India's development partnership: key policy shifts and institutional evolution

Abstract

This article examines the emerging trends in India's role as a provider of development assistance to the other developing countries of the global South. Though India has diversified the regional focus and has multiplied the quantum of development assistance, there remain several challenges at various levels. The expectations from the development partners have gone up but is India prepared with the institutional frameworks that would be required to administer the desired scale of response? Is there enough preparedness to undertake impact assessment? This article attempts to address some of these issues.

Notes

¹ Based on personal communication with MEA, as precise reference to this is not to be found in the available literature (Chaturvedi 2007).

² There are studies like Abraham (2007) which have observed that India has not used this instrument effectively.

³ There are no official data on this but a very rough estimate suggests that the share of LoC is close to 80 per cent.

⁴ The subsequent years of 2005–2006 and 2006–2007, though, show a decline but there is an abnormal increase in category of others like from Rs 3 billion to Rs 5 billion in 2006–2007.

⁵ Annual Report, Ministry of Finance, 2005–2006. See Kumar (1987) for an early account of the programme. In 2007–2008 42 institutions offered 200 courses to 4000 students with various time frames.

⁶  < http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/about/>.

⁷ MINT, 14 June 2007.