Elephant trail

The phrase Indian Agency for Partnership in Development seems precisely the kind of fluffy non-job that serves as a parking lot for piles of cash,armies of babus,and little to show for it. The agency was the Ministry of External Affairs brainwave,aiming to be a permanent setup overseeing the distribution of Indian funds and development programmes in foreign climes; it was reportedly modelled after the US governments USAID agency and the United Kingdoms DFID,organisations that play a pivotal soft-power role. But the idea ran into rough weather: the Department of Personnel and Training dissed it as a white elephant. It is an indictment of our diplomats persuasiveness that the PMO seems to have endorsed the DoPTs view and abandoned the idea. Regardless,this shines the spotlight on a major consequence of Indias rise.

Indias growing international stature has led to a manifold increase in our funding to foreign countries. Between 2008 and 2013,India has committed Rs 3,400 crore to Bhutan. We have also given 1.3 billion to Afghanistan,and announced a 1 billion credit line to Bangladesh. Given the increased stakes,not to mention a growing Chinese footprint in Indias neighbourhood and beyond,we need an agency to channel funds with the ability to build contacts,expertise and institutional memory. So on principle alone,the idea of a separate Indian aid agency makes sense.

But first principles must be tempered by the likelihood of faulty implementation. USAIDs design offers an instructive comparison. While the US secretary of state provides USAID with foreign policy inputs,the organisation itself consists mainly of development specialists often from the host country itself who work along with US diplomats. While its effectiveness is an ongoing debate,the scale of its vision isnt. In contrast,the MEAs idea seemed more of a red-tape solving mechanism,involving MEA,commerce and finance ministry officials. The MEAs inability to spell out a larger vision might have helped it lose the turf war. But the idea itself deserves a second look.