Prince Charles backs new education bond for India

Amid heavy smog that enveloped the national Capital, Britain's Prince Charles, accompanied by his wife Camilla Parker-Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, arrived here on Wednesday on a two-day visit to India at the final leg of their 10-day-long four-nation tour that also took them to Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. When their plane touched the technical area of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) at 1:30 pm, cameramen had to use flash lights to capture the moment due to the smog. Interestingly, among others issues, climate change was also one of the agenda for the talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said climate change, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), economic cooperation, and other bilateral issues came up for discussion. Among other engagements, Charles also launched a development bond for India to provide education to marginalised children. The British Asian Trust's $10-million Education Development Impact Bond, was founded by the Prince of Wales to improve literacy level for over 2,00,000 primary school students from marginalised communities in Delhi, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

The Education Development Impact Bond has been developed by the trust alongside UBS Optimus Foundation with the aim to provide funding to four local not-for-profit delivery partners over four years, delivering a range of operational models including teacher training, direct school management, and supplementary programmes.

Ahead of talks with Modi, the royal couple also attended UK-India Year of Culture function hosted by the British Council at the lawns of UK envoy's official residence. They also attended an event run by the charity Elephant Family marked by dozens of large, brightly-painted elephant sculptures.

The organisation was started by Camilla's environmentalist and adventurer brother, Mark Shand, who devoted his life to preserving India's dwindling Asian elephant population. He died tragically in 2014 in an freak accident in New York after which the royal couple decided to carry on his work. According to Vikram Goyal, Elephant Family Patron, India is home to the largest population of Asian elephants. "The event was organised to highlight that survival was becoming harder for the animals as their habitate dwindles, forcing them to clash with locals," he said.

Clarence House, the official Twitter handle of the Prince and the Duchess tweeted, "An assembled 'Elephant Parade' greet Their Royal Highnesses in the garden of the British High Commissioner's Residence."

"The elephant family sculptures will be taken to Mumbai to raise awareness of the charity's mission to help protect Asian elephants," it said in another tweet.

The UK government's Department for International Development (DfID) will contribute technical assistance and insights to the project as part of a wider partnership. "The DfID is exploring new and innovative ways to finance programmes which will transform the lives of some of the world's poorest people. We are proud to support the British Asian Trust as they develop their Development Impact Bond, which will provide access to quality education for hundreds of thousands of children," said DfID minister Priti Patel.