Govt to make foreign aid more transparent
NEW DELHI — Amid offand-on allegations about corruption and bureaucratic delays in dispensing funds to foreign countries, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has initiated a host of steps, including the setting up of a central aid agency, to inject greater transparency and swiftness in delivery systems.
"We believe in providing total transparency in all our operations. It's a fact that in the last four- ve years India has emerged as one of the big donors among developing countries," Krishna said.
"We have worked out a system to ensure transparency and will not be found want- ing," he replied when asked about the oft-iterated allegations of funds diversion and delays in delivery of aid.
The authorities in Bangladesh, for example, have often complained that the implementation of projects under the $1 billion line of credit provided by India over two years ago has been slow. But India has maintained that the nature and magnitude of those projects take time.
"Till now, our aid budget has been small. However, it's been growing for some time. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced $5 billion for Africa at the second IndiaAfrica Forum Summit in Ad- dis Ababa last year," he said.
Amid China's aggressive diplomatic outreach in the developing world, India has scaled up aid and soft loans of over $11 billion to developing countries as part of its longterm strategy to push India's strategic interests through economic diplomacy and soft power projection.
The foreign aid, which India likes to call developmental assistance, includes $7.5 billion to Africa, $2 billion to Afghanistan, $1 billion to Afghanistan, $1 billion to Myanmar and substantial aid to neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. — IANS