With the world forming a global village, it is natural for nations to foster bilateral relations & partnerships. However, when one’s own people are languishing in poverty & could well do with some support of one’s own government, how fair is it for governments to help natives of other countries instead of addressing needs back home? Countries like US & NATIO nations have put their citizens into debt by declaring wars & funding regime change in other nations simply to enable a handful of people to secure assets & resources in other countries. Similarly, what is India’s motive in not developing India or Indians but providing to other nations what Indians & India gravely requires!
Let us look at some statistics first,
Poverty in India – 1.4billion Indians
- 234m Indians are poor
- 129m Indians in extreme poverty (World Bank 2024)
- 7m Indian children go without food (Harvard study)
NO Electricity
- 50m Indian rural homes have no electricity
- 13% Indian households do not have access to grid-connected electricity (Smart Power India Survey)
- “Electricity supply fell behind demand by 1.88 billion units, or 1.6%, during the first 27 days of April, according to Reuters. The total electricity shortage in the country has hit 623 million units, surpassing the total shortage in March” and India wants to connect with Sri Lanka!
No Water
- 163million Indians lack access to safe drinking water
- 21% communicable diseases are linked to unsafe water
No Toilets
- 19% Indian households do not use ANY toilet facility (NFHS survey)
- Over 126,000 Indians die annually due to poor sanitation
- India is No. 1 country for open defecation – 344m defecate in the open
- 210m Indians lack access to improved sanitation
- 500 Indian children under age of 5 die from diarrhea each day (Stockholm International Water Institute)
No Bank Account
- India has190 million adults without a bank account (business standard)
Roads
- 97% of Indian roads do not have walkable footpaths making pedestrians vulnerable to road accidents (Save Life Foundation)
Vehicles
- There are 186million vehicles in India including two wheelers but 90% Indians DO NOT own a vehicle (Times of India) 1 in 12 households own a car
Inequality in India
- of Billionaires increased from 102 in 2020 to 166 in 2022
- Gautam Adani was ranked 2nd richest in the world in Bloomberg wealth index in 2022
- OXFAM says India’s poor & middle class are taxed more than the rich. 64% of total goods & services tax (GST) came from bottom 50% of the population while only 4% came from the top 10%. Taxing top 100 billionaires at 2.5% or taxing top 10 Indian billionaires at 5% would cover entire amount required to provide 150m children school education.
- Top 10 Indian population holds 77% of the total national wealth
- There are 119billionnaires in India – India is said to produce 70 new millionaires every day.
- 32m Indian children have NEVER been to ANY school.
- 1 in 5 Indians CANNOT read & write a sentence with proper understanding
- 287million Indians CANNOT read & write
- Inequality gap has widened sharply under PM Modi’s decade in power.
- https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/4/29/is-modis-india-more-unequal-than-under-british-rule
- https://wid.world/news-article/inequality-in-india-the-billionaire-raj-is-now-more-unequal-than-the-british-colonial-raj/
Education
- 50% Indian children do not have access to quality education after primary school (Development economist Amir Ullah Khan)
Unemployment
- 66% unemployed have a secondary education
- Jobless rate for graduates was 29.1%
- Women accounted for 76.7% educated unemployed youths
- Joblessness was higher in urban areas than rural
- 8million Indians are unemployed.
Homeless
- 77million Indians are homeless
Suicides in India
- 112,000 Indians working in agriculture committed suicide in past 10 years (National Crime Record Bureau)
- In 2022, 11, 290 farmers committed suicide with Maharashtra state being the highest.
Selling blood & organs for money
- Though it is illegal the instances of Indians selling blood & organs for money are many
- Doctors pay as little as $1000 for kidneys & sell them for as much as $37.500 https://time.com/archive/6942449/indias-black-market-organ-scandal/https://www.allindiansmatter.in/illegal-organ-trade-preys-on-poor-in-india-neighbouring-nations/
Poor Infrastructure
- June 2024 the roof of Terminal 1 at Delhi International Airport collapsed killing 1 & inuring 8 after heavy rain. The Airport boasts winning 50 global awards & accolades.
- In Bihar, 10 bridges collapsed across 6 districts within 16 days
- East India – 9 died & dozens were injured when a goods train collided with a passenger train.
Corruption in India’s Public Sector
- India’s public sector is one of the world’s most corrupt with Maharashtra the most corrupt (India wants to train Sri Lanka’s public sector over 5 years for 2 weeks!)
Digital & Biometric Failure in India
India’s biometric identity scheme is a failure & has caused deaths by starvation & increased hunger. Majority of Indians are unable to link food rationing card to state biometric ID scheme after 30m official documents were cancelled across India between 2013-2016. (a scenario that Sri Lanka will face too) Indian Supreme Court called the cancellation a “serious matter” & issued notice to the Central Govt as lawyer claim the cancellation was unlawful. People in AC-rooms & living in Colombo or overseas do not understand the real hardship of the majority people living outside Colombo.
However, India has since 1980s increased its pressure & presence in Sri Lanka. The India that stresses upon India’s security needs to be reminded that it was India that made India’s security vulnerable. The Tamil militants & separatism that India palmed off to Sri Lanka ended up killing its own PM & the West is using these pawns for its own geopolitical agendas.
The Easter Sunday massacre in Sri Lanka saw India fiddling with proxy Islamic terrorism, this will also backfire on India.
