INDIA

COOPERATION ACTIVITIES

The Italian Cooperation, after coming to a standstill due to new guidelines issued in 2003 by the Indian Government for receiving development aid, because of which Italy ceased to be a potential bilateral donor, became once again active in the beginning of 2005.  Infact, on 4th January in the same year, the Indian Government, after a change in policy, decided to readmit our country, along with all the G8 countries, in its list of bilateral donors.

Loans
 
In 1996, the Italian Cooperation decided to allocate 50 million Euro for bilateral initiatives in the form of loans.

An amount of 25 million euro was allocated for the “Support to SMEs” through National Small Industry Corporation (NSIC), an organization directly under the Ministry of Industries. A special line of credit has been operational from October 2000 to September 2005 but this involved only the first tranche of the funding, about 5 million euro.  

The balance 25 million euro have been allocated for the water supply sector to finance the project “Water Supply and Solid Waste Management in 14 selected towns of West Bengal”. The beneficiaries of this project will be more than half of the population living in these districts.

Grants

A substantial renewal of cooperation through grants took place after 1999 upon allocation of 7.7 million euro for funding projects in social sectors like health, training and struggle against exploitation of child labour.

In December 2000, the Italian Development Cooperation approved the ILO project “Targeting the worst forms of child labour; Combating child labour and the economic exploitation of adolescents in the sericulture industry in Karnataka”.  Its aim is to implement the ILO’s Convention for immediate action for eliminating the worst forms of exploitation of child labour.

Through UNICEF the “Safe Motherhood, Women's Health and Nutrition and Infant Care in Orissa, West Bengal and Bihar” was started to understand and find solution to heath and nutritional problems related to childhood. The “National Polio Eradication Campaign” launched by WHO in 1988 with the aim of eliminating completely the disease by 2005 received contributions of about 4 million euro from the Italian Government in the past three years.  

Furthermore with regard to grants, worthy of mention are two projects carried out by UNIDO which have as their partner the local Ministry of Small Scale Industries: project for “Cluster Development Programme” aimed at improving the enormous potential of this sector, and  a program for supporting the local entrepreneurs "Integrated/Consolidated Programme for SME development in India through establishment of Mutual Credit Guarantee Schemes, encompassing Cluster Twinning and Foreign Investment and Technology Promotion”, focusing on industrial clusters, guarantee funds and investment promotion.

In 2000, the Italian Development Cooperation decided to allocate an amount of 12 million euro for the “Urban Poverty Alleviation” Project as a part of the program "City Alliance for Cities Without Slums" launched by World Bank and HABITAT. The project is still in its finalization phase and shall probably be carried out in the urban “slums” of Andhra Pradesh.

With regard to emergency assistance in 2001 the Italian Cooperation, jointly with UNICEF and UNDP, financed the “Gujarat Earth Quake Relief Programme”. This project costing about 3.2 million euro, after the emergency phase, witnessed the realization of a consistent reconstruction program.

Decentralized Cooperation Aid

Italian Regions, Municipalities and Provinces have been sponsoring numerous development projects in India through the Decentralised Cooperation. Worthy of mention are:  

• Contribution by Regione Lombardia for upgradation of the Indian Spinal Injuries Center (ISIC) in New Delhi (2002-2004). This initiative, helped in improving rehabilitation services for persons with spinal problems who visit the Center, inaugurated in 2000 through a project financed by the Italian Cooperation. Furthermore Regione Lombardia supported a project in the outskirts of Kolkata for integrated development of health sector, education and micro credit, for construction of 32 homes for poor families and planning of a guest house for students of medicine. Other important programs supported by the Region are: promotion of a sustainable development project following the emergency of Gujarat earthquake (127,000 euro); an integrated program against exploitation of child labour in 151 villages in the Karur district; a development program for indigenous Budiga-Jangalu communities in the Guntur district. Moreover, in the context of the Italian “International development and collaboration program in heath sector for the year 2004: twinning between medical institutions”, the Regione Lombardia has recently approved a grant contribution of 2 million euro to finance medical treatment and assistance in Italy to foreign citizens coming from developing countries (amongst them India), to be used for providing medical assistance in hospitals of the Regione Lombardia. The project focuses mainly on minors and is intended exclusively for highly specialized treatments related to specific illnesses for which cures are not provided in countries of origin.

• Contribution by the Municipality of Milan in 2001 to the Association SISM, Italian Secretariat of Students of Medicine, for assistance in Health, Education and Micro credit in the outskirts of Kolkata. The project is called “Calcutta Village Project” and it has received funds to the tune of 21,000 euro.

• The Province of Milan funded two projects for the Tibetan community in exile: Expansion of Delek Hospital in Dharamshala, project already supported by the Italian Development Cooperation, and the construction of a Vocational Centre at Dehradun, managed by the organisation “Tibetan Children’s Village”.

• The Sardinia Region has funded four projects in 2002. In India “Control of harmful insects through characterization and use of strains of bacillus thuringensis” (10,000 euro), “Combined use of caffeine and unauthorized drugs” (20,000 Euro); “Insieme noi diciamo, India arriviamo” (28,000 Euro) and in Nepal the project “Consolidation of Women Health Center at Kirtipur” (30,000 Euro).   

• The Ligurian Region provided funds of 11,000 Euro in 1998 for a project of NGO ManiTese called “Support to child workers”.

• After the cyclone which devastated the State of Orissa, the Autonomous Province of Trento provided funds of 31,000 euro towards emergency assistance to residents of Phuntsokling settlement and funds of 80,000 euro towards support, through Associazione Missioni Francescane, for an emergency project for residents of Jaday Village following the terrible earthquake which shook the State of Gujarat in January 2001.

• The Valle d’Aosta region funded the construction of a hospital in Kopam in Nepal with a contribution of 26,000 euro and the “Himalaya Rescue” project for training rescuers with approximately 15,000 euro in 2001/2002.

• The Tuscany region funded three different decentralized cooperation projects in Tamil Nadu in past years. These are: “Against Exploitation of Children in Karur”; “Project for stopping the practice of killing the girl child in Usilampatti – a district of Madurai” and the “Action plan against pollution of rivers and promotion of sustainable development in the districts of Coimbatore and Erode”. This region has set-up a web site http://cdt.iao.florence.it containing up-to-date information on projects undertaken.

• In 2002 the Autonomous Province of Bolzano provided 5,400 euro for training of two young Tibetans in the agriculture sector. Besides, a project in Bhutan for training of restorers for protection of monuments was also funded.

• The Sicily Region, through the Raoul Follerau foundation is about to start a project at Chandpur in Haryana for rehabilitation of the disabled by supplying equipment and services and through support to a local training center. 

Amongst the various Decentralized Cooperation projects in 2005, many were projects started by various regions for helping populations hit by the Tsunami on 26 December 2004. Among these: the Piedmont Region (8 projects in Andaman Islands, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, with funds of 340,000 euro), the City of Turin (5 projects in Tamil Nadu with funds of 265,000 euro), the Lombardy Region (with 17.5 million euro for 22 projects, of which 12 in Sri Lanka and 9 in India), the Tuscany Region (1 project in India of 332,000 euro), the Province of Bolzano and the Independent University of Bolzano (6 scholarships for students coming from areas hit by the tsunami) and the Province of Trento

 

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