Friday, 11 March 2016 00:00 GFP Columnist - Haresh Daswani
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I recently read an article from the UK with people criticizing how India spent millions of dollars to launch a spaceship to Mars when the UK gave aid of 260 million British Pounds.

To put it in one sentence. We don't need aid money. If this aid money is supposed to make people feel better over guilt, or make them feel superior over India, then keep it.

India's annual tax collection is in the hundreds of billions of dollars, focused on administrative tasks as well as helping subsidize cost for the poor.

Yes, India has a lot of poor people; yet, the percentage of people below poverty has constantly been shrinking as the economy grows.

And you know what? It did not come solely from foreign aid. It came from education, research, and infrastructure.

THE SAME THINGS that help a first world country grow is what India needs. It needs improvement in creating value for things to be done in India.


India is focused on education to create high value workers. The process of automation is killing off low skilled workers everyday. This should come to no surprise when the same mobile phone 2 decades ago would go for USD 300, and would now be around USD 20. The processes are so automated that it costs cents to handle each component.

India, in order to survive and grow, needs its space program to create new high tech jobs. Besides, the millions of dollars spent goes on research, labour, and materials processing.

In the end, India has presented that it too is capable of launching satellites at a fraction of a cost of launching it elsewhere.

India understands that while the process is slow, it is necessary for it to invest in the long term. India cannot afford to merely live on dole outs.

India is not looking for aid providers. India is looking for partners. We would prefer to find partners willing to invest in what India can provide to the world in the future. We can all help each other become major contributors to civilization if we have the same goals together.

In the end, it is not about helping out of pity, but helping someone walk together and help each other do greater things.


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