Book Review: Sachin Chaturvedi and Anthea Mulakala (eds.), India’s Approach to Development Cooperation
| DOI | 10.1177/0020881717727660 |
| Date | 01 January 2016 |
| Published date | 01 January 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Reviews
Sachin Chaturvedi and Anthea Mulakala (eds.), India’s Approach to
Development Cooperation (New York, NY: Routledge, 2016), 190 pp.
India has a legacy of assisting lesser developed countries but the significant
increase in this development cooperation (DC) by India and other emerging
countries is re-conceptualizing the terms of foreign aid. In fact, the very term
development cooperation or development assistance (DA) has replaced foreign
aid. As DC increases, there are also concerns about the efficacy and impact of
this assistance. This edited volume combines the scholarship as well as experience
of analysts of DC as well as practitioners who know well how this cooperation
really works. This book provides excellent insight into the mechanics, concep-
tualizations and methodology of Indian DC.
The first essay in this collection by S. K. Mohanty situates DC in a theoretical
framework and gives a historical account to this assistance. Mohanty argues that
the dominant practice of foreign aid is based on monetarist principles with focus
on macroeconomic targets, conditionality, budgetary support, etc. These principles
have been laid out by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization
of Economic Cooperation (OECD-DAC) that created the dominant aid regime
with the North as donors and the South as recipients. Indian DC however is dif-
ferent and does not follow OECD-DAC principles and has evolved a pattern of
DC based on its own experience as an aid recipient. India’s DC is embedded in
South–South Cooperation (SSC) framework. It is based on mutual sharing of
benefits as opposed to donor–recipient relationship. It does not lay down strict
conditionalities. Theoretically, this paradigm of aid has similarities with the
structuralist view which argues that macroeconomic management should address
supply constraints. Mohanty traces how Indian DC increased and has been con-
ceptualized favouring a demand-driven approach that has found empathy with
developing countries.
The usefulness of aid is demonstrated by a short but clear article by Manmohan
Agarwal, who makes an assessment of foreign aid received by India, its positive
impact on development and the impact on India’s own development policies.
An accurate and detailed experience and evidence-based study done by Kumar
Tuhin, an administrator linked to Development Partnership Administration, traces
the historical antecedents, current expansion, impact and challenges of the Indian
Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme which is the flagship of
International Studies
53(1) 80–89
2017 Jawaharlal Nehru University
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0020881717727660
http://isq.sagepub.com
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