Remind me why we give India billions each year...?

[Funk]

They have an evidently well-developed space programme; surely if they have money to search for water on the moon, they don't need the billions of our tax money that we donate to them?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/827184...

[Funk]

It feels like giving money to a friend who says they desperately need it, and then seeing that the following week they've bought a plasma TV with the cash and that they actually don't need it at all.

Why, when our country's in the state it's in, are we giving money away? When you're in a hole, stop digging.

ETA: that article dates back to 2005 - is there anything more recent?

Edited by Funk on Thursday 24th September 10:29

[Funk]

Yertis said:

5unny said:

glazbagun said:

esselte said:

Eric Mc said:

esselte said:

Eric Mc said:

esselte said:

Eric Mc said:

Who do you mean by "we"?

UK?

Not clear, is it.

If indeed, the OP means the UK, does he mean official aid given by the UK government (i.e. the UK taxpayer) or all the various aid projects funded by private businesses, individuals and charities?

Looks like the British taxpayer maybe

Not quite Billions though, is it (although a tidy sum - I admit).

I suppose the same question arises,should we be giving aid to a country that can afford it's own nukes and space programme?

Maybe I'm a bit cynical, but I've always thought that "development aid" and such were just a legal way of bribing governments to buy contracts from your defence companies, etc, hence there being little likelyhood of it ending.

Well we are trying to flog them these -


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/tr...


126 aircrafts for £6.2 billion sounds good to me. If the so called 'aid' helps in deals like this then lets send them more.

How come when we give it to India it's "aid", but if we give it to a Saudi it's a "bribe"?

I think the whole indian sub-continent should give us aid in the form of free curries.

Probably because when we give Libya convicted terrorists in return for lots of oil, it pisses off the 'merkins too much.