China pips India in aid to Nepal; Delhi out of top five donors' list

NEW DELHI: If it is Nepal's growing proximity with China that is making PM K P Sharma Oli act in a cavalier fashion, some of the resultant damage for India could be selfinflicted. While India denies that it was responsible for the blockade which threatened to cripple Nepal's economy , the fact is that the recent strain in Indo-Nepal relations has coincided with China surpassing India in the list of top aid donors to Kathmandu.

The report by the Nepal government on official development assistance (ODA) shows that in fiscal 2014-2015, India's ODA disbursement to Nepal plummeted by over 50% in the first year of the NDA government, allowing Beijing to overtake India in the list of top assistance providers.

While China's disbursement of ODA stood at $37.95 million, India accounted for a little over $22 million. This is the first time in the past five years that India is not in the list of top five ODA providers (in terms of disbursement) among Nepal's bilateral development partners. China is now in fourth position, after the UK, the US and Japan, and followed by Switzerland.

Nepal's latest Development Cooperation Report acknowledges that India and China have also provided technical assistance to it through scholarships, training and study tours, which is not fully reflected in the to tal volume of assistance. India has also committed $1,400 million for Nepal's earthquake reconstruction work as against China's $766 million.

The problem for India though, not unlike what it faced in Sri Lanka when Mahinda Rajapaksa was president, is China's increasing involvement in landmark infrastructure projects in the Himalayan nation, including the construction of Nepal's second international airport in Pokhara, which is helping it win the battle of perception.