This is an excellent question. IMHO, India should be ashamed to seek foreign aid at all. During the Tsunami, India, and rightly so, politely refused help from other countries... it felt it could handle it.
India needs to first get rid of its near total, rampant corruption that exists in the government, the government waste, and unwieldy bureaucracy. With all the scams going on, it will be little wonder if this foreign aid is not siphoned off as soon as it hits Indian shores. If India has any of that backbone left, it should stop taking and depending on foreign aid. As far as billionaires are concerned, Indians can never be Warren Buffets or Bill Gates. Which well-to-Indian has the guts, or the big heart to part with half their income. --Ram On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 10:02 AM, Rini Kakati <[email protected]>wrote: > > Now British people are moaning, grumbling about sending such huge aid to > India for Orissa, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh but not Assam. As India is > independent and can stand on their own feet - they reckon. Is it true? > > May be flood victims of Assam can apply too ! > > Rini Kakati > > Why are we giving £1bn aid to India? A nation with three times as many > billionaires as we have (and its own space programme) > > Britain is to give more than £1billion in aid to India over the next > > four years, even though it has almost three times as many billionaires > as we do. > Ministers defended handing around £280million a year in > taxpayers’ cash to one of the world’s biggest economies. > They > insist it will re-energise the relationship with the former colony and > claim it still needs international aid. > However, critics pointed > out that India is a nuclear power, has its own space programme and is > rich enough to donate money to poor African nations each year. > Andrew > Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, says Britain will > channel its aid to the three poorest states in India. > Speaking on > Radio 4, he said it was ‘the right place for us to be’. > He added: > ‘They do have a space programme, but on the other hand there are more > poor people in India than in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa and the > average income of an Indian citizen is only one third of that of a > Chinese person.’ > The Coalition has already axed aid to economic > powerhouse economies such as Russia and China. But Department for > International Development sources claim India is ‘different’. > A > spokesman said: ‘Our development programme is in transition, but now is > not the time to end it completely. > ‘We will not be in India > forever. But as part of the revitalised British relationship with India, > following the Prime Minister’s successful visit last year, our > development partnership has an important role to play.’ > Despite its immense poverty, India is home to some of the richest > people on earth. The wealthiest Indian is Mukesh Ambani, chairman of > Reliance Industries and the fourth richest man in the world. > But > perhaps the best known billionaire in India is Vijay Mallya, the > eccentric 55-year-old owner of the United Breweries Group that produces > Kingfisher beer and is behind Kingfisher Airlines. > He also owns a > Formula One team, and one of the world’s biggest private yachts - the > 312ft Indian Empress. > Sceptics believe much of Britain’s aid is as much about strengthening > British trade ties as helping the poor. > In his visit last year, > David Cameron lobbied hard on behalf of British business. > The > trip led to a £686million aircraft deal for defence contractor BAE > Systems and engine makers Rolls-Royce. > Aid to India will be channelled to the states of Orissa, Madhya > Pradesh and Bihar, with half the programme going into private-sector > schemes. > Much of this cash will be given to the Commonwealth > Development Corporation, a controversial quango that paid bosses bonuses > and lavish expenses. > But Labour’s former foreign office minister > Gisela Stewart said Mr Mitchell had his priorities ‘all wrong’. > She > added: ‘We would be better off spending the money on counter-terrorism > in Afghanistan or on micro-finance schemes in Bangladesh rather than > pouring money into a nuclear power with more billionaires than Britain.’ > Website: > http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1357056/Britains-1bn-aid-India-nation-3-times-billionaires-have.html > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > [email protected] > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
