Changing image: Why India is not keen on taking foreign assistance for Kerala floods

Flood victims carry relief material as they walk through a damaged area after floods, at Nelliyampathy Village. (Image: Reuters)

While India’s decision to not take foreign aid for Kerala has led to an outrage in many quarters on social media against the government, it is important to understand why India has been politely but firmly declining international help in a state of crisis.

Changing India’s image for the world has been an ongoing national project for a while now. The move perhaps is way of saying that India is no longer a ‘poor country’ and is also telling the world that it is perfectly capable of providing for its citizens.

India has managed on its own rebuilding and rehabilitation work after successive disasters such as 2013 Uttarakhand floods, and the 2014 Kashmir floods, according to a report in The Economic Times. Even in 2004, when tsunami had hit the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had politely told all potential donors that India would dial them if it needed financial aid.

By not taking help from other countries, India is sending out a message that its economy grows at a healthy clip and it can manage to handle rehabilitation after natural disasters.

It was in the early 2000s, when former foreign and finance minister Jaswant Singh had made the first move to tell India’s major donors that it no longer needed aid. The UPA government completed that initiative of taking India out of that global box.

And the present government is also not keen on reversing that policy and accept foreign aid. Especially, when successive Indian governments have discovered that once they open such gates, they end up with a lot of unnecessary diplomatic obligations, doubtful assistance and very little upside.

In fact, India is now an enthusiastic internal aid-giver and first responder.

Instead of taking help from other countries it took a turn around on this front and extended assistance to many countries including Philippines, Myanmar, Nepal, even sending an Indian Air Force aircraft with 25 tonnes of relief supplies at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas for victims of Hurricane Katrina in the US in 2005.

This is also part of how India sees itself. Changing India’s image for the world has been an ongoing national project for a while now.