India that brought US into Asia & South Asia is today experiencing a cold war between US & India which is likely to aggravate incrementally. Therefore, if India is concerned about its security, India has to blame itself.
Nevertheless, let us view how India has been pressurizing Sri Lanka through multiple pillars.
Trade between Sri Lanka & India is disproportion. Merchandise trade between the 2 nations was $5.5b in 2023-2024 with India’s exports $4.1b while Sri Lanka’s was only $1.4b. The signing of ECTA is therefore naturally a grave concern & why even after 14 rounds of negotiations Sri Lanka’s politicians would commit political hara kiri going ahead with it.
India’s goal of building a Greater India encompassing even Sri Lanka has drawn further concern of becoming another Sikkim with the “Neighborhood First Policy” & the surge in “connectivity” initiatives.
- Resuming Air link between Chennai & Jaffna from Dec2022
- Commencing ferry services between Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu) & Kankasanthurai (Sri Lanka) since 2023
- Ferry service between Rameswaran (TN) & Talaimannar on pipeline with upgrading of Port
- Developing KKS port with $61.5m grant by India
- Economic Land Corridor – land access to Trincomalee & Colombo
- Power & Energy connectivity
- Multiproduct pipeline connecting India & Sri Lanka & power grid inter connections
- UPI services launched by Indian PM & President Ranil in 2024 February
- On an average 300,000 Indians arrive annually – discounting the Indians legally & illegally working in Sri Lanka, manipulating the open visa privileges.
- India holds its development cooperation with Sri Lanka as one of its ‘most important pillars”. India has given $5b in concessional loans/swap agreements & $600m as grants.
- India’s biggest grant was to construct 60,000 houses spending INR 1800 crore (yet 1.77million Indians are homeless)
- India has granted INR 300crore for Unique Digital Identity project – though 190m Indians have no bank accounts.
Most noteworthy of India’s assistance was the $4b during 2022 economic crisis & $500m Line of Credit to supply petroleum, currency swap of $400m, $1b credit facility to supply food, medicines, fuel & industrial raw materials.
In 2000, the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement was entered after signing in 1998 covering infrastructure, connectivity, transportation, housing, health, livelihood, rehabilitation, education & industrial development.
Indian FDI to Sri Lanka is over $2.2b with key investments in petroleum retail, tourism, hotels, manufacturing, real estate, telecommunications, banking & financial services.
As per Indian High Commission website title “Sri Lanka is ready to open market for India: H.E. Anura Kumara Disanayaka, President of Sri Lanka at the India-Sri Lanka Business Forum in New Delhi” press release dated 17 December 2024, it claims
- President AKD in his address had informed that “Sri Lanka will make itself conducive and efficient for businesses, adding that Sri Lanka is ready to open market for India”.
- President AKD said he welcomed “investment in renewable energy sector, especially in the solar & wind sectors”.
- President AKD highlighted “minerals as a potential area of investment”
- President AKD “invited Indian investment in the ICT sector of Sri Lanka”.
The speech by Indian PM Modi on 16 December 2024 highlighted the following:
- “We (India) have laid emphasis on investment-led growth & connectivity in our economic partnership”
- “We (India) have decided that physical, digital & energy connectivity shall be the key pillars of our partnership”.
- “We (India) shall work towards establishing electricity-grid connectivity & multi-product petroleum pipelines between both nations”.
- “Sampor solar power project shall be accelerated. LNG shall be supplied for Sri Lanka’s power plants”.
- “Both sides shall endeavor to accomplish ETCA soon”
The Indian PM reminded Sri Lanka of the $5b Line of Credit extended & the initiatives taken
- Rejuvenation of signaling system of Maho to Anuradhapura Rail Section & Kankasanthurai Port
- Monthly scholarships to 200 students of Jaffna & universities in East Sri Lanka
- 1500 civil servants to be trained over 2 weeks in India across 5 years.
- India’s support covers housing, renewable energy, infrastructure, agriculture, dairy, fisheries
- India to partner Sri Lanka in Unique Digital Identity project.
- “President Disanayake and I are in full agreement that our security interests are interconnected. We have decided to quickly finalize the Security Cooperation Agreement”.
- “We have also agreed to cooperate on Hydrography”.
- “We believe Colombo Security Conclave is an important platform for regional peace, security and development. Under this umbrella, support shall be extended in the matters of maritime security, counter terrorism, cyber security, combatting, smuggling and organized crime, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief”.
- “We also spoke at length about the issues related to the livelihood of our fishermen. We both agreed that we must adopt a humanitarian approach towards the matter”.
- “We also talked about reconstruction & reconciliation in Sri Lanka. President Disanayake apprised me of his inclusive perspective”
- “We hope that the Sri Lankan government shall fulfil the aspirations of the Tamil people. And that they shall fulfil their commitment towards fully implementing the Constitution of Sri Lanka and conducting the Provincial Council Elections”
India-Sri Lanka Joint Statement following President AKD’s visit
“President Disanayake reiterated Sri Lanka’s stated position of not permitting its territory to be used in any manner inimical to the security of India”.
Though President AKD “requested PM Modi’s support for Sri Lanka’s application to become a member of BRICS”, the Indian Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri declared “there is no room for Sri Lanka to be included in BRICS”. One has to wonder whether BRICS will face the same fate of SAARC with inclusion of India!
Unless Sri Lanka’s politicians, advisors & policy makers understand & read the bigger picture, they should be held responsible for weakening Sri Lanka’s sovereignty.
Shenali D Waduge