Trump’s budget cuts could hurt Modi’s urban development plan
US President announced outlines of his first budget on Thursday, with many federal government agencies facing a funding axe.
Among them is the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), that has worked with India on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet urban renewal project — the Smart Cities Mission — providing technical expertise and assistance.
Also on the chopping block is the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a federal agency that backs American private sector with loans, grants and insurance against political risk to invest in seemingly perilous emerging markets. It has more than 40 ongoing projects in the micro-finance and power sectors at present in India.
Though it could not be immediately ascertained how severely any of these projects and schemes will be impaired by the cuts, and how soon, some impact was anticipated. But Indians did not seem worried. An official said, “To be honest, we are not dependent on them for our schemes.”
Trump has proposed a $54 billion hike in the US defence budget to be met partly by proposing to “eliminate funding” to around 19 independent agencies such as the USTDA and OPIC, and the national endowment for the arts and national endowment for the humanities, according to the blueprint called America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again.
There was no response to emails and phone calls to the USTDA’s Washington and New Delhi offices requesting information about the extent of the ongoing cooperation and how much of that will continue, or be terminated, in view of the coming cuts.