Leading members of prominent Indian NGOs have slammed the UK government’s “racism” in directing “tens of millions of pounds” to sterilise India’s poor in what they say is a misguided attempt to combat global warming. The UK government has been funding agencies that promise to carry out a certain number of sterilisations, a quota they have apparently been fulfilling with total ruthlessness and an appalling callousness, according to a report on the international RT Today news channel:

Watch RT Report in full:

https://www.youtube.com/v/Egy4drxs8l8?version=3&feature=player_detailpage

A news report on RT Today visited India and spoke to local police who told them that they had raided the offices of local aid agencies and confiscated videos showing the horrific mistreatment of women. In some cases, this involved more than 80 sterilisations being carried out in a mere 3 hours in the unhygenic surroundings of a local school. The Guardian also detailed reports that women were operated on lying on straw in outbuildings and left screaming in pain according to NGOs and human rights campaigners:

Human rights campaigner Devika Biswas told the court that “inhuman sterilisations, particularly in rural areas, continue with reckless disregard for the lives of poor women”. Biswas said 53 poor and low-caste women were rounded up and sterilised in operations carried out by torchlight that left three bleeding profusely and led to one woman who was three months pregnant miscarrying. “After the surgeries, all 53 women were crying out in pain. Though they were in desperate need of medical care, no one came to assist them,” she said.

In an interview News Channel Dr Abhisit Das, Director of the Centre for Health and Social Justice, said the whole program stank of the old imperialist mindset of “colonialism” and “racism” where the poor were blamed for the excesses of the wealthy. RT Today reported that

A newly released document shows that the British government is interested in reducing India’s population to cut down greenhouse gases and combat global warming.

Agencies are being paid 1,500 per sterilisation by the UK Government who, according to a working paper it published on combatting global warming “argued that reducing population numbers would cut greenhouse gases“. 1,500 rupees is a little over 17 pounds sterling and the British government has allocated 166 million pounds to the effort, which translates approximately to nine and a half million sterilisations.

Both the RT Today and The Guardian reports agree that the sterilisations were often carried out by force or deception, and frequently in horrific, medieval conditions that spoke to a concern only with fulfilling quotas and a contempt for the welfare of the women operated on. However, as the British Government only funded the agencies in their “battle against global warming” they have denied any knowledge of this, and – of course – issued a condemnation. A little too late, though, for the tens of thousands of victims of this latest battle against the poor global warming.