How India squanders British aid

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How India squanders British aid £1.4bn to a country that has its own space programme. In this damning investigation, the Mail reveals how it's scandalously wasted


By SUE REID | 2nd December 2011

At the Rolls-Royce showroom, behind imposing iron gates off dusty Ashoka Road, the chief salesman is pleased with his latest sale of a £600,000 Phantom to a billionaire Delhi businessman.

Thirty-five Phantoms, the biggest and most expensive Rolls-Royce, have been bought in India already in 2011. By the end of the year, another 35 will be sold to Indian tycoons and Bollywood film stars.

'There's always someone here with enough cash to buy a Rolls-Royce, even though the import tax doubles the price,' the sharp-suited salesman says with pride.

Ferrari, Aston Martin and Land Rover have each opened up showrooms here. On sale too is the king of supercars, the Bugatti Veyron, with an eye-watering price tag of almost £1.5 million.

The country is racing up the league of rich nations. Indeed, its soaring economy will outstrip the UK's by 2022. According to financial advisers Merrill Lynch, India has 153,000 dollar-millionaires — a 20 per cent rise in a year, compared with Britain's own paltry increase of less than 1 per cent.

Indians have squirrelled away more money in Swiss bank accounts (a total of £900"‰billion since independence from Britain in 1947) than the rest of the world combined.

And when they were invited recently by the Indian Government to exchange for paper money the gold bars and jewellery stashed in their homes (so pumping cash into the national economy), a horde of £160"‰billion was offered up.

Such is the economic power of India that it now gives out more foreign aid than it receives, and has handed over £3.5"‰billion to cement relations with impoverished Africa.

Meanwhile, it invests huge sums in ambitious projects: £2"‰billion will put the first Indian astronauts into space by 2016, and the annual defence budget tops £22"‰billion, with a third aircraft carrier now under construction in an Indian shipyard.

Perhaps the perfect example of the garish spending of India's newly-rich is the £2"‰billion, 27-storey skyscraper in Mumbai built by a local industrialist as a home for his wife and three children. It is the most expensive house anywhere in the world.

But if this is a nation with enormous reserves of wealth, it is also blighted by widespread and endemic corruption at every level of society.

An official report has revealed that 90 per cent of government officials have accepted a bribe for favours, from ripping up a speeding fine to rubber-stamping a building deal. Corruption, as the Indian prime minister confessed the other day, is as much a national sport as cricket.

No wonder that in broke Britain questions are at last being asked about why we are handing billions to India in aid. A new report from an independent watchdog says that the rapid expansion of the UK's aid programme has left taxpayers' money at risk from corruption and fraud overseas.

Odd thinking: Chancellor George Osborne is slashing budgets at home, yet David Cameron does not want to cut aid to foreign nations

The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) last week criticised the work of the British government department that doles out the money as 'fragmented' and in need of 'significant improvement' to stop millions being squandered.

It also demanded anti-corruption measures to protect funds sent to countries — such as India — where there is a high risk of fraud.

They are concerning findings, given that David Cameron has decided to give India £1.4"‰billion between now and 2015. The sum is almost 1 per cent of Britain's own £159"‰billion debts.

So do we need to re-think our aid profligacy, especially in light of the shockingly grim economic forecast announced by Chancellor George Osborne this week? Despite the fact that Osborne has extended his austerity programme in Britain — which includes cuts to welfare payments and housing benefits — beyond the next election, David Cameron doesn't seem to think so.

The Government is trimming just £1.164"‰billion off the aid budget over the next three years, meaning we are still committed to spending more than £29"‰billion on overseas aid between next April and April 2015.

Earlier this week the Government announced that £330"‰million of taxpayers cash will be poured into Africa to help them with climate change, funding solar panels and investment in low-carbon transport. A few months ago, he made a speech during a trade visit to Africa admitting that foreign aid has been 'wasted', but that it was still imperative for us to shell out more.

But does India really need our funds, and, perhaps more pertinently, what's happening to it when it gets there?

During my inquiries in India, I discovered that much of our money is frittered away or stolen.

India's assassinated former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi once estimated that only 15 per cent of funds given to the country's welfare schemes, whether financed by foreign or Indian aid, reach the poor people they are meant to help.

His views were endorsed by Barun Mitra, director of a Delhi-based think-tank, the Liberty Institute, who told me: 'I am surprised that Department For International Development [DFID] officials work so hard to continue their presence in India. Is it really to help some of the poorest Indians, or is it to justify their own existence?

'Apart from wastage, which is hardly a surprise in India, there seems to be little effort to assess how the money is spent.'

A growing group of 'aid-sceptics' go much further. One leading economist and expert on the Third World, Zambian-born Dambisa Moyo, says that aid has made the poor poorer. 'Aid has been, and continues to be, an unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster for most parts of the developing world,' she warns.

So are we helping at all? I spoke to politicians, officials, teachers, doctors and parents in four regions of India where the British government's DFID runs education and health programmes.

The very first primary school I went to — opened this summer in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh state in central India — was half empty of pupils.

