US President Donald Trump questioned why they were giving $21 million to India to increase voter turnout. He was referring to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cancelling a $21-million programme by the US to increase voter turnout in India. This is part of the US administration’s decision to slash millions of dollars in funding for several countries, including India and Bangladesh.
"Why are we giving USD 21 million to India? They have a lot more money. They are one of the highest taxing countries in the world in terms of us; we can hardly get in there because their tariffs are so high. I have a lot of respect for India and their Prime Minister, but giving USD 21 million for voter turnout?" said Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
The $21 million earmarked for India was specifically targeted to boost voter participation in the country’s elections. However, this funding will no longer be available, as announced by DOGE on social media platform X. In Bangladesh, the $29 million program was designed to foster political stability and enhance democratic governance.
Elon Musk, who heads DOGE, had said that the US would go bankrupt without such budget cuts.
Once DOGE made the decision to cut these funding public, it ignited a political firestorm. BJP's Amit Malviya said, "$486M to the “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening,” including $22M for "inclusive and participatory political process" in Moldova and $21M for voter turnout in India. $21M for voter turnout? This definitely is external interference in India’s electoral process. Who gains from this? Not the ruling party for sure!"
Economist Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council had also called out USAID, and said, "Would love to find out who received the US$21mn spent to improve 'voter turnout in India' and the US$29mn to 'strengthening political landscape in Bangladesh'; not to mention the US$29mn spend to improve 'fiscal federalism' in Nepal. USAID is the biggest scam in human history."
DOGE is an initiative by Donald Trump's administration to carry out his agenda of federal spending cuts and deregulation. Recently, Donald Trump credited DOGE for finding tens of billions of dollars in government savings.