UK defends 1 billion pound aid to India

[Raja.Pakistani]

As an outcry blew over Britain''s decision to continue over 1 billion pounds in aid to New Delhi until 2015, the David Cameron government has defended the move, saying India symbolises a development paradox.

The vociferous tabloid press led the criticism today with headlines such as ''Scandal of our 1b pounds aid to India'' (Daily Express) and ''Our 1b pounds aid to India: A nation with three times as many billionaires as we have'' (Daily Mail).

International development secretary Andrew Mitchell defended the aid on the ground that India symbolised a ''development paradox'' - it has a growing economy and gives aid to Africa, but also has more poor than the entire sub-Saharan Africa.

He said British aid would henceforth focus on three states: Orissa, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

A spokesman for the Department for International Development said: "The coalition Government has announced that British aid to Russia and China will end. India is different.
Our development programme is in transition, but now is not the time to end it completely. For the next four years, we will focus only on the poorest states in India".

"We will not be in India forever. But as part of the revitalised British relationship with India, following the PM''s successful visit last year, our development partnership has an important role to play." he added.

However, criticism of the aid to India is likely to figure in the House of Commons today.

"It is completely unacceptable to be giving aid to a country that can afford to spend vast amounts of money on nuclear weapons and a space programme," Conservative MP Philip Davies said.

"India''s economy is growing at a rate that we can only dream of. It is quite extraordinary to be giving aid money to a country that could end up lending it back to us," he added.

Emma Boon, of the TaxPayers'' Alliance, said: "India is one of the world''s fastest-growing economies so it is now hard to justify these huge aid payments from the UK. At a time when we are making spending cuts at home, it is unfair to force taxpayers to pour another 1 billion pounds in aid, over the next four years, into a country that has a space programme.

"Much of this aid never reaches those who really need it and the Department for International Development would do better to focus on trying to prevent abuses of the aid they are already giving out, before promising more." (more) PTI PS

 

[BATMAN]

Sounds like MRCA will soon see some light.
Poor Brits tax payers still cannot match to the value of Pakistani transit aid to India.

 

[tallboy123]

why is UK soo keen to give us aid....???
India takes a active part in afghanistan re-building..
that $1 billion they give us will be invested in afghanistan for the development of that nation...
UK is just giving a proxy aid to Afghanistan

---------- Post added at 03:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:14 AM ----------

Sounds like MRCA will soon see some light.
Poor Brits tax payers still cannot match to the value of Pakistani transit aid to India.

remember 2010 floods????

 

[BATMAN]

remember 2010 floods????

If you are asking about Pakistani flood! yes i know a lot more but how does flood relate to aid?

 

[Respect4Respect01]

why is UK soo keen to give us aid....???
India takes a active part in afghanistan re-building..
that $1 billion they give us will be invested in afghanistan for the development of that nation...
UK is just giving a proxy aid to Afghanistan

---------- Post added at 03:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:14 AM ----------


remember 2010 floods????

ppl like u look stupid, wtf does aid have to do with flood, look at japan they have very good economy but they still need aid

 

[iPakMan]

ppl like u look stupid, wtf does aid have to do with flood, look at japan they have very good economy but they still need aid

One might argue that the money is for the less fortunate people of India.

 

[Lord Of Gondor]

We are england's number one trading partner and in a few more years,we will probably outgrow them.So,they need us more than we need them.

 

[no_name]

Not likely at all, but would be the height of irony if one day there ever is a 'Indian britain'.

 

[Mech]

I thought britain already belonged to india...but whatever.....

 

[kingkobra]

one billion is nothing compared to what they took from us and what they did to us

 

[farhan_9909]

1 billion

i dnt knw why world is giving aid to the super duper rich indians.

 

[Paan Singh]

1 billion

i dnt knw why world is giving aid to the super duper rich indians.

u are also given aid,china is also given aid.........
so wats next??
india is not an exception

 

[twoplustwoisfour]

1 billion pounds over 3 years? That's almost 0.1% of India's budgetary allocation towards development expenditure.

We are not saying that we don't need this money, it's just not worth all the brickbats and stones....

 

[farhan_9909]

u are also given aid,china is also given aid.........
so wats next??
india is not an exception

i know bt they people call us beekari because of receiving aid

thanx to british i future i will call them the same

 

[desioptimist]

As an outcry blew over Britain''s decision to continue over 1 billion pounds in aid to New Delhi until 2015, the David Cameron government has defended the move, saying India symbolises a development paradox.

The vociferous tabloid press led the criticism today with headlines such as ''Scandal of our 1b pounds aid to India'' (Daily Express) and ''Our 1b pounds aid to India: A nation with three times as many billionaires as we have'' (Daily Mail).

International development secretary Andrew Mitchell defended the aid on the ground that India symbolised a ''development paradox'' - it has a growing economy and gives aid to Africa, but also has more poor than the entire sub-Saharan Africa.

He said British aid would henceforth focus on three states: Orissa, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

A spokesman for the Department for International Development said: "The coalition Government has announced that British aid to Russia and China will end. India is different.
Our development programme is in transition, but now is not the time to end it completely. For the next four years, we will focus only on the poorest states in India".

"We will not be in India forever. But as part of the revitalised British relationship with India, following the PM''s successful visit last year, our development partnership has an important role to play." he added.

However, criticism of the aid to India is likely to figure in the House of Commons today.

"It is completely unacceptable to be giving aid to a country that can afford to spend vast amounts of money on nuclear weapons and a space programme," Conservative MP Philip Davies said.

"India''s economy is growing at a rate that we can only dream of. It is quite extraordinary to be giving aid money to a country that could end up lending it back to us," he added.

Emma Boon, of the TaxPayers'' Alliance, said: "India is one of the world''s fastest-growing economies so it is now hard to justify these huge aid payments from the UK. At a time when we are making spending cuts at home, it is unfair to force taxpayers to pour another 1 billion pounds in aid, over the next four years, into a country that has a space programme.

"Much of this aid never reaches those who really need it and the Department for International Development would do better to focus on trying to prevent abuses of the aid they are already giving out, before promising more." (more) PTI PS

This has been reported many times. Old news.
Indian govt is in a difficult situation, they cant say no to aid, as it will mean they dont want welfare of poor people due to ego.
They cant ask for aid as they spend billions on security and space program.
So it will remain upto british, as to whether they want to continue or not.

As Indian, I want them to continue giving aid, it is not the amount that is important(the amount is a small fraction of what India spends on poor) but the quality of aid. These aids are properly audited and managed, and give results, not thrown to a blackhole (unlike africa or pakistan)