CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ HYDERABAD  THURSDAY  FEBRUARY 20, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION 64% ROUTED VIA USAID; $20.1 MN ALLOCATED TO SPUR DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION Bulk of aid went to US health initiatives U.S. FOREIGN ASSISTANCE BY COUNTRY (2021-24) 200 J AYA N T H J A C O B & J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y @ New Delhi A R S H A D K H A N @ New Delhi 110 280 160 250 250 210 230 550 410 390 240 2024 2023 11 9.17 15 2022 14 2021 USAID “a criminal organisation” and claimed that Trump had agreed to shut it down. UNDER the Joe Biden adminisSanjeev Sanyal, the governtration, the US provided $720 ment’s economic advisor, had million (mn) in assistance to In- accused USAID of playing a sedia over the past four years, cret role in influencing policy with 64% allocated to health in the health and social sector. initiatives, mostly managed by “Those concerned about USthe now-defunct USAID, and AID’s interference in Indian $20.1 mn for democratic partici- elections should be equally conpation and civil society — a sec- cerned about USAID’s tentacles tor that is currently sparking in India’s medical system and political controversy in social policies. USAID India over spending on effectively ran India’s voter turnout, accordNational Family Health ANALYSIS Survey from the 1990s ing to an analysis of US government data by till it was stopped two this newspaper. years ago,” he said. Ranked between 4th Musk’s figure of $21 and 5th among 15 South mn spent on the Indian and Central Asian elections aligns with countries, India’s share the US data on money of US assistance over earmarked for demothe past four years was cratic participation 35% less than Pakiand civil society efforts stan’s $970 mn, and sigin India. Why are we nificantly higher than In the 2024 election giving USD 21 China’s $49.7 mn duryear, the US allocated ing the same period. million to India? $5.5 mn toward voter They got a lot of However, in South Asia, tur nout initiatives, money there Bangladesh received with an additional $6.1 Donald Trump $1.89 bn, nearly 162% mn spent in 2023 under more than India. Howthe same category Over . ever, in 2022, India received $20 the past four years, the total mn more than Pakistan, total- commitment for democratic ling $250 mn in aid, primarily participation was $20.1 mn, of due to post-COVID initiatives. which $13.25 mn was disbursed. The health sector received a However, the data does not spectotal of $462 mn in the past four ify the end beneficiaries. years for various programmes, “Why are we giving $21 mn to including fighting HIV-AIDS India? They have a lot more administered through USAID. money. They are one of the Elon Musk, involved in the highest taxing countries in the White House’s efforts to reduce world; we can hardly get in the size of the federal govern- there because their tariffs are so ment, had previously called the high,” Trump told reporters. FRESH 25% TARIFF MAY HIT INDIAN PHARMA FIRMS (in million USD) India Pakistan Bangladesh China 3,629.7 TOTAL FOREIGN ASSISTANCE BY COUNTRY DURING THE BIDEN GOVT US President Donald Trump’s plan to introduce 25% tariff on imports of automobiles, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals could be bad news for India. While the impact on Indian semiconductor sector is expected to be negligible as the industry is still at a nascent stage, the proposed tariffs could inflict pain on pharma firms for whom the US is the largest market. As for India’s auto industry only 0.2% of , car exports go to the US. However, higher levies on auto parts could deal a blow as the auto components segment grew 7% to $11.1 billion in the first half of FY25, with North America accounting for 31% of exports. Pharma exports to the US reached $8.73 billion in FY24, accounting for 31% of the industry’s total exports, according to Pharmexcil data. Indian drugmakers expect some impact as the industry heavily relies on American demand for growth. Sun Pharma generated 32% of its total revenue from the US in fiscal 2024. Similarly North America contributed , 47% of Dr. Reddy’s total sales and 30% of Cipla’s revenue during the same period. Pharmexcil’s director-general Raja Bhanu said Indian pharma firms supply a substantial proportion of drugs to the US, with four out of 10 of all prescriptions filled in the US being supplied by domestic firms. TARIFFS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD India exports generic drugs to the US, offering an affordable alternative to expensive drugs manufactured in the US. Indian pharma firms supply 47% of all generic prescriptions filed in the US. According to industry experts, the Trump administration may avoid high tariffs on Indian drugs as it can end up hurting US citizens in need of cheaper medicine. Overall, medicines supplied by Indian pharma companies provided $219 bn in savings to the US healthcare system in 2022 and a total of $1.3 tn between 2013 and 2022 Microsoft announces quantum computing leap with new chip BJP crosses the gender Rekha in its Delhi CM pick First-time MLA was a corporator earlier; to take oath of office at Ramlila Maidan today RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi IN a loaded prediction, a senior BJP leader had on Monday told this journalist, “Delhi me vikas ka ek naya ‘rekha’ kichna hai prime minister sahib ko” (The PM has to draw a new line of development in Delhi). The wordplay barely concealed the name of the eventual pick as chief minister-designate Rekha Gupta. How sure was he about it? The senior leader was emphatic: “Go, write it on a 100 rupee note.” He recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been urging the party to set an example for Nari Shakti by assigning a woman to lead the national capital in order to make it the Viksit Rajdhani of Viksit Bharat. Gupta’s name was in circulation ever since exit polls predicted a stunning BJP victory . On Wednesday, the BJP Legislative Party elected her as the leader of the House. She will take her oath of office at Ramlila Maidan on Thursday . A first-time legislator, Gupta has a strong RSS background. She also earned the respect of party MLAs and has experi- ence in governance. She cut her political teeth as a student leader of the Delhi University before becoming councillor. “She was found suitable for the post of CM, as the right candidate must have the respect of all MLAs. She is also a good listener,” sources said. Gupta’s connect with the people and her performance as general secretary of the party’s Mahila Morcha worked her favour. Other contenders for the role, such as Parvesh Verma, Satish Upadhyay Ashish Sood, , Pawan Sharma, and Shikha Roy have less leg, islative experience than Gupta. Also, the Shalimar Bagh MLA enjoys popularity across various communities, including Jats (10% population), Vaishyas (8%) and others. Sources said by giving her the baton, the BJP also sought to send a message to Bihar, where elections are due later this year. Baniyas in Bihar comprise 2.3% of the state’s population, which gives them clout. “Our party will make a impact among women voters in REKHA (Rajasthan Eastern India, Kerala and Karnataka, Haryana, Assam, and other states, which have high women voters,” a BJP leader quipped. BITS AND BYTES TG logs over 17K malware attacks per day C H I T H A L U R I R E VA N T H @ Hyderabad TELANGANA witnessed at least 17,128 malware attacks per day through 2024, the attackers spared no one — from your nondescript homemaker to government websites. The Telangana Cyber Threat Report-2025 — compiled by the Data Security Council of India (DSCI), in collaboration with Seqrite and released at the ongoing SHIELD-2025 cybersecurity conclave on Wednesday — says that 62,52,023 malware instances were detected in 2024 in the state. This is roughly 2% of the 36.9 crore detections in the country . Being an IT hub, it’s no surprise that Hyderabad was the most af fected city with 59,81,619 detections, followed by Khammam with 52,518, Warangal with 52,037 and Nizamabad with 28,049 detections. However, what is surprising is that the targets included government websites such as the deputy chief minister’s portal. Shockingly, the hackers not only leaked the login credentials but also sensitive CONTINUED ON P4 data. INSIDE KCR: STATE REGRESSING IN CONGRESS RULE I P4 TELANGANA TO HOST MISS WORLD I P5