 "Did USAID give grant of Rs 6.5 crore to Sonam Kapoor's brother-in-law?")
The funding of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is being heavily scrutinised.
Amid this, a Republican representative has raised questions about $750,000 grant provided to an NGO linked to Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor’s brother-in-law Anant Ahuja.
The grant was reportedly given for “alleviating loneliness among migrant workers in India.”
Here’s all we know about it.
What happened?
The issue came to light during a USAID funding hearing by the US House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.
Republican Representative Nancy Mace said, “USAID awarded over USD 750,000 to fund alleviating loneliness among migrant garment workers in India. Does this advance America’s interests, Governor?” To this, the Governor replied, “No, I have no position.”
USAID is too busy playing global good Samaritan to advance American interests. pic.twitter.com/MZAMB97DEj
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) February 5, 2025
“USAID is too busy playing global good Samaritan to advance American interests,” Mace tweeted in her video post.
Why was the grant awarded?
The grant, which amounts to approximately Rs 6.56 crore, was awarded to the Good Business Lab (GBL) in 2020.
The not-for-profit labour innovation lab, co-founded by Anant Ahuja, Kapoor’s husband Anand Ahuja’s younger brother, focuses on aligning worker well-being with business interests via research-based programmes.
According to a press note titled ‘Alleviating loneliness among migrant garment workers in India’ on the USAID website, the GBL Foundation partnered with six factories owned by Shahi Exports, India’s largest exporter of ready-made garments. Owned and run by Harish Ahuja, Kapoor’s father-in-law, the company was founded by his mother, Sarla Ahuja in 1974.
They aimed at “building off prior pilots to conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a low-cost mental health intervention that pairs 1,000 female junior factory workers with female senior workers.”
The release said that over 30 per cent of India’s population are migrants who come to urban areas from rural areas for work, but lose support networks when they are far 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,” it said.
USAID’s official page notes that the grant funded a randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving 1,000 female junior factory workers across six factories.
They were divided into two groups: a control group and two intervention groups.
The control group trial meant that partners would meet several times a week to provide general social support, while in the intervention groups, senior workers would receive specialised training to help juniors develop strategies to cope with isolation and loneliness, according to the press note.
“If effective, the intervention has the potential to improve the lives of Shahi’s 150,000 workers in India and Shahi will disseminate the results to its suppliers, partners, other companies, and other organisations working with India’s 120 million rural-to-urban migrant workers,” it said.
According to USAID, if successful, the model could be expanded to benefit the 150,000 workers and potentially influence broader industry mental health initiatives.
The funding, however, is now under intense scrutiny amid political tensions over USAID’s spending.
What is the USAID issue?
In their attempt to dismantle USAID, US President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk suffered their first significant setback on Friday when a federal judge announced that he would halt plans to place 2,200 staff on paid leave as of Friday midnight.
The decision followed the Monday office closures of USAID employees as the agency was the subject of a probe by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was established to streamline federal bureaucracy.
According to ABC 4 News, Musk then claimed that he and Trump “agreed” to close USAID.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, criticising USAID, said, “If you take a look at the waste and abuse that has run through USAID over the past several years, these are some of the insane priorities that that organisation has been spending money on.”
She also highlighted the expense of $1.5 million to “advance DEI in Serbia’s workplaces and “USD 70,000 for the production of a DEI musical in Ireland.”
According to Leavitt, USAID also paid $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru and USD 47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia.
The actions by DOGE, a Trump administration effort to find ways to reduce the federal workforce, cut programs and slash federal regulations, have raised concerns among civil servants, Democratic lawmakers and others that Musk’s team is withholding funds appropriated by Congress to suit the president’s political agenda.
With inputs from agencies
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