It may be tempting to have one’s cake and eat it too, but a line must be drawn somewhere. For quite some time now, the United Kingdom has been grumbling, with very good reasons, about the way British aid for development projects in India is being steadily pilfered by unscrupulous middlemen. The massive swindling in millions of pounds earmarked for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a case in point. So it may be a good thing for all parties concerned that the UK has finally decided to drastically slash its funds for India. Apart from corruption, there is already another no less compelling argument against the allocation of huge sums of money to a growing economy like India. The numbers indicate that India, poised on a steady growth curve, is set to overtake the UK, economically, in the next ten years or so. As an aspiring superpower in South Asia, India already spends audacious amounts of money on a space programme, has tested nuclear bombs, is planning to buy a fleet of fighter aircraft, and aspires to a permanent place at the high table of the United Nations security council. From being a supplicant a decade or so ago, hoping to be bailed out by the developed nations, India has come a long way indeed. So there is every reason to admire India’s determined attempt at an image makeover. But equally, it is time for India to make a sincere effort at becoming self-reliant. For that is the only way in which India can hope to sustain, and cement, its success story, and eventually become a part of the league of developed nations.

Although India has accepted with equanimity the UK’s decision to curtail funds, such a response had better be based on something more than sheer pride. All indicators of growth remaining true, India continues to be one of the poorest regions of the world as well. There is no denying that there is a disproportionate difference between the quality of life enjoyed by the rich and the poor in India. It is often claimed that India has more millionaires and billionaires than the UK. But what is lost in that boast is the equally stupendous revelation that the rate of poverty in India is steeper than that of sub-Saharan Africa. It would be immoral of India to preen on the global stage and yet refuse to become more accountable and responsible to all its citizens. India’s rags-to-riches story would make no sense if the rags are hidden away under the riches.