It had not one desk or chair because they had never been delivered and are presumed stolen from the factory where they were made or from the lorries taking them to school.

The children sat on the concrete floor, which was riddled with holes because the builders had put too much sand into the concrete mix so they could, I was told, sell off the spare concrete.

Officials admit that £70"‰million of the £388"‰million given by Britain towards a national flagship education programme called Sarva Shiksha Abbiyan ('education for all'), which promises free classes for every child from the age of six to 14, has been squandered though widespread corruption and theft.

'I think the British people should be asking their Government why it is funding such bad-value projects out of your public exchequer.'
Standards of writing, reading and arithmetic are down since the education programme began. Half of ten-year-olds cannot read a sentence, and only a third can perform a simple sum. Meanwhile, teachers in a quarter of primary schools are routinely absent because they take part-time jobs outside school to compensate for low pay.

In another scandal, India's auditor-general discovered £14 million of DFID aid had simply been snaffled by Indian officials and never reached schools.

Education chiefs used the money to buy themselves cars. An estimated 8,000 colour TVs bought for schools never arrived. In any case, many would never have worked because few of the classrooms have electricity. What's more, tens of thousands of pounds were 'allocated' to schools that don't even exist.

As a result, even poor parents scrimp to send their children to private schools to escape the government-run ones which receive British aid. A recent report by Indian vice-president Shri Hamid Ansari revealed that British taxpayers' money spent on education has been wasted. 'Close scrutiny reveals a sobering truth, that this large investment has been spent poorly,' he said bluntly.

Certainly, many Indians I met scoffed at DFID's boast that: 'Because a third of the world's poor people live in India, this has been our largest programme for more than a decade. It is our bold ambition to give every mother the healthcare she needs to give birth in safety and raise a healthy child who has a chance to learn.'

'The parents know we give out free uniforms, books and pencils. But within days they begin to drop out, one by one. Some simply come for the free midday meal.'
In a country with such deep-rooted poverty (despite the inexorable rise of the rich) that is a mountain to climb.

Indian cities are riddled with slums and there are 500 in Bhopal alone. Thousands of families — even those from the middle classes — live in squalor. Sewage runs down the muddy streets lined with shacks made of corrugated iron with no front doors.

It was in one such slum — Rahul Nagar — that I found the new primary school with no furniture. On the walls were posters of the English alphabet and nursery rhymes. On a Tuesday morning, only 170 of the children on the roll of 350 turned up. In the class for eight and nine-year-olds there were 21 children instead of the expected 70.

The headmistress Ratnaprabha Verma says she is not surprised because the pupils have nowhere to sit, apart from the floor, and their parents object to this.

'At five or six, the children enrol in a big rush. The parents know we give out free uniforms, books and pencils. But within days they begin to drop out, one by one. Some simply come for the free midday meal and leave before classes start again. There are no toilets here. Even with the aid money, no one thought to build them.'

'The equipment was bought with your aid money, but there was no manpower to operate the machines. This is happening in all other areas, too.'
All this begs the question: why does DFID insist that our money gives millions of Indian children free schooling and their families a better life? As youth worker Sen Vijay, 27, said with a concerned look as we travelled to the Bhopal school: 'We think your government is playing a game with statistics. It means they can boast they are helping India. But it is a lie.'

His words are echoed by one of India's most respected academics, Delhi University's former dean of education. Professor Anil Sadgopal told me: 'I don't know what the British mean when they say their free school project is 'proving very effective and making remarkable progress.

'I think the British people should be asking their Government why it is funding such bad-value projects out of your public exchequer.'

His question is equally pertinent when it comes to Indian maternity services, which have received £60"‰million in British aid.

At the first maternity clinic I visited, an operating theatre with thousands of pounds of equipment was gathering dust because a surgeon, anaesthetist and theatre nurse cannot be hired as there is no money to pay them.

A rare oversight? Not at all, Sudhir Pattnaik, an editor and political commentator in the impoverished north-eastern state of Orissa, has revealed: 'In the health sector, the British Government provides infrastructure which is unused. So what is the point of putting the money in? When somebody comes with a big money bag and says: "I will support this," the state government here will say yes. But there is no practical plan.'

He added: 'At one city hospital, the medical officer took me to an intensive care unit. Inside, there were six beds and life support units but no patients. The equipment was bought with your aid money, but there was no manpower to operate the machines. This is happening in all other areas, too.'

'None of your Government people has been to see what is happening here. You are the only British person to come and ask where your country's money has gone.'
Back in the Madhya Pradesh region, thousands have been spent on giving pregnant women cash incentives to persuade them to travel, often miles, to a clinic to give birth. But what do they find when they get there?

The region's health officer, Raj Gopal Nair, told me that women often give birth by candlelight because there is no electricity. Many of the clinics' doctors have quit because of poor pay.

I visited a small maternity clinic in busy Bhopal. It has five beds, although it caters for 250,000 people. The operating theatre on the first floor has a new anaesthesia machine which is still in its plastic cover, the instructions in an unopened manual. The theatre bed is unused. Not one child has been delivered here since it was opened a few years ago.

