Since Donald Trump began his second term as the US President he has made it a mission to severely cut down the over expenditure of the American state. For this he had established the DOGE ministry with Elon Musk to manage such affairs. Over the past few days shocking reports of USAID fundings across the world have been revealed by the Trump administration. Now reports have come out that the USAID had been funding a transgender clinic in India.
Billed as India’s first transgender clinic called Mitr Clinic. It apparently provided health consultations, HIV testing and treatment, mental health support, and helped transgender individuals access legal and social services. The Mitr Clinic had been supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which provided healthcare services to the transgender community.
Now why the US needed to fund a transgender clinic in India and seek to develop a network of such institutes is a question in itself. Social engineering can be the only answer as many such bizarre fundings have been exposed over the past few weeks with millions going to programs to fund condoms for Taliban, drag shows in south America, diversity projects in Serbia among others.
Following the USAID funding freeze imposed by Donald Trump now reports have come in that this particular transgender clinic, Mitr Clinic, will be forced to shut down. The clinic’s closure comes after US President Donald Trump’s 90-day freeze on all US foreign aid, which includes over $40 billion in funding for international projects through USAID, according to reports. This action has already led to thousands of programs globally being suspended and numerous USAID officials placed on leave.
A trans health expert affiliated with the Mitr Clinic quoted by The Hindu said that operations were suspended shortly after the funding cut was announced at the end of January. Mitr was established in Hyderabad in January 2021, and has two additional clinics in the western Indian cities of Mumbai and Pune.
Also Read: Who were the major benefactor of USAID?
The matter came to light when the funding for the transgender clinic was recently questioned by US Republican Senator John Kennedy. “USAID gave money to a transgender clinic in India. I didn’t know that. I bet the American people didn’t know that,” he stated earlier in February. Kennedy, a Republican, made the claim during his speech at the Capitol. “USAID gave money to support electric vehicles in Vietnam with our taxpayers’ money. USAID gave money to a transgender clinic in India. I didn’t know that. I bet the American people didn’t know that. Musk also found that USD 1.5 million was given to Serbian LGBT organisations. They got the money to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbian workplaces and business communities,” Kennedy said.
USAID in India
Going through the details Kennedy pointed out the incredible expenditure of the American state draining the american taxpayers money through these numerous schemes of USAID which included even terror organizations, “USAID spent USD 164 million to support radical organisations around the world. Of that, they gave USD 122 million to groups aligned with foreign terrorist organisations. USAID gave millions of dollars to such organisations in Gaza,” he added.
Elon Musk responded with a “wow” on a post on X that highlighted the Kennedy claim on USAID.
Kennedy’s claim also came days after Republican Representative Nancy Mace questioned the USD 750,000 grant by USAID to an NGO linked to actor Sonam Kapoor’s brother-in-law Anant Ahuja for “alleviating loneliness among migrant workers in India”. The matter came to light during a hearing on USAID funding by the US House Oversight Committee last Wednesday.
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,” Mace tweeted in her video post.
The reports should not come as much of a surprise as Donald Trump has consistently claimed for the past few days the millions of dollars had been sent in through USAID to meddle in India. While addressing a Summit Trump had observed that the money had been spent to contrive a movement against Narendra Modi and that perhaps he should expose more details to the Indian government regarding the same, “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.”
On Monday, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar raised concerns about possible foreign interference in India’s elections, following US President Donald Trump’s statement that USAID had allocated $21 million for supposedly increasing voter turnout in India.
He had said that New Delhi is investigating the matter and that the “facts will eventually come out.” On the same day, India’s Finance Ministry’s 2023-24 annual report disclosed that USAID was funding seven projects in India, totaling $750 million. These projects received a total of $97 million from USAID in the last fiscal year.
With each passing day details of more and more such wasteful expenditures are being exposed by the Trump administration. Millions of dollars have been spent by USAID across the globe to fund bizarre projects, and yet it seems it is only the tip of the iceberg that has been exposed so far.
