New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs’ contributions towards international bodies have been slashed by 35.16 percent in the interim Union budget 2024-2025 from the 2023-24 revised estimates.
The interim budget was presented by Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman Thursday.
For 2024-2025, the interim budget estimates (BE) an expenditure of Rs. 558.12 crore by the MEA as contributions towards international bodies such as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Secretariat, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Secretariat, South Asian University, Nalanda International University and the United Nations (UN).
Established by an act of Parliament in Bihar’s Rajgir district, Nalanda International University is a central university funded by the MEA. The South Asian University is an international university sponsored by the eight member states of the SAARC.
According to the revised estimates (RE) for 2023-2024, the MEA is estimating a total expenditure of Rs. 866.70 crore for the year.
The biggest cuts are in the MEA’s contributions towards the UN and the Nalanda International University in the forthcoming year. The budget estimates for 2024-2025 for the UN are at Rs. 175 crore — a 54.25 percent decrease from the 2023-2024 revised estimates, which stood at Rs. 382.54 crore. Similarly, contributions towards Nalanda International University, according to BE 2024-2025, stand at Rs. 200 crore, a decrease of Rs. 100 crore from RE 2023-2024.
The decrease in contributions towards the UN by the MEA is significant as India has long been calling for reforms in the organisation, especially over the composition of its most powerful wing, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
During his visit to India last month, Dennis Francis, president of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), echoed New Delhi’s position on the UNSC, saying that the body does not represent the current geopolitical situation.
Contributions towards other international organisations have also seen a decrease in allocation, falling to Rs 40 crore in the BE 2024-2025 from Rs. 50 crore in RE 2023-24.
The one international organisation that sees its entire funding cut from the MEA is the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) — the interim budget makes no allocation to the organisation as opposed to Rs. 0.02 crore in the RE 2023-24.
CSCAP is an organisation consisting of representatives from a myriad of strategic studies centres from various countries across Asia-Pacific, including Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and the US to name a few countries.
According to the CSCAP website, India joined the organisation in 2000 as a full member.
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