U.K. Minister coming to speed up anti-poverty drive

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, JAN. 13. Ms. Clare Short, Britain's Secretary of State for International Development, is to pay a five-day visit to India beginning Monday as part of the continuing Indo-U.K. dialogue on development and poverty elimination.

The discussions, which include a meeting with the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, would take place in the context of the British Government's White Paper on globalisation and development which she released here last month.

``I will discuss with the Government of India and others what steps we can all take to accelerate poverty reduction in India and how best to harness the powers of globalisation to benefit the poor,'' she said stressing that Britain and India had been ``long-standing partners'' in the fight against poverty.

She hoped that her visit would strengthen the impact of Indo-U.K. ``development partnership''.

Officials pointed out that India was the largest recipient of Britain's development assistance and the Department for International Development (DFID) had a ``rapidly growing'' anti- poverty programme for India.

Britain's development assistance to India, now close to 100 million pounds (Rs. 700 crores), was expected to more than double over the next three years.

Britain, they said, was committed to working with India to achieve the internationally-agreed poverty target by 2015.

During her visit, Ms. Short would discuss with Indian leaders how best to move towards achieving the target.

She will explain the implications of her Government's White Paper for India.

After a two-day stay in Delhi where itinerary includes a visit to HIV prevention and care centres, she would move on to Madhya Pradesh where she would give a key note speech at the opening of the Development Forum, a State Government's initiative for poverty eradication.

The Chief Minister, Mr. Digvijay Singh, would take her to some rural development centres.

Madhya Pradesh is one of the four States with which DFID works in partnership, besides Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa.

Ms. Short's is the latest in a series of bilateral visits in recent months, and follows the Industry Secretary, Mr. Stephen Byers' visit to India this week.

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