Today, Anil who i had met over internet sometime back, had forwarded me a link, which discloses, that since 1948 Pakistan owes Rs 300 crores to India on account of share of pre-partition debt. It also states that:
On an average rate of 8 percent interest, this Rs 300 crore would be over Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) by now. But even now in the 2004-05 Budget this is shown as only Rs 300 crore.
Rs 300 crore was a lot of money in 1948. In 1950-51, our external debt was only Rs 32 crore (Rs 320 million) and had we realised this Rs 300 crore then, there would have been no external debt.
In the 2004-05 Budget our external debt is shown as over Rs 55,000 crore. Even this would come down by half if we can realise the Rs 20,000 crore now.
After partition Pakistan has attacked Jammu & Kashmir with tribal forces backed by Pakistani army, Therefore Indian government decided to deny Rs 55 crores, which was to be given to Pakistan as per pre-agreement made by the Partition Council. Gandhi went on hunger strike to extort Indian government to release the amount, many people like Sardar Patel had cautioned that this money would be eventually used by the Pakistan to finance war against India but Gandhi didn't listened to this reasoning and finally Indian government was made to release this amount. Thing which has to be noted is, then Indian government did not take India's interest seriously, they could have waited till they have balanced credits and debts of partition before releasing the amount. They succumbed to grandeur of a individual. It is sad to see that no political party has made any effort to recover this amount, which would certainly had made difference to Indian economy!.
4 comments:
We can atleast give this money now, it will be useful for them to give relief for Earthquack.
shurro,
intresting peice of info.
You have a knack of picking up informative pieces of information every now and then ! Keep up the good work !
Jeevan,
if you mean we need to write off this debt then its another issue but saying that this money would be useful to Pakistan in providing relief to earth quake victims is ridiculous. Fact is Pakistani government has not shown accountability to its international donors and they are also spending 4 billion dollars on purchasing F-16 aircrafts, which are unessential now and shows their priorities and lack of commitment towards earth quake victims.
Sen,
Thank you.
Jayan,
Thank you for your compliments and we do share some similar interest, so you find my writings interesting i guess :).
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