India’s Development Partnership: Expanding Vistas
The author: Nutan Kapoor Mahawar & Dhrubjyoti Bhattarjee
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Publisher: KW Publishers
Pagesbe :384
PricePrice: R1,580
It is axiomatic in international diplomacy that foreign aid is not a humanitarian or altruistic instrument. Basically, it is considered as a tool of foreign policy and negotiation of the country abroad. Each country capable of extending foreign aid has combined this ability with its foreign policy objectives and strategic objectives. Developed countries such as the USA have used foreign aid as a tool to redirect the use of military equipment for security purposes. For example, the US negotiated Public Law 480 (also known as the Food for Peace Act) to extend foreign aid to poor countries in an effort to stop those countries from accepting aid from their Cold War enemies. President Lyndon B Johnson used PL-480 as leverage to secure support for US foreign policy goals, even cutting famine aid to India until he received assurances that the Indian government would tone down criticism of US policy on Vietnam.
The revised edited volume, which includes the proceedings of a seminar on India’s development assistance, analyzes India’s development assistance to various countries, especially the immediate and extended neighbourhood. It is worth noting that India is still a developing economy that aspires to be a developed economy. Despite this, India extends development aid to needy countries, especially in Asia and Africa. India’s aid diplomacy is conducted through two broad omnibus structures – “Development Cooperation” and “Economic Diplomacy”.
The Development Partnership Administration (DPA) was established in January 2012 to manage aid projects in India from conception and initiation to completion and completion. Various chapters of the book written by academics and diplomats with background and practical knowledge provide comprehensive accounts of India’s development assistance components, lines of credit and the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program under the ministry of external affairs. , using India’s knowledge and connecting the dots in terms of addressing local needs instead of proposing an Indian template that suits New Delhi’s strategic goals only.
All the chapters in the book are very useful but some are worth it. The chapter on Afghanistan titled “India’s Soft Power Diplomacy in Afghanistan: Need for a Rethink Policy?” by Shanthie Mariet D’Souza has insight. It is a different story that India did not recognize the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which regained control in 2021. But before the return of the Taliban, India had strong economic involvement in Afghanistan despite security challenges.
The main focus of India’s development assistance in Afghanistan has been the development of Afghan people’s capacities and institutions. India built a large Parliament building in Afghanistan, as well as the Salma Dam, which was named the India-Afghanistan Friendship Dam. Apart from that, India also built the Shahtoot Dam, which provides water to the residents of Kabul. India has initiated high-impact social development projects in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Through the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), India is extending a large number of scholarships to Afghans to study in India. So far, India has given more than 1,000 scholarships to Afghans.
In other articles, such as those by Nihar R Nayak, Biswajit Nag, Medha Bisht and Angshuman Choudhury, we get a glimpse of other aspects of India’s interaction with its immediate neighbours. For example, India offers a number of ICCR and ITEC scholarships to Bhutanese nationals. India is also building the Paro airport. A major project based in India is the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Project, which aims to connect the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway. Once completed, the Trilateral Highway will provide seamless connectivity to the northeastern states of India and Myanmar, Thailand and other Asean countries. India also funded the Myanmar Institute of Information Technology in Mandalay and the Advanced Center for Agriculture and Education in Naypyidaw. The political slugfest in Nepal and China’s checkbook diplomacy has hampered India’s engagement in Nepal. Despite this, India is developing rail connectivity in a landlocked country.
A modern Cultural Center has been built in Jaffna under the India-Sri Lanka Development Partnership. India’s development assistance to the island neighbor is people-oriented. For example, the housing construction program involving 50,000 houses for the resettlement of internally displaced persons is progressing well. The construction and renovation of 46,000 houses under the owner-driven IDP process in the Northern and Eastern provinces has been completed.
The comparison of Indian and African development aid is best captured by an African proverb that says, “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for life”. This is how one can distinguish between the nature of Chinese and Indian aid. The predatory and mercantilist nature of China’s development aid; and its hidden agenda in its flagship “One Belt, One Road” program is now being exposed in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Africa and elsewhere—so much so that Italy has withdrawn from it.
The takeaways from the document are summarized by the editors in the introduction, emphasizing the need to expand the scope of development partnerships beyond the government-to-government approach to include the private sector and civil society, as well as to strengthen communication between civil society organizations. and local communities for better access and sustainable growth.
The reviewer is a former fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research and the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses. These opinions are personal
First published: October 02 2024 | 11:53 PM IST