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Tens of millions of pounds of UK aid money have been spent on a programme that has forcibly sterilised Indian women and men. Many have died as a result of botched operations, while others have been left bleeding and in agony. A number of pregnant women selected for sterilisation suffered miscarriages and lost their babies.
The UK agreed to give India £166m to fund the programme, despite allegations that the money would be used to sterilise the poor in an attempt to curb the country's burgeoning population of 1.2 billion people.
### With officials and doctors paid a bonus for every operation, poor men and women are routinely rounded up and sterilised without a chance to object. Some are told they are going to health camps for operations that will improve their health and only discover the truth after the operations.
Across India, there are numerous reports of deaths and of pregnant women suffering miscarriages after sterilisation without being warned that they would lose their unborn babies.
### UK's Department for International Development cited the need to fight climate change as one of the key reasons for pressing ahead with such programmes. The document argued that reducing population numbers would cut greenhouse gases, although there were "complex human rights and ethical issues".
A 35-year-old Rekha Wasnik bled to death in the state after doctors sterilised her. The wife of a poor labourer, she was pregnant with twins at the time.
### India's supreme court heard how a surgeon operating in a school building carried out 53 operations in 2 hours, assisted by unqualified staff, with no access to running water or equipment to clean the operating equipment. A video shows filthy conditions and women lying on the straw-covered ground.
### Human rights campaigner Devika Biswas told the court that 53 poor and low-caste women were rounded up and sterilised in operations carried out by torchlight that left 3 bleeding profusely and led to one woman who was three months pregnant miscarrying.
### India's poor have been threatened with losing their ration cards if they do not undergo operations, or bribed with as little as 600 rupees (£7.34) and a sari. Some states run lotteries in which people can win cars and fridges if they agree to be sterilised.
### Private clinics receive 1,500 rupees for every sterilisation, with a bonus of 500 rupees a patient if they carry out more than 30 operations in a day. NGO workers who convince people to have the operations receive 150 rupees a person, while doctors get 75 rupees for each patient.
The UK does not fund sterilisation centres anywhere else.
The UK agreed to give India £166m to fund the programme, despite allegations that the money would be used to sterilise the poor in an attempt to curb the country's burgeoning population of 1.2 billion people.
### With officials and doctors paid a bonus for every operation, poor men and women are routinely rounded up and sterilised without a chance to object. Some are told they are going to health camps for operations that will improve their health and only discover the truth after the operations.
Across India, there are numerous reports of deaths and of pregnant women suffering miscarriages after sterilisation without being warned that they would lose their unborn babies.
### UK's Department for International Development cited the need to fight climate change as one of the key reasons for pressing ahead with such programmes. The document argued that reducing population numbers would cut greenhouse gases, although there were "complex human rights and ethical issues".
A 35-year-old Rekha Wasnik bled to death in the state after doctors sterilised her. The wife of a poor labourer, she was pregnant with twins at the time.
### India's supreme court heard how a surgeon operating in a school building carried out 53 operations in 2 hours, assisted by unqualified staff, with no access to running water or equipment to clean the operating equipment. A video shows filthy conditions and women lying on the straw-covered ground.
### Human rights campaigner Devika Biswas told the court that 53 poor and low-caste women were rounded up and sterilised in operations carried out by torchlight that left 3 bleeding profusely and led to one woman who was three months pregnant miscarrying.
### India's poor have been threatened with losing their ration cards if they do not undergo operations, or bribed with as little as 600 rupees (£7.34) and a sari. Some states run lotteries in which people can win cars and fridges if they agree to be sterilised.
### Private clinics receive 1,500 rupees for every sterilisation, with a bonus of 500 rupees a patient if they carry out more than 30 operations in a day. NGO workers who convince people to have the operations receive 150 rupees a person, while doctors get 75 rupees for each patient.
The UK does not fund sterilisation centres anywhere else.
