UK journalist calls for stopping aid to India after moon landing, debates rage
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London: India’s moon landing has triggered an unbecoming debate on social media surrounding UK’s aid to India and its colonial-era excesses.
As reports sugges, a UK journalist opened old wounds arguing that UK should stop sending aid to India.
Sophie Corcoran posted on X hinting that India has an advanced space programme and UK should refrain from sending aid to the country.
‘The uk shouldn’t be sending aid to countries with space programs so advance they can land rockets on the other side of the moon,’ the post reportedly read.
Corcoran went about urging ‘we get our money back’, following which many users from India asked UK to return the money imperial-era Britain looted from India, according to NDTV.
Social media users pointed out that Britain had taken away $45 trillion; the staggering sum is now trending on social media.
Economist Utsa Patnaik was behind bringing out the details of the whopping amount following a research published by Columbia University Press, according to NDTV.
The report citing the study said Britain drained nearly $45 trillion from India between 1765 and 1938.
The immensity of the draining can be understood comparing the amount to UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) today: the amount is 15 times more than that.
Patnaik reportedly analysed nearly two centuries of detailed data on tax and trade during the British reign.
In 2015 UK was to stop sending aid, after India said it did not want the money, report cited The Guardian.
However, UK sent an aid of around 2.3 billion pounds between 2016 and 2021, as per a review by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact.
Meanwhile, India’s moon landing continues to excite increasing number of people around the world.
Chandrayaan-3 pulled off the feat on South Pole of the moon where landing is highly risky.
It is tougher and bumpier out there with caters and trenches with no proper sunlight to illuminate the region.