India’s Afghan thrust: Local projects, scholarships, dam

Despite Islamabad's continuing unease at New Delhi's increasing involvement in the rebuilding of Afghanistan, India has committed an additional Rs 1,645 crore on three ongoing projects in the war-torn country, each of which has a visible impact on the lives of the Afghan people.

On July 10, the Ministry of External Affairs piloted a proposal to grant $100 million, to be spent over three years, as assistance for community-based small development projects, so that the programme's reach is extended to 34 provinces.

The programme's focus is on local ownership and management of projects in agriculture, health, education, rural development, vocational training, sanitation and drinking water.

In the current phase, India has committed $20 million for such people-centric projects at 19 locations, mainly in the vulnerable border areas.

Also in July, MEA sources said, the ministry moved a proposal to raise the number of special scholarships for Afghans to 1,000 per year from the present 675.

This, the MEA believes, will bring "immense goodwill for India in Afghanistan which is the strategic interest of India".

The scholarship scheme will run from the next financial year until 2020-21 at a total cost of Rs 495 crore, sources said. The scheme is being tweaked to provide a larger residential allowance, and to ensure that more women are included in the list of beneficiaries.

The scholarship scheme, announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Afghanistan in 2005, pays for the tuition and residential costs for Afghans who are pursuing undergraduate and post graduate studies.

This month,sources said, the government has cleared a proposal to spend an extra Rs 600 crore to rebuild the Salma Dam Power project in Herat province, the cost of which has gone up from Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,400 crore.

The dam, built in 1976 on the Hari Rod river, was damaged in the decades of conflict.

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