No strings attached to development aid: India

India says it attaches no 'conditions' to its assistance to countries, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Maldives.
It also cautioned against developed countries stopping official development assistance to their developing counterparts as suggested by the recent communiqué of the UN Secretary General on the post-2015 development agenda.
"Our engagement is demand-driven and response to the developmental priorities of our partner countries," Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said at a conference, South-South Cooperation: Issues and Emerging Challenges.
“We do not attach conditions, we do not prescribe policies and we do not challenge national sovereignty.”
"We promote mutually beneficial exchange of development, experiences and resources," Mathai said.
"We should reinforce the argument that while South-South cooperation and the voluntary efforts of developing countries such as India will continue to play an important role, it would be a travesty to project them as the principle new component of a redefined global partnership of the new agenda," he added.
"As India will continue to play an important role, it would be a travesty to project them as the principle new component of a redefined global partnership of the new agenda," the secretary said.
Mathai said it is surprising that even the crucial importance of the ODA for many developing countries have been reiterated at many high-level forays, this document (communiqué of the UN Secretary General's high level panel on the post 2015 development agenda) does not contain single mention of it.
Meanwhile, state-owned rail coach factory at Kapurthala in India's Punjab state has been assigned to manufacture and export stainless steel coaches to Bangladesh, a senior official said.
RCF Kapurthala's General Manager B N Rajeshwar said the RCF has been assigned to manufacture 50 stainless steel coaches for Bangladesh Railways.
Elaborating on the performance of the RCF, Rajeshwar said the annual manufacturing capacity of the factory is of 1,501 coaches but in the last financial year it manufactured 1,680 coaches.
"The RTF had manufactured 22 different type of coaches for Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Double Decker and other express train coaches in the last fiscal," he said.