I would like to express my view according to your given points & sub-points. 1st, UK aid has no direct contribution to reducing poverty but it is playing a significant role in indirect way to strengthening civil society in India where people are now vocal about their very basic rights. And, if these rights will be ensured by the government of India then status of poverty will certainly change. 2nd, India is not a poor country but division of wealth is unequal and the gaps are really big. Day by day neo-liberal policy makers and corruption are making these gaps much bigger. Because UK Aid amount is not so high that we can directly distribute it among poor people in different forms of development to improve their poverty status, so we need UK aid to create an awareness for basic rights among people. In other words, we can say that we need an alternative force, an alternative platform where oppressed voices can be strongly raised. And, UK aid can play a significant role to make it possible. 3rd and last, I think Indian civil society wants to see a pro people approach by the UK aid, without any vested interest of any corporate agenda, which directly negotiate with the policy makers for the basic rights and quality services for poor people, as the aid is a significant part of hard earned money of common people of Britain who actually wants to see their contribution in India to improve the lives of common man of India.

Thinkers, Practitioners and administrators, all except and mention it time and again that there are two country within India. One is of rich Indians tasting the fruits of so called global economy and development and others are poor, victims of development and socially excluded population. In this situations, the bilateral aid plays an important role in bringing the voices of people in mainstream. The aid being provided by UK government has been playing important role in addressing the issues of poverty specially the health and educations needs of the poor. DFID supported programmes with civil society organisations helping in the empowerment of poor to demand the services in a accountable manner. Lot of initiatives on protecting and promoting dignity of human beings are also supported by DFID though out the years. Whenever the government take any decision with regards to aid to India, i think its important to consider the views of civil society both in UK and India.

Though India is considered as a developing country, UK Aid played a major role in addressing the issues of the socially excluded--SC,ST,Minority Community,PWDs, Women and Children in terms of Education, Health and Livelihood. If we will compare the economic status of the People of India there is a drastically change between the status of the have's and have not. So this is the real time to address the issues of the poor through different poverty alleviation programme through advocacy and the support of the UK Aid is only meant for this to bridge the gap between various programmes and the socially excluded population. Though UK Aid has a lesser contribution in regards of funding in comparison to the budget expenditure of the country but that insignificant amount is invested for the socially excluded population and has played a significant role in addressing the issues of the socially excluded. So the Govt. should rethink about their opinion to stop funding UK Aid to India for the larger interest of the Country.

Today UK aid to India is so needful and has played significant role in strengthening the issues and voices of socially excluded groups through stronger civil society Organization because people who are in interior and inaccessible area in India are suffering in hunger and also they are discriminated based their social identity .Govt of India is executing different schemes for Tribal and Dalit still they are deprived for getting those who are in interior and hill areas and also Tribal , Dalit peoples are not benefited much from the economic growth in India due to several structure ,inequity between rich and poor has increased. All Livelihood schemes are for Poor and dalit but they are not able to get work ,percentage of hunger ,discrimination between them has increased .But UK Aid is working in India for socially excluded to develop their sustainable livelihood such as Education ,Health and Nutrition ,removes Discrimination as well as reduces Hunger percentage in India .So our request to UK Public that supports are so needful in raising and addressing these issues by the Civil Society for long time

U.K. aid has resulted in spectacular effects in rural India over the years in addressing socio-economic issues related to poverty. Most of the programmes have been executed through involvement of civil societies besides governmental mechanism of intervention. Many States in Indian have, in the periods of their dire financial constraints, have been bailed out through U.K. aid. India’s present economic growth as reflected now in various quarters before the world should not be appreciated in terms of percentage of growth only. The fate of majority of people living in utter poverty and deprived of reasonable socio-economic opportunities still hangs in despair and the growth projection and publicity has to be sensed in terms of the large chunk of poor and destitute still remaining in accessible to any development parameter. India may have been projected or projecting as a technologically advancing developing country but for the leftover have not’s, any foreign assistance more so of U.K. aid is of paramount necessity. The clam-our to stop U.K. aid to India should be judged through the real position obtaining in a country of 1.2 billion population. Civil Society organizations in India, while commending the continuous and sustained effort of U.K. aid would appeal to those authorities and civil society members in the U.K. to realise the existing gravity of prevailing socio-economic conditions of people of India particularly those living in rural India and appreciate that the so-called economic growth of 7-8 percent will not provide any tangible transformation in the economic conditions of these people. They still need continued and continuous support for a reasonable period, say another decade at least, till every or majority of social and economic indicators of development are fulfilled To say India is self-sufficient, growing, growth-oriented would be a travesty of truth. Civil society organizations outside India particularly of U.K. would, I believe, appreciate the grassroots position in India before being influenced in any manner to stop U.K. aid to India.

UK Aid to India has played a significant role in strengthening the civil society action for reducing poverty and working on issues of empowerment and inclusion of marginalised groups. Ample of evidences exist to prove that the poor and excluded have not benefited much from the economic growth in India due to several structural causes. The support from UK, to the civil society, helps in raising these issues through interventions and advocacy for policy changes and therefore we strongly feel that it should continue. Our message for the UK public is that they should not be swayed just by the growth statistics of India but should know that behind these statistics are millions of people who suffer from acute poverty and hunger and are discriminated based upon their social identity. Practices like manual scavenging of human excreta, bonded labour, untouchability and atrocities on Dalits still continue in India and therefore supports like aid from UK becomes very critical in raising and addressing these issues by the civil society.

UK aid has played a significant role in addressing poverty objectives is States that are also vulnerable due to climate impacts. It is known that benefits of economic growth in India has not been able to reach out to poor and marginalise, the inequity between rich and poor has increased, thus UK aid should continue. India need to go a long way through policy reforms that should ensure empower poor, provide opportunities and make voice heard before it ask UK government to stop the funding. The DFID funding may be limited in numbers but is significant in terms of quality of impact it has made on ground. Thus in my opinion India politicians should rise above diplomatic difference and should not compromise poors interests.