'We do not have the money to pay for medical staff to perform an operation, such as an emergency Caesarean, in the operating theatre. We can only deal with the uncomplicated births at our clinic,' says Dr Rajasree Bajaj, the medical director, bluntly. 'The expensive equipment bought with your aid money has been wasted.'

Then she adds, with sadness: 'None of your Government people has been to see what is happening here. You are the only British person to come and ask where your country's money has gone.'

How India squanders British aid: £1.4bn to a country with its own space programme | Mail Online
 

The Messiah

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I knew before i opened this thread that some butthurt angrez would have written it.
 

The Messiah

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What a complete and utter shambles sadly its not just India who have the begging bowl out each year its Israel as well the ammount of money they take from us each year is nothing short of a disgrace yet they have al the miltary sophistication all paid for by us mugs the tax payers its time we said enough is enough and no more!
:pound: :pound: :pound: deluded fool!

Ironically the worst rated posts in that article are actually the most sane posts.
 
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Dovah

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^^Okay I missed that during the first read, I hope they stop giving us money now seeing how they are running out of planes for their carriers. :sad:.

Ironically the worst rated posts in that article are actually the most sane posts.
Last edited by The Messiah; 03-12-11 at 01:12 AM.
I actually am happy that such a trend is prevalent among the British netizens, their deteriorating IQ levels give me pleasure.
 
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W.G.Ewald

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What's the story on that Kohinoor ruby?
 

W.G.Ewald

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The Brits stole it from us and now refuse to give it back.
Take a page from the Scots.8)

On November 15, 1996, the Stone of Destiny, on which Scottish kings had been crowned since time immemorial, was brought back to Scotland 700 years after the army of King Edward I of England carted it off to Westminster Abbey in London. Now safely ensconced in Edinburgh Castle, the 152 kg rock popularly known outside Scotland as the "Stone of Scone" has joined the other Scottish royal regalia -- crown, scepter ,sword and jewels -- in a closely-guarded museum.
The Stone of Destiny a.k.a. the Stone of Scone, by Neil Harding McAlister. ( Neil McAlister ). Brigadoonery.
 

KS

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Though I wholeheartedly agree that much of the aid money is lost in 'transit', why are the Brits complaining ?

After all it was it only on their request that we allowed them to repay what they stole from us in annual installments, masquerading as aid ?

BTW we do have many things outside our borders - Kohinoor which Ranjit Singh donated to Jagannath Temple, the Peacock throne etc which the prick Nader Shah took to Persia.

http://organiser.org/Encyc/2011/10/24/Indian-treasures,-at-home-and-abroad%EF%BB%BF.aspx?NB=&lang=4&m1=&m2=&p1=&p2=&p3=&p4=
 
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civfanatic

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BTW we do have many things outside our borders - Kohinoor which Ranjit Singh donated to Somnath Temple, the Peacock throne etc which the prick Nader Shah took to Persia.
Ranjit Singh donated the Koh-i-Noor to a temple in Orissa, not Somnath.

At any rate the Koh-i-Noor belongs here in Warangal, where it was first mined and served as the chief treasure of the Kakatiya dynasty,
 

KS

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Ranjit Singh donated the Koh-i-Noor to a temple in Orissa, not Somnath.

At any rate the Koh-i-Noor belongs here in Warangal, where it was first mined and served as the chief treasure of the Kakatiya dynasty,
Silly me..yeah it was the Jagannath Temple...

No probs,,,You can keep it in Telengana & KCR can make a crown with it once he wins there ;)

BTW what's up with the avatar ? LOL
 

Bangalorean

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That's fine with me. I am a relative of KCR, maybe I will get it for myself eventually.
You are a relative of KCR???

Jai Telangana!!! :hail:

Please don't forget to "auction" some land in Hyderabad to me after Telangana is formed. :namaste:
 

niharjhatn

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The Brits stole it from us and now refuse to give it back.
The two things worth seeing on that island is EPL and the national museum. If they give back the Kohinoor, they'll have to give back everything else they have stolen from all the other nations as well.

BTW the argument that the British white supremacist uses is that the Kohinoor is not Indian so they will hang on to it rather than return it to the previous owners.

The Brits KNOW that their money is squandered. They still give it to limit international criticism and to buy the silence of the politicians.
 

shuvo@y2k10

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the brit vermins looted india for 200 years,killed 10 million people and divided our country and now these vermins are questioning about the aid?the aid can be compared as microscopic return to the gigantic amount looted from our motherland by those vermins.hundreds of indian jewelery and archaelogical artefacts are stolen from india by the brits which include the kohinoor.i think the mmrca should go to rafael and hawk contract must be terminated to teach them a lesson
 

civfanatic

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A trend that I am starting to see among British online comments is that the "worst rated" comments are usually the most intelligent (proof of Britain's utter mental backwardness). For example, this is the "worst rated" comment on that article:

the paltry aid given should give us a feel good factor to offset the gazillions usurped until a few decades ago through centuries of imperialistic siphoning.... oh I forgot no one teaches real history in schools anymore.
 

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