A shame for India

On the face of it the British Government's decision not to doll our so much financial aid to India on the ground that a 'nuclear-powered' nation doesn't need to go with a begging bowl sounds reasonable. But if one cares to remove that thinly-wielded nuclear layer one can find that the real reasons for such an action from the UK lay somewhere else. And it calls for a thorough investigation into the goings on in our administration; in this case; one that is pertaining to the filed of education. What the Indian media has failed to highlight is the immediate provocation on the part of David Cameroon to take such a decision lies in certain investigative reports that had appeared in certain British newspapers. The media there has revealed that millions of pounds in aid for education in this country under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme have just vanished in thin air. The report put this figure at a staggering £340 million, which is around Rs 2,327 crore. To further this report, the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) investigation here found that almost £14 million (around Rs 100 crore) had been spent on acquiring luxury cars and garishly furnished houses among other creature comforts for those who run the programme. As is evident this has nothing to do with SSA. Responding to the media reports, Britain's secretary of state for international development Andrew Mitchell, said: "These are shocking allegations. I have launched an immediate inquiry to ensure British aid money has not been misused."

The SSA, one of the flagship programmes launched by the United Progressive Alliance Government, in 2001, was aimed at providing useful and relevant elementary education for all children in the 6-14 age group by 2010. Initially, the project was expected to enroll all out- of- school children in schools/education guarantee centres or alternate schools by 2003. However, the date was revised in March 2005. But as per March 2005, out of 3.40 crore children (as on 1 April 2001), 1.36 crore (40 per cent) children in the age group of 6-14 years remained out of school; that too after having incurred an expenditure of Rs 11,133.57 crore. The investigation by CAG found that in the districts test checked by audit in 11 states (Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal), Rs 99.88 crore was spent on items not permitted under SSA. Besides, in 14 states/union territories, financial irregularities of Rs 472.51 crore were also noticed. Interestingly enough, there is no official response from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, which is solely responsible for the implementation of this programme. The media reports and the British Government's response are likely to cause bafflement. Now in the face of these alleged misusing funds and open criticism of the UK Government, the UPA Government, which has been proud of being launched so many people-oriented or aam aadmi programme, should have initiated a strong corrective and punitive action to those err officials, which otherwise, the nuclear-armed India will be reduced to just another spectator scrambling country.