India's Mars mission sparks another UK aid row

[gslv mk3]

India's Mars mission sparks another UK aid row
London: The announcement of India's Mars mission has sparked another round of tabloid-driven controversy over the wisdom of sending 280 million pounds of British aid to India every year when the country can afford such costly space programmes.

The mission to Mars was announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the Independence Day speech in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Sending British aid overseas has become a sensitive issue in the context of recession, deep funding cuts and major job losses as the David Cameron government deals with a large budget deficit. However, the budget for British aid overseas has not been reduced, prompting demands from several MPs and sections of the public to stop sending aid to increasingly prosperous countries like India.

An example of the sensation-driven tabloid reporting is a report in today's Daily Express, which again raised the wisdom of sending aid to India, with the far-fetched headline, 'We pay for India's rocket to Mars'.

The tabloid reported that anger had "erupted" last night after India announced plans for the Mars mission, and quoted two MPs demanding immediate end to aid for India.

The Cameron government has committed itself to sending 280 million pounds every year to India until 2015. The Daily Express quoted ruling Conservative MP Philip Davies as saying: "This is a perfect illustration of why it is absolutely ridiculous for us to be giving nearly 300 million pounds a year in aid to India.

"If they can afford to have some high-tech mission to Mars they can afford to look after their own people without British taxpayers having to put their hands in their pockets for money they haven't got."

The same report quoted a spokesperson of the Department of International Development as saying that "British aid is not used to fund India's space programme."

But the report went on to quote Paul Nuttall, member of the European Parliament from the UK Independence Party, as saying: "It is utterly galling that our Government begs for India to accept hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money in aid. The Indians don't want it, the Indians don't need it.

"If India's future is a mission to Mars, our future should be to find more suitable recipients for our aid, maybe our own people."

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell has said: "We won't be in India forever, we are walking the final mile. The Indian government has made great progress on tackling poverty but there is still huge need."

 

[W.11]

:Rofl:

naturally UK will stop aid if its aid is misused like that

 

[KRAIT]

And rather give me to the country who always ask for AID....

 

[gslv mk3]

India gong to spend $ 90 million on mars mission for 3 years
British media response-

'Yet India still struggles to tackle poverty and child malnutrition'
'Despite the British cash, India rejected a British-built Typhoon fighter jet as preferred candidate for a £13billion defence deal and chose a French option instead.'

'Critics of Singh’s Congress party say instead of the Mars mission, the government should concentrate on providing the basic needs of people such as electricity and safe drinking water.
Two weeks ago, the electricity grids that serve more than 600million Indians collapsed for hours in the world’s largest blackout.'

India going to spend $1000 billion on Infrastructure for next five years
British media-no comments

India to spend $10 billion an year on a program that ensures job for rural poor
media-no comments

:Rofl:

naturally UK will stop aid if its aid is misused like that

They should give it to pakistan..........To India aid is just 'peanuts'

 

[Skull and Bones]

Aid never solves poverty, it only encourage more corruption. Bheek se koi ameer nahi banta mere bhai.

 

[gslv mk3]

The orginal BS

O THAT'S WHERE OUR FOREIGN AID IS GOING! INDIA ANNOUNCES £52M MARS MISSION


India have announced they will be launching an ambitious mission to Mars

Thursday August 16,2012
By Charlotte Meredith for express.co.uk
Have your say(14)
INDIA plans to send a spacecraft to Mars next year on a £52m scientific mission, despite the UK giving the country more than a billion pounds in aid.
The announcement is sure to anger British taxpayers, who are committed to an eight-year, £1.6billion package of aid to India.

Earlier this year The Coalition announced it would end aid payments to India, which is the second biggest recipient of foreign aid from Britain, second after only Ethiopia, which receives £324.1 million.

However, the aid will not stop until the end of the current programme, which is due to run until 2015.

David Cameron recently hit back at foreign aid critics, arguing that even in tough economical times it is Britain's duty to help the world's poor and malnourished.

Defending the decision to spend taxpayers' money on overseas aid, despite overseeing a double-dip recession in the UK, Cameron said: "We are right to meet our aid commitments."
India is the second biggest recipient of foreign aid from Britain, with a £1.6billion package

Despite accepting Britain's aid, earlier this year India rejected a British-built Typhoon fighter jet as preferred candidate for a £13billion defence deal and chose a French option instead.

