The Story Behind The Name ‘Carterpuri’ 

The Carter Centre noted that on January 3, 1978, former US President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter visited the village of Daulatpur Nasirabad, located an hour southwest of New Delhi. 

“The visit was so successful that shortly after, village residents renamed the area ‘Carterpuri’ and remained in contact with the White House for the rest of President Carter’s tenure. The trip made a lasting impression: Festivities abounded in the village when President Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, and January 3 remains a holiday in Carterpuri,” the Carter Centre said. 

“In fact, since the Carter administration, the US and India have worked closely on energy, humanitarian aid, technology, space cooperation, maritime security, disaster relief, counterterrorism, and more. In the mid-2000s, the United States and India struck a landmark agreement to work toward full civil nuclear cooperation, and bilateral trade has since skyrocketed,” the centre said. 

President Jimmy Carter believed that shared democratic values were key to building a strong US-India relationship. This understanding laid the foundation for the two nations to grow closer in the decades after his presidency, according to the Carter Centre. 

During the signing of the Delhi Declaration with Prime Minister Morarji Desai, Carter highlighted the core of US-India friendship. He stated that the moral values of the people must guide the actions of both governments.

Jimmy Carter And India-US Relations  

During his address to the Indian Parliament on January 2, 1978, President Jimmy Carter spoke against authoritarianism and commended India for upholding democracy. “India's difficulties, which we often experience ourselves and which are typical of the problems faced in the developing world, remind us of the tasks that lie ahead. Not the Authoritarian Way,” Carter stated. 

The following day, at the signing of the Delhi Declaration with Prime Minister Morarji Desai, Carter underscored the moral foundation of US-India relations. “At the heart of the friendship between India and the US is their determination that the moral values of the people must also guide the actions of the states and the governments,” he said. 

“In fact, since the Carter administration, the US and India have worked closely on energy, humanitarian aid, technology, space cooperation, maritime security, disaster relief, counterterrorism, and more," the centre said. 

Carter believed that shared democratic principles were the cornerstone of a long-term partnership. The Carter Centre noted that since his administration, the US and India have collaborated on energy, humanitarian aid, technology, space, maritime security, disaster relief, counterterrorism, and more. 

In the mid-2000s, the two nations signed a landmark civil nuclear cooperation agreement, boosting bilateral trade.  

(With PTI inputs)