India needs 'help' in aid to achieve MDGs: Mitchell

Following an inquiry ordered by the International Development Secretary, Britain has decided to stop giving aid to 16 countries including China, Russia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Moldova and Serbia but has cited India as a "development paradox".

Mitchell told BBC's Politics Show that in order for the UK to abide by its Millennium Development Goals commitment, "the poorest regions of India would still need help".
With 450 million people living on less than 50 pence a day while millionaires enjoy great wealth, India, he said was a "development paradox".

"The fact is that if you want to reach these Millennium Development Goals, which we are also keen to do by 2015, you have to operate where poverty is greatest. In India there are more poor people in three states... than there are in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa," Mitchell said.

Though the UK has decided to slash aid to 16 countries, its aid budget will actually increase by 4 billion pounds in the next four years.

Vast amounts of extra money - 30 per cent of the budget - will be pumped into unstable hotspots such as Yemen and Somalia, to help them crack down on terrorism.
The Daily Mail said that critics will question whether that is prudent, as there will be no way for Britain to check whether the money is being spent wisely, or being embezzled by officials.

Britain's aid budget is one of the few areas protected from cuts, unlike defence, education and the police, which are having to make deep savings.

The total spent on aid will rise from 7 billion pounds to 11 billion pounds by 2015 - at the same time front-line public services at home are being slashed.

Mitchell admitted many of his constituents "go ballistic" about the amount of British cash spent on overseas aid at a time of belt-tightening at home.

But, he said the plan was to "buy results" rather than "lob money at problems" - setting targets and stopping aid if they are not met.According to the newspaper, Mitchell is also likely to order the removal of funding from international organisations which have not delivered.

For example, the 12 million pounds given to UN cultural body UNESCO is likely to be axed.Mitchell said from now on the UK will give aid only where it can follow the money and ensure that the British taxpayer is getting value for money.

"Most international organisations are doing a decent job but some need to be shown the yellow card. Others will, frankly, get the bullet," he said."It's the mission of my department to focus ruthlessly on results, on delivering 100p of development value for every hard-earned pound of taxpayers' money".

He said resources would be concentrated on the 27 countries that account for three-quarters of the world's maternal mortality and malaria deaths, such as Ghana and Afghanistan.

The UN children's charity UNICEF will see its UK funding to double to 40 million pounds.    But the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and UNESCO will lose out.

A spokesman for the department of international aid said that British projects in India would help half a million mothers to deliver babies more safely and reach over three million children through nutrition programmes.

"The scale of need in India's poorer states - each of them larger than most African countries - remains huge. The state of Bihar alone has double the number of people living in extreme poverty than Ethiopia.

"Madhya Pradesh has the same population as Britain but an economy 100 times smaller and 50 times more mothers die there every year," he said.DFID's top priorities in India include ensuring the poorest girls get quality schooling, healthcare and nutrition, supporting the private sector to deliver jobs, products, infrastructure and basic services in areas which desperately need them, he said.