New Delhi, June 25: India today committed $1 billion (Rs 6,360 crore) worth of aid to Nepal for its reconstruction after a crippling April earthquake left over 8,500 dead and half-a-million homes destroyed, offering twice the sum China promised and signalling an intent to assume a leading role in rebuilding the Himalayan nation.
The pledge was made by foreign minister Sushma Swaraj at an international donors' conference in Kathmandu chaired by Nepal Premier Sushil Koirala, and was backed up later in the day by a formal pledge by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office.
"India stands ready to provide a lead and shoulder its responsibilities towards Nepal, our oldest and closest friend and neighbour. Ours is a roti-beti ka sambandh (a bond of family and kinship)," Sushma told the conference.
Immediately after the April 25 quake, India had rushed relief teams, disaster-management forces and army troops for rescue efforts, spending around $67 million (Rs 422cr) in what was called Operation Maitri.
But Nepal's Planning Commission, in a report titled the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment, concluded the country would need $6.7 billion (Rs 42,612cr) in foreign aid to rebuild critical infrastructure and heritage sites damaged or destroyed by the quakes. The requirement works out to nearly a third of the size of Nepal's economy.
India's $1-billion aid will consist of $250 million as grant, and the remaining $750 million as a line of credit, officials said.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi - speaking at the conference immediately after Sushma - promised $483 million (Rs 3,042 crore) to Nepal. Japan committed $260 million (Rs 1,638 crore) and the US $130 million (Rs 819 crore).
The aid announced by Sushma today is in addition to the $1 billion worth development assistance India had committed to Nepal over the next five years under its budgetary allocations before the quake struck the country.
"We would like to focus our support on housing and public buildings, heritage sites, infrastructure development like roads, transport and power, agriculture, education, health and hospitals, and disaster risk mitigation," P.K. Mishra, additional principal secretary to Prime Minister Modi, said at the conclave.
Sushma underscored the leading role India had played in the immediate aftermath of the quake, when New Delhi and Beijing silently jostled to demonstrate their concern for a neighbour strategically critical for both.
"What is important is not that this support was larger than other foreign countries; what matters is the strong feeling of empathy and the instantaneous, instinctive and heart-felt response from Indians for their Nepali brothers and sisters. We reacted as if a disaster had struck India," Sushma said.
But the Modi government was equally careful today to highlight that its aid flow would hinge on Nepal's priorities, in a bid to quash concerns that New Delhi was thrusting any of its own priorities on Kathmandu.
"India's developmental assistance programmes abroad have always been based on the priorities set by the recipient, partner country. In Nepal too, our support will be beneficiary-driven," Mishra said.
