§ 12. Mr. McGradyTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what her policy is on linking aid to India with good governance; and if she will make a statement. [119365]
§ Clare ShortOur "Country Strategy for India", published in 1999, stresses the crucial importance of good governance to India's development. One of the five strategic objectives for our programme in India is to promote accountable government delivering pro-poor reform and growth and effective services.
A key element of the Strategy is the focusing of our effort and funding on the governments of selected Indian states which have high concentrations of poor people. The criteria for choice of states include:
a commitment by the government to reduce poverty, including a willingness to make radical shifts in fiscal priorities, tackle difficult social issues, overhaul the delivery of public services and decentralise more power and money to local government; anda desire to improve standards of governance.We intend to increase substantially the proportion of its bilateral development assistance to India devoted to improving governance at national and state levels.