Lol i don't know if its good news or bad news.
WASHINGTON: India is now a "transforming country," not a "developing country."
The change in nomenclature which rids India of a decades-old label comes from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has decided to whittle down the already marginal US assistance to India and eventually eliminate it because of India's thriving economy.
According to recent reports advancing a story first reported by TOI in February, India will be one of the big "losers" under secretary of state Condoleezza Rice's new aid plan that is tilted towards strife torn countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Iraq's aid has been boosted fivefold for 2008, while Afghan-istan and Pakistan together will receive more than 85 per cent of the $2.2 billion aid budget for 12 countries in South and Central Asia. This is besides the hundreds of millions of dollars Washington provides these countries in budgeted military aid and loosely accounted money for the war on terrorism.
The bulk of the $23 billion in annual US foreign aid goes to a handful of key countries, leaving about 120 nations to battle over the remaining $3 billion.
India is among the country fed on the crumbs that it would rather reject in favour of free and fair commerce under New Delhi's new policy that emphasises trade rather than aid.
Overall US aid to India is slated to be cut to $81 million in 2008, a 35 per cent cut from the previous fiscal, on the theory that it has one of the best-performing economies in the world.
India was among the top recipients of US aid in 1960s when it was considered a basket case and termed an "underdeveloped country". It stood a distance fourth behind Israel, Egypt and Russia in 1994 in terms of US aid. As for the fiscal year 2008, it will not even be in the top 20.
The $ 81 million allocation, some of which goes towards just administering the USAID operations in India, is less than some of the individual private equity flows and grants by private foundations. "India is now taking a different place on the global stage, in terms of diplomacy, politics and economy. Aid programs had not caught up with these evolving realities," state department spokesman Sean McCormack was cited as saying explaining the cuts.
The term "transforming country" was coined by former USAID administrator Randall Tobias, who had observed just before demitting office earlier this year that that India had become a donor country and cited its massive aid (amounting to almost $ 1 billion) to Afghanistan.
"India is in a position where they are taking on more of the burden for the problems facing India," Tobias had said.
In tune with its growing economy and self-confidence, India has been asserting for the past few years that what it needs from US is fair practice in trade, not aid. Some of Washington's predatory actions cost India a lot more than what US gives in aid. For instance, the US practice of extracting social security tax from guest workers from India (H1-B visa holders) nets Washington more than $ 500 million annually. This money is not repatriated to India even when the workers return, absent a totalisation agreement that Washington is reluctant to sign.
Other disagreements between the two sides, in areas such as food import/export, cost both sides billions, dwarfing any aid figures. In recent years, India has als been a quiet votary of US economic assistance (but not military aid) to Pakistan. Washington now considers Pakistan along with Afghanistan a basket case. It has hiked aid to both countries, mixing butter with guns. At $ 785 million for fiscal 08, Pakistan is now among Washington's top aid recipients. Some estimate put US economic and military assistance to Pakistan at $ 2 billion a year now.
But Israel remains the most favoured US aid recipient. In per capita terms, US aid to India is almost negligible ($ 84 million for a population of $ 1.1 billion) compared to what Washington lavishes on Israel ($ 2.4 billion on a population of 7 million).
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...des_India_in_aid_plan/articleshow/2225575.cms
WASHINGTON: India is now a "transforming country," not a "developing country."
The change in nomenclature which rids India of a decades-old label comes from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has decided to whittle down the already marginal US assistance to India and eventually eliminate it because of India's thriving economy.
According to recent reports advancing a story first reported by TOI in February, India will be one of the big "losers" under secretary of state Condoleezza Rice's new aid plan that is tilted towards strife torn countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Iraq's aid has been boosted fivefold for 2008, while Afghan-istan and Pakistan together will receive more than 85 per cent of the $2.2 billion aid budget for 12 countries in South and Central Asia. This is besides the hundreds of millions of dollars Washington provides these countries in budgeted military aid and loosely accounted money for the war on terrorism.
The bulk of the $23 billion in annual US foreign aid goes to a handful of key countries, leaving about 120 nations to battle over the remaining $3 billion.
India is among the country fed on the crumbs that it would rather reject in favour of free and fair commerce under New Delhi's new policy that emphasises trade rather than aid.
Overall US aid to India is slated to be cut to $81 million in 2008, a 35 per cent cut from the previous fiscal, on the theory that it has one of the best-performing economies in the world.
India was among the top recipients of US aid in 1960s when it was considered a basket case and termed an "underdeveloped country". It stood a distance fourth behind Israel, Egypt and Russia in 1994 in terms of US aid. As for the fiscal year 2008, it will not even be in the top 20.
The $ 81 million allocation, some of which goes towards just administering the USAID operations in India, is less than some of the individual private equity flows and grants by private foundations. "India is now taking a different place on the global stage, in terms of diplomacy, politics and economy. Aid programs had not caught up with these evolving realities," state department spokesman Sean McCormack was cited as saying explaining the cuts.
The term "transforming country" was coined by former USAID administrator Randall Tobias, who had observed just before demitting office earlier this year that that India had become a donor country and cited its massive aid (amounting to almost $ 1 billion) to Afghanistan.
"India is in a position where they are taking on more of the burden for the problems facing India," Tobias had said.
In tune with its growing economy and self-confidence, India has been asserting for the past few years that what it needs from US is fair practice in trade, not aid. Some of Washington's predatory actions cost India a lot more than what US gives in aid. For instance, the US practice of extracting social security tax from guest workers from India (H1-B visa holders) nets Washington more than $ 500 million annually. This money is not repatriated to India even when the workers return, absent a totalisation agreement that Washington is reluctant to sign.
Other disagreements between the two sides, in areas such as food import/export, cost both sides billions, dwarfing any aid figures. In recent years, India has als been a quiet votary of US economic assistance (but not military aid) to Pakistan. Washington now considers Pakistan along with Afghanistan a basket case. It has hiked aid to both countries, mixing butter with guns. At $ 785 million for fiscal 08, Pakistan is now among Washington's top aid recipients. Some estimate put US economic and military assistance to Pakistan at $ 2 billion a year now.
But Israel remains the most favoured US aid recipient. In per capita terms, US aid to India is almost negligible ($ 84 million for a population of $ 1.1 billion) compared to what Washington lavishes on Israel ($ 2.4 billion on a population of 7 million).
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...des_India_in_aid_plan/articleshow/2225575.cms
