Indian Moon Rocket Discovers Water on the Moon — While British Taxpayers Feed India’s Poor
Why are British taxpayers paying £825 million to feed India’s poor while their £52 million spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 has helped discover water on the moon?
This is the question being asked after the US journal Science announced that scientists using detectors aboard the Chandrayaan-1 probe to analyse reflected sunlight showed that there was water on the moon.
While space scientists all over the world celebrated the discovery and its implications, politicians in Britain have remained silent over the fact that India is one of the single largest recipients of foreign aid under the Department for International Development’s (DFID) UK Aid programme.
In terms of national wealth, as measured by purchasing power parity, India’s economy is larger than Britain’s. According to the International Monetary Fund, the Indian economy is worth $3 trillion while Britain’s is worth $2.2 trillion.
Much publicity has been given to a recent announcement by Gordon Brown that £825 million is being given to India for welfare in the Bihar province, but less well known is the fact that British taxpayers had already provided India with £1,045 million in aid over the previous five years.
For example, in August 2009, the DFID announced that it had given £11 million to the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh to provide “an up-to-date, efficient power sector. In practice this involved helping to reorganise the state electricity board, preparing the ground for key regulatory reforms and providing expert technical assistance to power distributors to reduce leakages,” said the DFID.
In addition, the DFIF State spending in social sectors increased from £108 million in 2005–06 to almost £181 million in 2008–09.
According to The Planetary Society, the Chandrayaan-1 rocket cost India $83 million (£52 million).
The Indian government has spent nearly £2 billion buying tanks and its second aircraft carrier. According to the Indian Ministry of Defence, India’s navy has ordered another two aircraft carriers, due to be completed by 2017.
The British National Party says enough is enough. The time has come to close down this foreign aid swindle. Only when there are no more budget deficits, need or want in Britain can thought be given to helping other nations — especially those such as India who are so selfish that they spend millions sending rockets to the moon instead of uplifting their own people.
