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Despite criticism at home, Britain would continue to provide £280 million a year in aid to India over the next four years as the country’s poorest regions need help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the Development Secretary, Mr Andrew Mitchell, has said.
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’’.
Mr 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,” Mr 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 amount 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.
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