Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed gratitude to UAE Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum “for his gracious offer to support people of Kerala during this difficult time”, he was thanking UAE government for 700 crore rupee aid offer for Kerala floods but refusing the offer according to diplomatic rules that India had established in 2004 after the Tsunami disaster.
Tsunami had killed 12,000 people and homeless 6 lakh people in Tamil Nadu , Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Prime Minister at the time Manmohan Singh created a history in 2004 with this famous line, he said, “We feel that we can cope with the situation on our own and we will take their help if needed.” It was the new disaster aid policy that India had set for itself. We followed the same policy afterwards.
India has refused aid from Russia, US and Japan for Uttarakhand floods of 2013 that saw massive loss of life and property, the government refused to accept foreign aid and also floods in Kashmir in 2014. The policy implies that as Government, India can take care of itself. It avoids a diplomatic mess if 700 crore from one country and 70 lak from another tiny country is accepted or refused. Private charities, NRI funds are freely accepted with no limits.
The aid accepted for the Uttarkashi earthquake (1991), Latur earthquake (1993), Gujarat earthquake (2001), Bengal cyclone (2002) and Bihar floods (July 2004) may not have been positive experience for the government. But now India being among the fastest growing major economies, if not the fastest, thinks more cautiously of how it maintains itself on world stage of the history.
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