Prime Minister Narendra Modi patted a cow and thus sealed a new found bovine bond between India and Rwanda. Modi was in Rweru, a model village in Rwanda. Modi is on a three nation African tour covering Rwanda, Uganda and then, South Africa for the BRICS summit.
India has sponsored 200 cows for Rwandan President Paul Kagame's innovative Girinka scheme. The scheme was in response to the alarmingly high rate of childhood malnutrition and to alleviate poverty in the country. The scheme envisions that providing a cow to a family transforms livelihoods, reconciles communities, and improves agricultural productivity through use of manure. The programme, which is in place for over a decade, has helped increase agricultural production and provided nourishing milk to starving homes. The word Girinka, in the local langauage, means “may you have a cow”.
The scheme found resonance with the Modi government's 'cow-philic image' and it seemed just the best way to seal a bond between the two nations. Modi said that people in India, too, would be pleasantly surprised to see the cow being given such importance as a means of economic empowerment in villages, in a faraway country. He said that there was much similarity in the bucolic life of both countries.
India has extended $200 milion in line of credit to Rwanda for agriculture, irrigation and development of industrial parks. It signed a memorandum of understanding in the field of leather research and dairy cooperation. The two countries also signed an agreement on capacity building in the areas of defence, industry, and science and technology.
Modi also visited the genocide memorial at Kigali before leaving for Uganda.