Indo-European Commission Bilateral Relations
April 24, 2008 by Arun Pal Singh
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The European Commission (EC) has been extending assistance to India since 1976. The European Commission assistance to India is entirely in the form of grant and is currently focused on the areas of environment, public health and education.
A description of the various development co-operation programmes being implemented by the European Commission in India are as under:
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
Education sector has the largest outlay in European Commission’s development assistance to India. The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), implemented partly with European Commission of Euro 150 million, came to an end in December 2002.
As an extension of this programme, European Commission has made a commitment of Euro 200 million to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan being implemented by the Government of India for the development of primary education covering 42 districts in the country. First Tranche of Euro 30 million has already been utilized under the programme.
Second Tranche of Euro 24 million has been approved by the European Commission during February 2005. The other development partners, viz., IDA/World Bank and DFID, UK are also providing assistance of Euro 390 million and Euro 270 million respectively for this programme.
Support to Health and Family Welfare Sector Development
The European Commission supported health and family welfare sector development programme, under their sector investment programme (SIP), is being implemented with the aim of reforming the health care system in India focusing primary health care services.
The SIP is an integral part of the Government of India’s National family welfare prograemme together with reproductive and child health (RCH) and safe motherhood and other schemes. European Commission’s assistance for this project is Euro 240 million.
State Partnership Programme
European Commission has now shifted its development co-operation strategy from sector based approach to a partnership approach with one or two Indian States in order ot deploy bulk of their resources in these states for health, education and environment programmes.
Accordingly, the States of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan have been mutually identified by the European Commission and Government of India for European Commission’s State partnership Programme, for which European Commission has committed Euro 160 million. A Financing Agreement for this programme is likely to be signed during June 2005.
The European Union (EU)-Indian Scholarship Programme
ERASMUS MUNDUS – A Financing agreement for Euro 33 million has been signed with the European Commission for European Union-India scholarship programme which will be utilized to fund around 1,000 scholarships to pursue higher education (masters courses) in various universities of the European Union by the Indian students during the period of 2005-09.
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Tags: bilateral relationship, europe, european commission, european union, india, sarva shiksha abhiyan, state partnership
Indo-European Commission Bilateral Relations…
The European Commission (EC) has been extending assistance to India since 1976. The European Commission assistance to India is entirely in the form of grant and is currently focused on the areas of environment, public health and education….