Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk-led US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Sunday (February 16) said that it had canceled a funding of USD 22 million meant for "voter turnout in India". It was one of several funding cuts made, the list of which DOGE made public from its official account on X (formerly Twitter). Elon Musk owns the social media platform.
"US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all of which have been cancelled..." said the post on X which went on to mention list of funding cancellations, some of them being for 'causes' like "Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision", "gender equality and women empowerment hub", "social cohesion" in Mali", "inclusive democracies in Southern Africa" and more.
The Indian context drew a reaction from Amit Malviya, BJP's social media czar, who question who the funding was for.
The latest announcement from DOGE is another describing its fund-cutting spree. Almost immediately after Trump was sworn-in for his second term in the Oval Office on January 20, DOGE has been vocal about drastically cutting what it terms wasteful government spending. Musk has been especially vocal about this.
The DOGE faced a setback when a US judge stopped it from accessing some critical computer systems like the US Treasury payment system. Trump has opined that the judge should allow the access but this has become a matter of debate in the US.
