<p>New Delhi: Narendra Modi’s government in New Delhi has never been averse to the role of the United States Agency for International Development in supporting projects in India, the joint statements issued after the prime minister’s meetings with his successive counterparts in Washington DC reveal. </p> <p>The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of late accused the USAID of interfering with elections in India as well as of funding organisations, which worked to create unrest in the country. But the saffron party’s government led by Narendra Modi has rather been welcoming to the role of the US agency in supporting projects in India.</p>.USAID is in dire need of reform. But not like this.<p>Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council, recently pointed out that the USAID effectively ran India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS) from the 1990s till it was stopped two years ago. He alleged that the USAID was being allowed to influence the national health responses of India.</p> <p>The Modi Government in New Delhi, however, did not stop the USAID from continuing its projects in India, at least not till early 2024. A meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by the prime minister on January 5, 2024, approved an MoU, which had already been signed in June 2023, for the USAID to support the Indian Railways to achieve its net zero carbon emission by 2030 target.</p> <p>President Donald Trump’s administration in Washington DC recently moved to shut down the operations of USAID, the overseas aid agency of the American Government. It also froze the US funding for many projects abroad. One of the projects the American Government’s Department of Government Efficiency, led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, scrapped involved US funding a $21 million project for raising voter turnout in India. This prompted BJP leader, Amit Malviya, to suggest that the fund might have been spent to interfere with elections in India. Nishikant Dubey, a BJP MP, recently alleged in Lok Sabha that the organizations funded by the USAID in India protested the Agniveer Scheme of the government, and supported caste census, and Naxalism in the country.</p> <p>But, during his first visit to Washington DC as the prime minister in September 2014, less than four months after his ascent to power, Modi, himself, agreed with Barack Obama, the then US president, on “a new partnership” to advance his “goal of improved access to clean water and sanitation for all” in India. “(The) USAID, through the Urban India Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Alliance, will serve as (the) knowledge partner to help leverage private and civil society innovation, expertise, and technology, such as with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to support the prime minister's 500 Cities National Urban Development Mission and Clean India Campaign,” according to the joint statement issued on September 30, 2014, after the meeting between the two leaders. The USAID followed it up by signing an MoU with the Ministry of Urban Development of the Government of India on January 13, 2015, and the two leaders took note of it in the joint statement issued after Modi met Obama during the US president’s visit to New Delhi to be the chief guest at the Republic Day ceremony.</p> <p>Modi joined Obama in welcoming the USAID’s January 23, 2015, MoU with IIT Gandhinagar to support the institution’s research and entrepreneurship capabilities. The Modi-Obama joint statement issued in Washington DC in June 2016, also took note of the USAID’s support to the Ministry of Power for the “Greening the Grid” project to promote renewable energy in India.</p> <p>The USAID thanked Modi on Facebook for taking time off during his tour to Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, in September 2018, and visited a school, where the US agency supported a project to turn students into avid readers.</p> <p>Even during Trump’s first term at the White House, the Development Partnership Administration-II Division of the Ministry of External Affairs of India in March 2019 extended the validity of its 2014 pact with the USAID for jointly supporting development projects in third countries, including in Asia and Africa.</p> <p>The first Trump Administration also in March 2020 allowed the USAID to provide $2.9 million to India to support the Modi Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p> <p>The disbursement of USAID funding support in India in 2024 stood at $151.9 million, for projects in multiple sectors like $79.33 million in health, $34.41 million in economic development, $16.57 million in education and social service and $6.72 million for promoting democracy, human rights and governance.</p>
<p>New Delhi: Narendra Modi’s government in New Delhi has never been averse to the role of the United States Agency for International Development in supporting projects in India, the joint statements issued after the prime minister’s meetings with his successive counterparts in Washington DC reveal. </p> <p>The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of late accused the USAID of interfering with elections in India as well as of funding organisations, which worked to create unrest in the country. But the saffron party’s government led by Narendra Modi has rather been welcoming to the role of the US agency in supporting projects in India.</p>.USAID is in dire need of reform. But not like this.<p>Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council, recently pointed out that the USAID effectively ran India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS) from the 1990s till it was stopped two years ago. He alleged that the USAID was being allowed to influence the national health responses of India.</p> <p>The Modi Government in New Delhi, however, did not stop the USAID from continuing its projects in India, at least not till early 2024. A meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by the prime minister on January 5, 2024, approved an MoU, which had already been signed in June 2023, for the USAID to support the Indian Railways to achieve its net zero carbon emission by 2030 target.</p> <p>President Donald Trump’s administration in Washington DC recently moved to shut down the operations of USAID, the overseas aid agency of the American Government. It also froze the US funding for many projects abroad. One of the projects the American Government’s Department of Government Efficiency, led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, scrapped involved US funding a $21 million project for raising voter turnout in India. This prompted BJP leader, Amit Malviya, to suggest that the fund might have been spent to interfere with elections in India. Nishikant Dubey, a BJP MP, recently alleged in Lok Sabha that the organizations funded by the USAID in India protested the Agniveer Scheme of the government, and supported caste census, and Naxalism in the country.</p> <p>But, during his first visit to Washington DC as the prime minister in September 2014, less than four months after his ascent to power, Modi, himself, agreed with Barack Obama, the then US president, on “a new partnership” to advance his “goal of improved access to clean water and sanitation for all” in India. “(The) USAID, through the Urban India Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Alliance, will serve as (the) knowledge partner to help leverage private and civil society innovation, expertise, and technology, such as with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to support the prime minister's 500 Cities National Urban Development Mission and Clean India Campaign,” according to the joint statement issued on September 30, 2014, after the meeting between the two leaders. The USAID followed it up by signing an MoU with the Ministry of Urban Development of the Government of India on January 13, 2015, and the two leaders took note of it in the joint statement issued after Modi met Obama during the US president’s visit to New Delhi to be the chief guest at the Republic Day ceremony.</p> <p>Modi joined Obama in welcoming the USAID’s January 23, 2015, MoU with IIT Gandhinagar to support the institution’s research and entrepreneurship capabilities. The Modi-Obama joint statement issued in Washington DC in June 2016, also took note of the USAID’s support to the Ministry of Power for the “Greening the Grid” project to promote renewable energy in India.</p> <p>The USAID thanked Modi on Facebook for taking time off during his tour to Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, in September 2018, and visited a school, where the US agency supported a project to turn students into avid readers.</p> <p>Even during Trump’s first term at the White House, the Development Partnership Administration-II Division of the Ministry of External Affairs of India in March 2019 extended the validity of its 2014 pact with the USAID for jointly supporting development projects in third countries, including in Asia and Africa.</p> <p>The first Trump Administration also in March 2020 allowed the USAID to provide $2.9 million to India to support the Modi Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p> <p>The disbursement of USAID funding support in India in 2024 stood at $151.9 million, for projects in multiple sectors like $79.33 million in health, $34.41 million in economic development, $16.57 million in education and social service and $6.72 million for promoting democracy, human rights and governance.</p>
