The Indian government is debating whether it should still accept any development aid from Britain, BBC online reports Thursday.
India is currently the biggest recipient of UK development aid, receiving about 1,25 billion US dollar over the three years to 2011. Britain’s Department for International Development (DfID) says it is reviewing its spending, and close dialogue with the Indian government will continue.
There are those who argue that India, which has an economy growing at nearly 10 per cent a year and a massive defence budget, simply does not need British development assistance.
On the other hand, nearly half a billion Indians are still desperately poor and efforts to reduce global poverty will make no significant progress if those figures do not improve.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told parliament recently that India would prefer to voluntarily surrender money if Britain made a decision to cut aid.
So as well as financial considerations in both countries, there is an element of national pride at stake, BBC notes – if Britain decides to cut aid to India, Delhi may say it does not want the money anyway.
Tilføjelse u-landsnyt:
Danmark besluttede for nogle år siden at indstille bistanden til Indien, angiveligt bl.a. fordi landet er en atommagt. Inderne reagerede ved at betale al udestående bistand tilbage.
