The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which had attempted to bring about a ‘colour revolution’ in India through its affiliates, had spent $7,50,000 (~₹6.56 crores) to supposedly alleviate loneliness among migrant workers in the country.
The matter came to light on Wednesday (5th January) during a hearing on USAID funding by the US House Oversight Committee.
Republican Representative Nancy Mace was heard saying, “USAID awarded over $7,50,000 to fund alleviating loneliness among migrant garment workers in India. Does this advance America’s interests, Governor?”
USAID is too busy playing global good Samaritan to advance American interests. pic.twitter.com/MZAMB97DEj
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) February 5, 2025
An article about the same is published on the USAID website. It is titled ‘Alleviating Loneliness Among Migrant Garment Workers in India.’
The date of publication reads 20th December 2024 although the link has been archived multiple times since 2021. The article claimed –
“More than 30 percent of India’s population are internal economic migrants who move from rural to urban areas for work, but lose important support networks when away from their homes. This separation may cause feelings of loneliness and social isolation among India’s millions of young migrants, and affect their health and ability to earn an income. Evidence suggests that social isolation and loneliness can have sweeping negative consequences ranging from a reduced sense of well-being and happiness to impairments in cognitive function, physical health, and even mortality. Workplace programs that address workers’ mental health may help to increase worker satisfaction, retention, and productivity, benefitting both the workers and the companies that employ them, but evidence is scarce.“
USAID partnered with Good Business Lab Foundation and Shahi Exports
USAID partnered with ‘Good Business Lab (GBL)’ Foundation for the study. The CEO and co-founder of GBL is Anant Ahuja, the brother-in-law of actress Sonam Kapoor.
According to the article, GBL further took the help of its partner ‘Shahi Exports’ to conduct the study. Shahi Exports, which is India’s largest exporter of ready-made garments, was founded by Sarla Ahuja in 1974.
The USAID article further stated,
“With support from Development Innovation Ventures, Good Business Lab Foundation is building off prior pilots to conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a low-cost mental health intervention that pairs 1,000 female junior factory workers with female senior workers across six factories owned by partner Shahi Exports…The RCT includes a control group and two intervention groups: one where partners meet a couple times a week to provide general social support and another where senior workers receive specialized training to help junior partners develop strategies to cope with isolation and loneliness.“
It remains unclear whether USAID spent $750000 on this study alone, which was referred to during the US House Oversight Committee hearing.
USAID, George Soros and ‘colour revolution’ in India
In March 2017, the Heritage Foundation published a report detailing how USAID worked in close association with far-left billionaire George Soros during the Obama administration to promote its ‘radical agendas’ in several countries.
The report stated, “…Evidence is emerging that during the past eight years, Soros, his Open Societies Foundations (OSF), and their many smaller affiliates have received U.S. taxpayer money through USAID and that USAID has made the OSF the main implementer of its aid.“
It may be recalled that George Soros, who worked with USAID, had been eyeing a colour revolution in India.
In February 2023, the far-left billionaire exploited the Adani-Hindenburg controversy and launched a scathing attack on the Indian government.
He claimed, “Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies. Their fate is intertwined…Adani Enterprises tried to raise funds in the stock market, but it failed. Adani is accused of stock manipulation and his stock collapsed like a house of cards.”
Soros accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of crony capitalism. “Modi is silent on the subject, but he will have to answer questions from foreign investors and in parliament,” he added.
The Hungarian-American billionaire also said that the ‘shakedown’ caused to the Indian markets due to the Hindenburg Research report will result in ‘much needed institutional reforms’ and ‘democratic revival’.
George Soros and his vicious ecosystem of NGOs, activists and journalists had been trying to prove PM Modi as an ‘electoral autocrat’ who needed to be ousted for the ‘greater good’ of this country. And it has been a work in progress for a long time.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of the article attributed the wrong X (formerly Twitter) handle of Anant Ahuja, the CEO and co-founder of ‘Good Business Lab (GBL)’ Foundation and had erroneously drawn conclusions based on those tweets. Error and the inconvenience caused are highly regretted.