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Let India help Afghanistan

there was an Indira Ghandi Institute of child care in Kabul

whats the story behind that
 
Winning Afghan hearts & minds with academia
Kartikeya | TNN

Mumbai: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai often speaks fondly of the days he spent as a student in Shimla attending Himachal University. But what is lesser known is that more than 1,600 youths from the warravaged nation have followed in his footsteps.

Afghan nationals today comprise the largest contingent of foreigners pursuing higher education in India, easily outnumbering the 238 from neighbouring Nepal, who come a distant second. India is currently the academic address of students from 78 countries.

Decades of strife have meant that there are hardly any institutions of learning left functioning in Afghanistan. At the same time, the Indian government has been making a lot of effort to attract Afghans who want to pursue a college degree or even do research in India.

In fact, the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has earmarked 500 seats each year for Afghan citizens who want to live and study in India. According to the Indian Council of Cultural Research (ICCR), 175 additional seats have been added to the quota from this academic year.

Inviting Afghans to study in the country is part of the Indian effort to win hearts and minds in Afghanistan. India’s ties with Kabul had faded during the bloody civil war that saw the Pakistani-backed Taliban rise to power in 1996, turning Afghanistan into a hotbed of extremism. A lot of the subsequent fanaticism was directed against India and the Kandahar hijacking is the best reminder of that.

The Indian government is hoping that as an increasing number of Afghans get educated in the modern Indian education system and then return to work in positions of influence in their own country, they will not only be weaned away from extremism but also carry back a positive attitude towards India.

Data sourced from the MEA shows that India is playing its card of being an academic destination not just with Afghanistan but also several other developing countries. From this year, the government has doubled the quota of college seats for students from African countries from 247 to 498. Students from 20 African countries are enrolled in Indian colleges, prominent among them are those from Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Uganda and Sudan.

To futher ease studying in India, the government of India increased scholarship stipends for international students in July 2009. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has also worked out a scheme to ease visa procedures for foreigners wanting to pursue research in India. Thus, students from
countries as unlikely as Iraq (83), Mongolia (60), Uzbekistan (44) and Fiji (60) have made their way to India for higher studies.

As far as Afghanistan goes, the students are only a part of the work being done. Since 2001, India has sent over $1.2 billion in development aid to the Hamid Karzai government, funding infrastructure projects ranging from highways to hydroelectric dams to a 5,000-ton cold storage facility for fruit merchants in Kandahar.

India is also developing a seaport at Chabahar in Iran, which could become a key point of entry for Indian goods and materials into Afghanistan because Pakistan refuses India land transit rights to reach the Afghan border.

The Indian Air Force also runs an air base at Farkhor in Tajikistan on Afghanistan’s northeastern border, a facility it secured with Russian support.

630f9afd4113277f431b9f844b18be41._.jpg
 
Winning Afghan hearts & minds with academia
Kartikeya | TNN

Mumbai: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai often speaks fondly of the days he spent as a student in Shimla attending Himachal University. But what is lesser known is that more than 1,600 youths from the warravaged nation have followed in his footsteps.

Afghan nationals today comprise the largest contingent of foreigners pursuing higher education in India, easily outnumbering the 238 from neighbouring Nepal, who come a distant second. India is currently the academic address of students from 78 countries.

Decades of strife have meant that there are hardly any institutions of learning left functioning in Afghanistan. At the same time, the Indian government has been making a lot of effort to attract Afghans who want to pursue a college degree or even do research in India.

In fact, the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has earmarked 500 seats each year for Afghan citizens who want to live and study in India. According to the Indian Council of Cultural Research (ICCR), 175 additional seats have been added to the quota from this academic year.

Inviting Afghans to study in the country is part of the Indian effort to win hearts and minds in Afghanistan. India’s ties with Kabul had faded during the bloody civil war that saw the Pakistani-backed Taliban rise to power in 1996, turning Afghanistan into a hotbed of extremism. A lot of the subsequent fanaticism was directed against India and the Kandahar hijacking is the best reminder of that.

The Indian government is hoping that as an increasing number of Afghans get educated in the modern Indian education system and then return to work in positions of influence in their own country, they will not only be weaned away from extremism but also carry back a positive attitude towards India.

Data sourced from the MEA shows that India is playing its card of being an academic destination not just with Afghanistan but also several other developing countries. From this year, the government has doubled the quota of college seats for students from African countries from 247 to 498. Students from 20 African countries are enrolled in Indian colleges, prominent among them are those from Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Uganda and Sudan.

To futher ease studying in India, the government of India increased scholarship stipends for international students in July 2009. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has also worked out a scheme to ease visa procedures for foreigners wanting to pursue research in India. Thus, students from
countries as unlikely as Iraq (83), Mongolia (60), Uzbekistan (44) and Fiji (60) have made their way to India for higher studies.

As far as Afghanistan goes, the students are only a part of the work being done. Since 2001, India has sent over $1.2 billion in development aid to the Hamid Karzai government, funding infrastructure projects ranging from highways to hydroelectric dams to a 5,000-ton cold storage facility for fruit merchants in Kandahar.

India is also developing a seaport at Chabahar in Iran, which could become a key point of entry for Indian goods and materials into Afghanistan because Pakistan refuses India land transit rights to reach the Afghan border.

The Indian Air Force also runs an air base at Farkhor in Tajikistan on Afghanistan’s northeastern border, a facility it secured with Russian support.

630f9afd4113277f431b9f844b18be41._.jpg

They are now building a university of Agriculture which is much needed there.
 
That was built long time ago and still running.

That;s what i wanted to know why there wan and is one again an Institute in Kabul bearing the Name Indira Ghandi .
How did that hospital come to be, when was it built adn when was it destroyed that that it now has to be rebuilt
 
3471 foreign students in a country of 1 billion people? Oh my god. Korean students in my campus is bigger than that number. We two country need to understand each other.
 
That;s what i wanted to know why there wan and is one again an Institute in Kabul bearing the Name Indira Ghandi .
How did that hospital come to be, when was it built adn when was it destroyed that that it now has to be rebuilt

i will see if i can get more information about it, but this hospital was built by the indians thats why it has the name of indra ghandi.
 
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