NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday said that the US administration is yet to officially furnish details on the USAID funded projects in India over the past decade.
Responding to a query by CPI (M) MP John Brittas, the Union government told Rajya Sabha that though it has formally sought details from the US Embassy regarding USAID funded projects; it has not received official details regarding names and details of beneficiaries, including NGOs and individuals, who have received the funds.
The response comes amid the political row over a statement from the DOGE, an agency led by billionaire Elon Musk, that it had cancelled a series of international funding projects including $21 million allocated for voter turnout in India. The controversy escalated after US President Donald Trump repeatedly backed the claim that India received USAID funds to sway elections in India.
On a question on the quantum and details of funds contributed by USAID to India in five years, the Minister of state for External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, said MEA is aware of the information that has been put out by the U.S administration regarding the activities and funding by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Replying to the query on the names and details of beneficiaries including NGOs and individuals who have received USAID funds, he said, “We have also sought information about NGOs through whom various initiatives may have been executed. However, such details are yet to be provided by the US side.”
Publicly available information about beneficiary individuals / organisations has also been redacted in certain cases apparently in line with the exceptions outlined in the U.S. Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016, the minister noted.
The minister said that on January 20, 2025, the US President signed an Executive Order (EO) initiating a review of all US foreign assistance programs to ensure that they are efficient and consistent with U.S. foreign policy.
After a six-week review by DOGE, the US Secretary of State announced that the government is officially cancelling 83% of the programs of USAID or about 5,200 contracts that spent billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, and in some cases harmed, the core national interests of the United States.