Revision as of 15:17, 13 February 2015

Indian aid to neighbours

Bhutan grabs dragon's share of aid in Budget

pradeep.thakur@timesgroup.com New Delhi:

Indpaedia objects to the word ‘grab.’ Bhutan does not grab anything from India. India and Bhutan are brotherly nations. India is merely trying to be a good brother.

The Times of India Jul 13 2014

India has helped the kingdom nation Bhutan with grants and loans allocated to the latter going up by nearly 50% -from Rs 4,100 crore in 2013 to Rs 6,000 crore in 2014.

Bhutan has been getting significant financial aid from India by way of grants, both under plan and non-plan expenditure heads. This year, after Modi visited the neighbouring country soon after his swearing-in, the NDA government has significantly increased the financial package. Bhutan was Modi's first foreign visit as PM.

Comparatively, other countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have got marginal hikes in grants from the Indian government this year. Even Afghanistan, where India's engagement has increased in recent years, has been allocated Rs 676 crore, not a big hike against last year's Rs 525 crore.

Nepal, with which the PM has expressed his desire to engage more, has not found as much prominence as Bhutan in monetary terms. Among grants and loans to foreign countries, Nepal has got Rs 450 crore as against Rs 380 crore in the previous year. In case of Sri Lanka, the allocation has been Rs 500 crore, an increase of Rs 90 crore from last year.

Bangladesh is the only country in the SAARC region for which the Budget has made lower provisions. The aid for Bangladesh in this Budget is Rs 350 crore, against Rs 580 crore last year.

India’s technical cooperation programme,2013-14

Country-wise breakup of India’s technical cooperation budget,The Times of India