The Hindu Business Line : DFID not keen on expanding operations

THE United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) is not keen on expanding its operations beyond the existing four States of West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

Instead, the international development assistance provider is open to the idea of providing grants for developmental schemes of the Central Government, according to Mr Suma Chakrabarti, Permanent Secretary of DFID.

Mr Chakrabarti said this while responding to a question at a press conference held here on Friday on whether the DFID would like to extend its assistance to other equally deserving States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, etc. He said the DFID team in India would discuss the possibility of providing grants for the Central Government developmental schemes with officials at the Centre.

According to him, the DFID's objectives were focused on meeting the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Towards this end, the DFID hopes to disburse 250 million pounds in the form of grants in India in 2004-05. Earlier in the day, Mr Chakrabarti met the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the State's Minister for Industry & Commerce, Mr Nirupam Sen, and officials of the State Government, among others, and discussed a range of issues including proposals to strengthen the development partnership with West Bengal. Already, there are several ongoing partnership projects in West Bengal that are under various stages of implementation. Together, these projects entail an assistance of 240 million pounds over the total project implementation periods.

The DFID grant to West Bengal has been pegged at 32 million pounds in 2004-05, up from 19 million pounds in 2003-04. This figure is expected to go up further to 60 million pounds by 2006-07.

A part of the grant received from DFID is being used for the restructuring of the State-owned, loss-making public sector enterprises. A substantial portion of the grant was also being spent on improvement of education and health services and urban sector reforms, according to Mr Chakrabarti.

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