"as and when" Usage

In the spirit of Strunk and White as taught in many US English classes, "as and when" is too long. I work with a lot of folks from India and they use this phrase all the time where a simple "when" will do. A similar situation occurs with the use of the phrase "unless and until" instead of using just one of those words, or saying "at the rate of" instead of just "at" for the @ symbol. Language is living and breathing and there will always be cultural differences in usage, which is of course OK, but in my opinion one should strive to use as few words as possible whenever extra word(s) add little or no value. Keep it simple and communication will become clearer.

"as and when" is just another version of "if and when". "If" implies it may or may not be needed. "When" implies it will be needed.

You could just as easily say "if needed" or "when needed" and it would amount to the same thing.

The language is full of alternative ways to say one thing, and frequently the alternatives may slightly connote differently, but not all that differently. That's actually part of the beauty of it. If there was only one way to say something, it might get boring after a while.