|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
  |
 |
  |
India
>> Regional Overview >> India Overview
Summary Tables
Program Summary
Previous Years' Activities
2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997Last updated: 55
Introduction
One sixth of the world's people live in India and one third of the world's poor. USAID's program in India supports U.S. national interests and contributes significantly to Indian development. Although constrained since 1998 by the imposition of sanctions imposed under the "Glenn Amendment", the program addresses four key U.S. national interests: (1) economic prosperity achieved through opening markets; (2) global issues of population growth, infectious diseases, and climate change; (3) development and democracy concerns of alleviating poverty, reducing malnutrition, and improving the status of women; and (4) humanitarian response by saving lives and reducing suffering associated with disasters.
In 2001, USAID addressed the suffering and dislocation caused by a major earthquake which rocked the state of Gujarat on January 26. In the first weeks after the quake, the United States Government marshalled $12.8 million in emergency assistance. USAID has reprogrammed another $10 million in previously budgeted funds for the Gujarat reconstruction effort. USAID is working with the Government of India (GOI) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to strengthen their ability to anticipate and respond to future disasters.
Prospects for India's future are bright but approximately 360 million still live in absolute poverty. Many challenges need to be addressed to reduce the pervasive poverty. India is surpassed only by China in population. The high rate of population growth, particularly in urban areas, hits hardest at the poor. Despite gains in food production, nearly half of India's children are malnourished. Although the percentage of HIV infections per capita is small, India is second only to South Africa in the number of HIV infections. India contributes to the world's caseload of other infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and polio. Further, it is the sixth-largest and second-fastest growing producer of greenhouse gases. Large central and local-state government fiscal deficits, reflected in deteriorating infrastructure, threaten the sustainability of impressive gains in poverty reduction over the past several decades.
USAID's non-humanitarian assistance programs were interrupted in May 1998 by the imposition of sanctions on U.S. assistance. In March 2000, a presidential waiver was issued that allowed USAID to resume financial sector reform activities.
Other USAID, centrally funded programs in India complement the bilateral population stabilization, child survival, HIV/AIDS and micro-enterprise activities. The American Schools and Hospital Abroad program helps strengthen Indian hospitals that demonstrate American ideas and practices.
Development Challenge
India's ability to achieve sustainable growth and reduce poverty depends greatly on its ability to stabilize population growth. The Indian population has already reached one billion; it will surpass China's population by 2040. Since a lack of access to quality reproductive health services hinders population stabilization, the USAID program focuses on improving the quality and access to reproductive health services in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh (170 million people).
India has 25% of the world's child deaths; one of every 11 children dies before reaching the age of five. USAID integrates Public Law (P.L.) 480 Title II food aid with basic health services to mothers and children. USAID is working with CARE and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to provide supplementary food and deliver health services daily to 7.5 million of India's poorest people. The overall impact of this unique approach for child survival has been to: (a) increase the percentage of children under two years receiving supplemental food; (b) improve access to immunization in program areas; and (c) increase access to iron-folate supplements by pregnant women. The food assistance network helps USAID respond rapidly to natural disasters. USAID's NGO partners-CARE and CRS-rapidly mobilized $820,000 in emergency food resources for the Gujarat earthquake victims.
The growing demand for power, fueled largely by high-ash coal, has made India a major and increasingly significant global polluter with substantial health consequences. Working through the India bilateral program and the South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy (SARI/Energy), USAID has provided technical assistance to the Indian power sector to adopt energy-efficient power generation and distribution technology that produces less pollution and cleaner air. A USAID-funded pilot activity has helped the National Thermal Power Corporation, which generates over 25% of India's thermal power, to cut carbon dioxide emissions by nearly one million tons annually, with a potential to mitigate another two million tons per annum.
USAID assistance to India's cities (among the most polluted in the world) has helped to reduce the debilitating impacts of pollution and lack of municipal services on the health of the urban poor. USAID has introduced new approaches to urban environmental planning and urban water supply and sanitation systems.
Though prevalence is less than one percent nationwide, more than 3.5 million Indians are infected with HIV. USAID prevention and awareness activities focus on the states with the largest number of HIV positive cases, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Other USAID activities encompass tuberculosis treatment, anti-microbial resistance, eradication of polio and other vaccine preventable diseases, and improved surveillance of infectious diseases.
Female literacy is approximately 39.4% as opposed to 66.7% for males; girls' enrollment in school lags behind boys'. Census data show a sex ratio of only 926 females for every 1,000 males. Approximately 100 million children are "out of school." Over 44 million of these are employed in hazardous and non-hazardous industries. USAID programs have promoted girls' primary education, the participation of women in decision-making, and getting out-of-school children into school through community mobilization.
During FY 2001, USAID will review the entire program and prepare a new country strategy for FY 2003.
Other Donors
The United States is the third-largest bilateral donor to India, after Japan and the United Kingdom. Seven multilateral and 13 bilateral donors also provide assistance. USAID collaborates closely with other donors on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, population, air pollution control, urban environmental infrastructure, and women's empowerment.
FY 2002 Program
USAID/India requests $32,710,000 of DA, $25,840,000 of CSD, $7,000,000 of ESF, and $80,020,000 of P.L.480 Title II for the FY 2002 program of assistance to India. These resources will address the key areas of stabilizing population growth, cutting pollution in power generation and cities, reducing the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, empowering women, accelerating economic growth and meeting the food needs of India's poorest populations.
In addition to the bilateral program, USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Response has six activities in India that demonstrate educational and medical technologies and practices; the Global Bureau's Democracy and Governance Center has an activity to train trade unions and employers about sexual harassment and HIV/AIDS prevention in the workplace and works to eliminate child labor; the Global Bureau's Population Office has an activity to reduce fertility through voluntary practices; and the United States-Asia Environmental Partnership promotes a clean environmental revolution.
Activity Data Sheets
- 386-002 Reduced Fertility and Improved Reproductive Health in North India
- 386-003 Improved Child Survival and Nutrition in Selected Areas of India
- 386-004 Increased Environmental Protection in Energy, Industry, and Cities
- 386-007 Reduced Transmission and Mitigated Impact of Infectious Diseases, Especially STD/HIV/AIDS, in India
- 386-009 Expanded Advocacy and Service Delivery Networks for Women and Girls
- 386-011 Increased Capacity of Financial Markets and Government to Transparently and Efficiently Mobilize Resources
- 386-012 Recovery, Reconstruction, and Rehabilitation Needs Met for Targeted Vulnerable Groups
Country Background Information Resources
CIA Factbook
Library of CongressNational Geographic Country Maps
State Dept. Country Information
 |
|||
Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