India’s former finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, insisted he did not even want Britain’s aid and said that it was just ‘peanuts’ in the booming country’s development expenditure.


The UK's average annual spend on India is around £280million a year, with British Government departments shelling out £292.5 million in the year 2011/12 - despite the country having had its own ambitious space programme since 1963.

Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, announced the new Mars mission during a speech made yesterday marking the 65th anniversary of country's independence from British rule.

"This spaceship to Mars will be a huge step for us in the area of science and technology," he said.

The mission to Mars is seen as an attempt to develop the space programme and push India's credentials as a growing world power.

However, critics have lambasted the move, arguing the space mission highlights the Indian government's skewed priorities when many of the country's citizens lack electricity and safe drinking water.

Vandana Shiva, an environmentalist, said: "The money could be used on other things. You could make sure no child goes hungry; you could make sure your economy is sustainable."

Two weeks ago, the electricity grids that serve more than 600 million Indians collapsed for hours in the world's largest blackout and many Indian citizens live in dire poverty, with child malnutrition being rife.

Indian scientists have dismissed the criticism however, saying that technology developed in the space program has resulted in benefiting other areas of the country's development.

"It is certainly not a question of misplaced priorities," former ISRO chief U.R. Rao was quoted as saying by The Asian Age newspaper.


Racism at its peak or Eurofighter syndrome?

 

[Parul]

Self deleted...

 

[gslv mk3]

Perhaps your assumptions are correct,we do not need out side help. Worrying nevertheless to watch Government hospitals running even without essential life saving drugs,people are dying in the streets homeless & starving, many schools are run with out school libraries,and some cases not even buildings to shelter children, just to mention few to put us firmly into a third world country status. We should not rely on others for ever. What is the answer for better progress?

That can be solved if we get rid of the curse called corruption
How many million $$$ have spend after independance for poverty alleivation?
have it worked?
If our bureaucracy was as efficent as ISRO we wouldnt have problems you mentioned above .
And I am not in support of the $10 billion per year waste program called NREGA.
That money could be used for what you said right?

 

[Amolthebest]

Why is UK creating hoopla about this aid? History witnessed that how these suckers looted billions and trillions from India in 18th and 19th century. This aid is peanuts when compare that robbery. Shameless UK

 

[GORKHALI]

I love it ,I loooov the comments by BRITS ,it really make me proud that we are growing and growing rapidlly. chill

 

[KRAIT]

Perhaps your assumptions are correct,we do not need out side help. Worrying nevertheless to watch Government hospitals running even without essential life saving drugs,people are dying in the streets homeless & starving, many schools are run with out school libraries,and some cases not even buildings to shelter children, just to mention few to put us firmly into a third world country status. We should not rely on others for ever. What is the answer for better progress?

Do you even know how much ISRO sats have saved us by remote sensing, weather updates, resource management and disaster management....Billions of dollars.....we have our communication satellites and don't have to pay hefty sum to get one.....

Look at the entire picture....Also look into Antrix Corp.

 

[Skull and Bones]

I love it ,I loooov the comments by BRITS ,it really make me proud that we are growing and growing rapidlly. chill

That means we're traversing on the right path.

 

[ADAMANSKA]

:Rofl:

naturally UK will stop aid if its aid is misused like that

Oh..suicide bombers running low on budget? This aid must go to poor countries like Pakistan so that they can at least build a Diwali wala rocket.

 

[arp2041]

Britishers are completely jealous of the following:

1. Rejection of Eurofighter Typhoon.
2. India getting 6 medals in Olympics even after all the efforts of the British to avoid this.
3. There own inability to send rockets to Mars.
4. There saturating economy & our burgeoning economy.


My Humble request to Britishers "we don't need ur aid, as our FM said earlier it's Peanuts in our overall budget"

anyways it is our money which was looted by u, so i guess this is the guilt which is forcing u for the continuation of aid

 

[GORKHALI]

I love it ,I loooov the comments by BRITS ,it really make me proud that we are growing and growing rapidlly. chill