India Must Take Responsibility For Its Poor.

In a recent interview for The Spectator Blog, ‘Coffee House’, Andrew Mitchell claimed the reason the United Kingdom is giving aid to India, even though it is fast becoming a serious international player, is because, “there are still areas of grinding poverty, with more people living in extreme poverty than in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.”

This is very noble of the United Kingdom, giving aid to the poor in other countries so as they may better themselves, is, as I am sure all would agree, a good thing.  (Although, on a side note, we must try and move towards aid in terms of providing expertise in wealth creation, as opposed to straight money hand outs.)

The interesting thing with India is it is more and more becoming a global economic power, it is by all intents and purpose a relatively wealthy country.  It has however an extremely unequal distribution of this wealth, and this creates the extreme poverty which Andrew Mitchell rightly speaks of.

But, what message are we sending out to India, if while it continues to grow increasingly economically powerful, it is aid from other countries which look after its poor?

India’s extreme poor deserve a government which takes responsibility for it’s situation, which invests its growth in the whole of society, not just in the top of the ladder, or the ‘untouchables’ as they are often called.

The problem with giving aid to countries such as India, is while it may seem noble, we are effectively allowing government policy which promotes growth without taking into account those at the bottom.  Only by removing, or at least reducing or reassessing the aid we give, can we through the hard realities and international pressure force India to take responsibility itself and tailor its growth better.  India must be made to invest in its unequal structure itself, before it invests in ‘show items’ like its Space Program if it is to a respectable international player.  It must not rely on the good will of aid to look after its poor so as it can concentrate on economic growth whatever the social cost.

The interview with Andrew Mitchell can be found here: http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/7068243/coffee-house-interview-andrew-mitchell.thtml