Five Decades of U.S. - India Cooperation

Since 1951, the U.S. has provided $15.4 billion (the equivalent $59 billion in today's dollars) in economic assistance to India.  U.S. assistance has always reflected the Indian Government's requests and priorities and, as the Indian economy has developed, the nature of this economic assistance has changed to meet new requirements.
U.S. economic assistance peaked at $1.6 billion in 1960, when food aid accounted for 92% of the annual assistance budget.  As India became self sufficient in food production and expanded its industrial capability and infrastructure, the focus of USAID programs shifted to science and technology transfer, economic liberalization, and global issues of population growth, HIV/AIDS, and the status of women.  Currently, USAID’s program areas include:

• Clean Energy and Environment
  
  
• Food Security, Agriculture and Nutrition
  
  
• Maternal and child health, Nutrition and Urban Health
  
  
• Reproductive health and family planning services
  
  
• HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases
  
  
• Improved access to clean energy and water
  
  
• Justice and Governance
  
  
• Education
  
  
• Workforce development
  
  
• Women’s empowerment

In the past five decades USAID/India has played an important role in:

• Establishing eight agricultural universities
  
  
• Constructing 1,000 irrigation systems
  
  
• Developing world class agricultural research capacity
  
  
• Establishing 14 regional engineering colleges
  
  
• Constructing 20 thermal and hydroelectric power plants
  
  
• Establishing the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur and Kharagpur
  
  
• Developing national programs in malaria control and family planning.
  
  
• Providing widespread food assistance
  
  
• Establishing four regional colleges of education
  
  
• Training more than 10,000 Indians in the United States
  
  
• Supporting capital market development to improve administration and price transparency on the stock exchanges.
  
  
• Launching the first municipal bond in South Asia for water supply and sanitation infrastructure development
  
  
• Establishing a National Depository and paperless trading
  
  
• Introducing U.S. technologies - with a market potential approaching $1 billion - to decrease pollution from sugar and paper plants
  
  
• Financing the world's largest gene bank to preserve India's plant species
  
  
• Helping Ahmedabad to become the first city in India to receive an investment grade rating and float a municipal bond; more than ten additional cities are now seeking ratings

More recent successes:

Education and Workforce Development

• In FY 2008, USAID education programs benefitted a total of 25.3 million students and 580,267 educators in 11 states.
  
  
• USAID/India's Technology Tools for Teaching and Training (T4) project, which uses technology, including radio broadcasts, to educate poor and disadvantaged children leveraged approximately $6 million in resources, primarily from state and central governments with other contributions from UNICEF and the Tata Steel Rural Development Society, to expand the program to more than 250,000 schools in five of India’s poorest states, benefiting more than 22 million students.
  
  
• Madrasas (Muslim schools) became more integrated with the government education system – over 500 Madrasas, covering 48,000 children, have introduced a government approved formal education system.  Substantial government and private sector resources have been leveraged for long term sustainability.

Energy and Climate Change

• Technology exchanges and transfers between the U.S. and India have introduced newer, more efficient, and cleaner generating sources.  Best practices, including alternative energy sources and a decentralized renewable energy supply, have been tested and disseminated by the Center for Energy Efficiency and Environmental Protection (CenPEEP) which was established through U.S. foreign assistance in 1994.
  
  
• USAID/India helped India reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with the introduction of new technologies and best practices.  To date, GHG emissions of 12.55 million tons of CO2 equivalent have been reduced.  In FY 2008 the Maharashtra State Electricity Board reported annual savings of 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide after implementing best practices developed through USAID assistance.
  
  
• Working directly with partners in the Indian power sector, the program trained power plant managers and engineers in cost saving and clean energy practices.
  
  
• USAID supports capacity strengthening of national and state bodies to design, develop, and implement a variety of technical and management improvements in the areas of operations and financial management.
  
  
• USAID is assisting the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) to implement the Energy Conservation Building Code through a well structured capacity enhancement program involving all relevant stakeholders.
  
  
• To promote clean and efficient energy, USAID/India helped to establish several centers of excellence – the Green Building Center and the Center for Power Efficiency and Environmental Protection – which are now being replicated.
  
  
• USAID/India launched an Executive MBA Program to promote and sustain energy sector reform in India.  Since its launch, 50 participants have graduated every year from this prestigious program, which has now transitioned from a USAID supported program to one that is fully market based.

Agriculture

• In agriculture, USAID/India’s $500,000 investment with an additional $1.0 million from the Indian private sector, reduced water use and production costs and increased crop yields on 500,000 hectares, increasing farmers’ incomes by 15% to 20%.
  
  
• USAID/India’s investment of $2.15 million coupled with $1.2 million from the Indian private sector, developed regulatory policies and supported scientists in developing biotechnology crops.  It also provided data to inform public discussion on agricultural biotechnology, a key agricultural investment that will open the way for improved crop varieties to be accepted in India as part of the second “Green Revolution.”

Health

• More than seven million children in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhan benefit annually from the USAID/India assistance to the Government of India (GOI) on routine immunizations and Vitamin A supplements.  Support to the polio program has helped the GOI better target its limited resources and take actions to advance polio eradication in India.
  
  
• Use of modern contraception increased nearly twice as fast from 1992 to 2005 in areas where USAID/India Family Planning/Reproductive Health projects were active, specifically in the state of Uttar Pradesh (India’s most populous state with 195 million people).
  
  
• USAID promotes the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand. New partnership models in hospital franchising, health vouchers, social marketing, and capacity building in districts in Uttar Pradesh are gaining state government support.
  
  
• In Tamil Nadu, an Indian state as populous as Thailand, the HIV prevalence rate was reduced from 1.13 percent in 2001 to 0.5 percent in 2005.
  
  
• USAID helped to launch India’s first ever private group health insurance plan for people living with HIV by bringing together a private health insurance company and national and state level networks of people living with HIV/AIDS. 
  
  
• In Tamil Nadu, USAID HIV/AIDS activities have reduced overall HIV prevalence by half.  Initiatives developed through USAID programs contributed to the current National AIDS Control Program, including the development of a policy addressing HIV/AIDS orphans, and have led to improvements in the Government of India’s policies, regulations, and guidelines, including the development of a National Framework of Joint TB/HIV Collaboration.
  
  
• USAID/India established multiple public-private partnerships aimed at a range of improved health outcomes, such as increasing use of oral contraceptives and condoms, franchising of health clinics, and increasing HIV/AIDS workplace services, while also supporting businesses’ financial interests.
  
  
• USAID/India’s technical assistance established an HIV/AIDS Corporate Fund that matches private donations from Indian and U.S. businesses with HIV/AIDS prevention and care and treatment projects.  This fund was originally capitalized with $1.3 million from the private sector and will grow as it attracts additional donations.
  
  
• The Third National Family Health Survey, coordinated and supported by USAID/India in partnership with the GOI and other donors, has been extensively used by the GOI for the formulation of its development policies, its new food aid program (India’s Eleventh Five Year Plan), and the National Urban Health Mission.
  
  
• USAID/India’s $2.0 million investment attracted $9.0 million in Gates Foundation funds for a Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) probe study that will lead to the introduction of a new lifesaving vaccine to eliminate Hib in India.