Question

how did the world bank policies effect india

Answer 1

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), located in the national capital, which has a history of ‘left- wing’ intellectualism,’ hosted the ‘Independent People’s Tribunal on the World Bank in India’ in September 2007.

State-level consultations were held over a two-year preparatory period, primarily in states where the World Bank has played or is playing an active role such as Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The meeting at JNU, attended by over 700 people, was facilitated by 200 volunteer JNU students.

Its purpose, says the Tribunal, was to provide a just and unbiased forum for people who have faced the impact of projects and policies funded or promoted by the World Bank, it being the most influential of international financial institutions working in India.

The final report

The final report, released last week, charges the Bank with advocating policies which have actually accelerated India’s agricultural crisis and hunger, increased the divide between India’s rich and poor and failed in its mission to reduce poverty.

The Bank’s country strategy for India plans substantial lending in the areas of infrastructure (roads, transport, power, water supply and sanitation, irrigation and urban development), human development (education, health, social protection) and rural livelihoods, particularly in the eastern States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh in the north.

Impact on vulnerable communities

The Tribunal studied impacts of Bank projects on vulnerable communities including women, children, tribal poor, fisher folk, farmers, labourers and ‘dalits’, the lowest in India’s social ladder.

It also studied the impact of Bank loan conditionalities on the country’s financial indebtedness, its sovereignty and democratic processes of the country, its link with government agencies and consultants, the extent of its involvement with policy making.

The report now charges the Bank with deliberately posting former Bank staff in the Indian bureaucracy in order to influence policy and dilute environmental legislation, implying a serious lack of independence in India’s administrative policies.

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