In what underlines India’s concerns for the beleaguered people of Afghanistan, Rs 200 crore has been allocated as aid to the war-torn country in the Union Budget for financial year 2022-23. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the allocation of this amount as India’s assistance for development projects in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officials see this as “a positive and good gesture by the Indian government towards the people of Afghanistan despite the absence of diplomatic presence in the country after the Taliban rule”. “This shows that our government is keen to play an important role in the war-torn nation where it has not had a diplomatic presence since Afghanistan’s takeover by the Taliban in August 2021,” say diplomats.
Sources told The Daily Guardian that the MEA has been asked to ensure that utilisation of the funds is made in such a manner that benefits could be maximised. “Funds will be spent on ongoing development projects of India and also on humani
tarian assistance which India has been extending to Afghanistan from time to time, and the move was appreciated by the world community as well,” sources add.
Over the last two months, India has sent several consignments of medicines and humanitarian assistance to the beleaguered people of Afghanistan. A large-scale wheat consignment is expected to be delivered to Kabul in the coming weeks. New Delhi will dispatch 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat to Kabul soon, sources say.
“With this kind of assistance already operational, the allocation is expected to be spent on similar assistance during the year,” sources say. “This move will also send a good message to the global community which is watching the developments in Afghanistan closely. The United Nations has already emphasised on the need to take care of humanitarian issues in Afghanistan,” says a diplomat.
In another significant development, Sitharaman has also allocated Rs 100 crore for the development of the Chabahar Port in Iran, which provides India a critical transport link to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan. Sources say that the government will now push its Chabahar project in a much more aggressive way in view of obstacles being created by Pakistan in terms of blocking the connectivity. India had to face a tough time sending wheat to Afghanistan when Pakistan was adamant on not allowing the consignment from Delhi.
The Finance Minister also made an allocation of Rs 900 crore for Mauritius and Rs 600 crore for Myanmar which is currently reeling under civil war since the military coup. Mauritius is strategically quite important in the Indian Ocean, and India’s ties with it have been strengthened from time to time in view of the same. Therefore, Mauritius is the second highest recipient of the allocation. The MEA, which is aiming to open new embassies in Africa, has an increased budget of Rs 250 crore for the continent. The MEA will get Rs 300 crore and Rs 750 crore for Bangladesh and Nepal, respectively. The allocation for the Maldives is Rs 360 crore and for Sri Lanka Rs 200 crore. Both countries are very important as far as India’s strategic mission is concerned. At the same time, Bhutan, as usual, has received the biggest allocation with Rs 2,266.24 crore.