 "Veena Reddy served as USAID India's mission director from August 2021 to July 2024. Image Courtesy: @USAIDIndiaMD/X")
The row over the $21 million grant for ‘voter turnout in India’ continues to snowball. As US President Donald Trump questioned the funding, saying: “I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected”, attention has turned towards Veena Reddy, the former India director for the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
On Monday (February 17), noted lawyer and former Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Jethmalani in a post on X wrote about Reddy, “#VeenaReddy was sent to India in 2021 (ominous?) as head of USAID’s Indian mission. Post #Loksabha elections 2024 (presumably her voter turnout mission done) she returned to the US. Pity because investigating agencies here could have asked her some questions about who this money was given to for applying it to voter turnout operations.”
But who is she? How is Veena Reddy tied to this USAID row? Here’s what we have found out.
From corporate lawyer to USAID India director
Born in Andhra Pradesh, Veena Reddy has been a career American diplomat. She holds a doctor of jurisprudence from Columbia University School of Law and an MA and BA from the University of Chicago.
Following her education, she became a corporate attorney — working at Rogers & Wells in New York, and at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in London and Los Angeles.
Following her career in law, she joined the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and has held many senior roles — Reddy served as the mission director of USAID in Cambodia and as deputy mission director in Haiti. Reddy has also worked as an assistant general counsel in Washington, covering legal concerns for USAID’s Asia and West Asia programmes.
In 2017, Reddy served as the director of the Cambodia mission and on August 5, 2021, Reddy joined USAID’s India office as mission director. At the time of her appointment, Reddy became the first ever Indian-American to hold the post with YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister, congratulating her for the role.
The following year, 2022, on the occasion of Independence Day, Reddy posted on X that her late grandfather participated in the Quit India Movement and was jailed as a result. “I am moved and inspired by the legacy of the many brave souls who stood for freedom.”
Veena Reddy’s tenure as USAID India’s head
Reddy served as the USAID India mission director for three years, until July 17, 2024. During this period, she worked on various projects in the fields of economic development, education, human rights and health, as per the US Department of State.
An IndiaToday report reveals that the disbursement of funds in her tenure also rose significantly — from $83.2 million (Rs 720 crore) in 2020 to $288 million (Rs 2,500 crore) in 2022. The funds then fell to $175.7 million (Rs 1,515 crore) in 2023 and $151.8 million (Rs 1,304 crore) in 2024, as per the US government data.
Data further reveals that of the $228 million in 2022, USAID India spent $140.7 million on basic health, $25.09 million on maternal and child health, $10.57 million on HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness programmes, $7.186 million on general environmental protection and $5.6 million on energy.
It was also under her tenure that new agreements or USAID-funded programmes were implemented by the India Railways, Ministry of Power, NITI Aayog, National Power Training Institute (NPTI) and Power Sector Skill Council, NTPC Green National Skills Development Corporation, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Atal Innovation Mission and others.
In November 2023, she was also a speaker at the World Toilet Day programme, which was helmed by then Urban Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
The row over the $21 million grant
The entire issue began on February 16 when Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) announced that it had cancelled a $21-million (Rs 182 crore) grant to the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) for “voter turnout in India”.
In a post on X, Doge put out a list of cancelled initiatives funded by the American taxpayer. Among the countries mentioned in the post, one was India. “US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all which have been cancelled..,” the Doge post said. “…$486 million to the ‘Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening’, including $22 million for “inclusive and participatory political process’ in Moldova and $21 million for voter turnout in India.”
Following the post, BJP’s Amit Malviya and Rajeev Chandrasekhar trained its guns at the Congress. The BJP I-T cell chief said, “$21M for voter turnout? This definitely is external interference in India’s electoral process. Who gains from this? Not the ruling party for sure!.”
Former Union Minister Chandrasekhar slammed the USAID over its funding allocations in South Asia, including $21 million to India. Called it a “smoking gun of interference and undermining of democracies”, he wrote on X, “Shocking that on one hand there is a discussion on democratic values and other hand there is brazen undermining of democratic nations.🤬🤬🤮”
Then on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump referring to the now cancelled grant said, “Why do we need to spend $21 million on voter turnout in India? I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian government. This is a total breakthrough.”
Following Trump’s remarks, the grant has become a flashpoint between the BJP and the Congress. The Narendra Modi government, as per a News18 report, has taken the first step towards investigating and potentially taking action against those found guilty of “compromising India’s sovereignty or interfering in its internal processes”.
Meanwhile, the Congress, calling Trump’s claims ‘nonsensical’, has also urged the government to bring out a White Paper at the earliest on all of USAID’s funding to India.
With inputs from agencies