Despite being the World Banks biggest beneficiary, India can still do with a lot more assistance, writes Business Today (India). As Bank President Paul Wolfowitz himself remarked during his recent visit to India, “despite all its increasing excellence in information technology, industry and commerce, India remains home to more than a quarter of the world’s poor people.”
In fact, the World Bank Group India Country Assistance Strategy (2005-08) talks of partnering the government in reducing poverty, improving the standard of living of its people, empowering communities, improving the effectiveness of government and promoting private sector-led growth, writes the weekly.
The countrys rural infrastructure could see some help from the Bank. Says Wolfowitz: – The World Bank is determined to be of help as you scale up this effort (Bharat Nirman) to reach the millions of people needing better access to services in rural areas.”
As it turned out, it was not just all talk. Later when Wolfowitz visited Delhi to call on Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, he promised 3 billion US dollar (18 mia. DKR) for rural infrastructure for the next three years.
Any increase in Bank aid can be readily absorbed by Indias ambitious Bharat Nirman Project, which has an enormous outlay for rural infrastructure development, argues the weekly. Ahluwalia, in fact, made a case for the Bank investing at least a billion dollars in the project.
That apart, Wolfowitz promised 325 million dollar for the Maharashtra Irrigation Project and also money for upgrading drug labs in the country. The Bank may not be loved by all in India, but as the country moves to pull the lives of millions of its poor up by the bootstraps, the Bank could well prove to be an invaluable ally.
Still, despite its noble intentions, the World Bank continues to draw flak from the Left parties, NGOs and, surprisingly enough, from its own evaluation committees.
More recently, the Bank came under fire not only for its suggestion of privatizing Delhis crumbling water supply system, but also for intervening to the benefit of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the consultants for the project. Campaigners say PwCs “blueprint for reform” closely mirrors other Bank-funded water privatization plans elsewhere in the world that failed to deliver.
What the critics, however, forget is that if the World Banks investments are not delivering the expected impact in India, it is because of large “leakages” at the state level, writes Business Today. Otherwise, 3 billion dollar (which is what the Bank gave in 2004-05) should be large enough to materially impact the lives of Indias poor, the daily argues.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
