Has Joanna missed the point?

INTERNATIONAL I
Sheila Hetherington suggests an alternative form of help for the Gurkhas

I hesitate to enter a heated debate: with great respect to Joanna Lumley and those campaigning on behalf of the magnificent Gurkhas, I should like to raise a further point for discussion.
     Nepal is one of the poorest countries on the planet. The annual income per capita is probably about $200. Twenty four per cent of the population exist on $1 a day. Internal conflict (recently resolved), earthquakes, floods, together with rising prices for fuel and food, have left a population of 26 miillion people suffering from widespread malnutrition, living in a region with inadequate infrastructure. Fifty per cent of the population do not have access to fresh drinking water.
     International agencies estimate that $328,000 would enable them to provide a degree of preparedness against further natural disaster. The Office of Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs has estimated that funding needed immediately, to save lives and protect vulnerable people, would be $1,915,000.
     At present our own government provides about £56 million in aid, annually. The pensions of retired Gurkhas living in Nepal bring a further £54 million to the economy. The World Bank has provided $848 million to date, and with this assistance the Nepalese government is making progress towards providing irrrigation, development of roads and telecommunications, clean water, sanitation, power, and is introducing new health and educational projects.
     I understand that the minister has calculated that the cost of right of settlement in the United Kingdom for all Gurkhas who apply would be in the region of £1.4 billion, coming from the Defence budget. As the number of Gurkhas coming to settle in this country is likely to be a small proportion of those who have served in the army, it seems to me that it might perhaps be fairer to make a substantial one-off payment to the Nepalese nation, to be administered by the World Bank or by the Humanitarian Affairs Agency. A billion pounds would transform the prospects for its people and would demonstrate our enduring gratitude to the Gurkhas and to the entire nation for loyal service, sacrifice and unsurpassed gallantry over the past two centuries.