Newsletter Vol. 3 No. 4 - January 2005

India’s development a global issue, says Bank President

Bank to pilot use of country quality systems

Development Marketplace 2005

From the Field: How a watershed project stopped the mountains walking

Events

Recent Project Signings and Approvals

Forthcoming Events

Mr. Wolfensohn with Sheila Dixit, Chief Minister of Delhi, at Teen Murti Auditorium

India’s development a global issue, says Bank President

The President of the World Bank, Mr James D Wolfensohn, was in India over November 17-19 at the invitation of the Finance Minister, Mr P Chidambaram. In meetings with the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, the Finance Minister, the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek S Ahluwalia and other officials, Mr Wolfensohn was briefed on the country’s infrastructure needs – especially in water management, power, highways and railroad modernization.

He told a crowded press conference that the Bank would be happy  to support India’s efforts in all these areas, while continuing its assistance in healthcare, education, AIDS control and other sectors. “India faces multiple challenges and needs to move along on many fronts simultaneously,” he observed.

The high point of Mr Wolfensohn’s visit was his public address, entitled ‘India: Opportunity and Challenge in a Globalizing World,’ delivered to an audience of the Capital’s leading opinion-makers at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. Commenting on the country’s “enormous transformation” in the last 10 years, he said India’s development was “not just an issue for Indians but for the entire planet.”

A recurrent theme for Mr Wolfensohn was the challenge of a “two-speed India,” one in the global fast lane of entrepreneurial talent and technological creativity, a lane where Indian companies were becoming a global presence. In the other lane were the 600,000 villages of rural India where most of the country’s over 250 million poor people live under $1a day.

“The challenge now is how you can spread this enormous profusion of entrepreneurial talent. One must work at the local level to engage people in poverty, not out of charity but as the asset on which you build the country; a partnership between the entrepreneurs of fast-growing India and the 700 million in the rural and peri-urban areas, many of whom have been left behind,” he suggested. “India can do it. It has the leaders, the people and the resources...everyone in the country must assume responsibility to ensure that it does not continue to be a two-speed economy.”

Referring to the Government of India’s Common Minimum Program, the Bank President said it showed a country with the vision, resources and capacity to address poverty and the inclusion of the hundreds of millions of rural poor. Its challenge now, said Mr Wolfensohn, was the aggressive implementation of the program and the unleashing of the country’s entrepreneurship to make this happen.
The President began his engagements with an interaction with representatives of India’s youth: “What they told me is we need jobs, we need opportunity, young women need empowerment, we need protection from HIV/AIDS. They asked how they could help the less fortunate, those in child labor, the children not in school.”

He also met with a group of the Bank’s NGO partners who described both the thrills and difficulties of working with the Bank and governments. The meeting ran over because of the richness of the discussion, and Mr Wolfensohn promised to follow it up over video conference. He also warned of the growing threat of an AIDS epidemic in India. “One needs to overcome the cultural barriers and face this as a development challenge,” he urged.

Mr Wolfensohn also called on the President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who had visited the Bank premises in New Delhi earlier in the year on the occasion of  the India Development Marketplace. Dr Kalam gave Mr Wolfensohn a “fascinating” presentation of his vision of an India that fast tracks development on the basis of “electronic, physical and knowledge connectivity.”

Meanwhile, Mrs Elaine Wolfensohn met with representatives of women self-help groups from the states of Jharkhand and Uttaranchal and heard a first hand account of how their lives and those of their children had improved as a result of the Bank supported ‘Swashakti’ Program (Rural Women’s Empowerment Project).

She also visited the Sarvodaya Senior Secondary School in Delhi and a primary school in Lalpur village in the state of Uttar Pradesh to see first-hand the implementation of the Government’s ‘Education for All’ program. This program aims to achieve universal enrollment in and completion of elementary education (Grades 1-8) for the 6-14 age group by 2010. It is supported by the Bank through a US$500 million credit in partnership with DFID, the European Commission and India’s federal and state governments.

“The single most important investment that we can make for human development is to educate our girls,” Mrs Wolfensohn said. “I have seen during this visit that the number of girls in school is steadily increasing and the confidence that they demonstrate as they progress in school makes me optimistic for India’s future.”

A large and enthusiastic group of Lalpur farmers hosted Mrs Wolfensohn when she visited the sites of the Uttar Pradesh Diversified Agriculture Support Project. She saw the production of bio fertilizers and integrated pest management techniques, improved cattle progeny under the breed conservation programs, and the varied produce of farmers’ and women’s groups.

“This is the kind of project that should be replicated in other parts of the country and in other developing countries,” she commented, noting that the Project had helped increase agricultural productivity, improve farmer incomes and benefit the environment through use of bio fertilizers and pesticides. She also lauded the close cooperation among farmers, researchers, government officials and NGOs.

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Bank to pilot use of country quality systems

The World Bank is exploring the idea  of using, where they are of acceptable standard, a country’s own procurement, financial management, environmental and social safeguard systems in its operations. The use of country systems would mean a move away from the traditional model of ‘ring-fenced’ Bank supported projects in which Bank financial management, procurement and safeguard policies are applied just to Bank-financed activities.

Instead, the Bank, without diluting its own quality requirements or diminishing its accountability and responsibility for the funding it provides, plans to increase its reliance upon the borrower country’s institutions, rules, policies and procedures in an effort to institutionalize its own global benchmark standards within borrowing countries.

Moving with extreme caution, the Bank will pilot the new approach through a two-year program covering not more that 12 projects worldwide. This pilot program will comprise projects with well-identified and manageable environmental and social risks and will not cover major infrastructure and water resources development projects. Existing accountability mechanisms for independent review of the Bank’s actions, including the Inspection Panel, would apply to the pilot program. For operations that are not a part of the pilot program, the Bank’s existing environmental and social safeguard policies will continue to apply.

Key to the new approach will be an increased emphasis by the Bank on capacity building and human resource development in borrowing countries, which can have a major multiplier effect by leading to broad improvements in the quality of government systems. Before using a country’s systems, the Bank would assess where they are adequate to meet the Bank’s needs, and where implementation capacity is adequate, it would then work with country authorities to help strengthen areas of weakness. The assessment would look beyond the ‘letter’ of existing policies in the country to how well they are being applied in practice. When both policy and practice are sound, the Bank would consider use of those systems for specific projects.

This is not an entirely new idea – in financial management and procurement, in particular, the Bank already has some experience in assessing countries’ systems and depending on them in its projects. The advantage of using country systems more widely is that it would create incentives for borrowers to improve their own policies and procedures and strengthen their implementation performance.

Detailing the “careful and responsible approach” the Bank is taking in extending its use of country systems, World Bank Country Director Michael Carter said the two-year pilot program will ensure that this move does not weaken the Bank’s existing policies.

At the end of the pilot period, there would be a thorough evaluation to understand the circumstances under which the approach can be used to achieve the development objectives of the Bank and borrowers.

“As a global public institution, the Bank seeks to ensure that the projects it finances are carried out under the soundest social and environmental standards. However, as a development institution, we are also concerned that these standards not be limited just to projects the World Bank and other donors finance, but that they are used for all development expenditures in a country,” says Mr Carter. “Through this new approach we can join in strengthening national capacity while ensuring that the objectives of our policies are met.”

The draft proposals for using country systems have been available on the Bank’s website (www.worldbank.org/countrysystems) since October 8, 2004 and feedback on them will be accepted and posted through January 21, 2005.

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Development Marketplace 2005

The Development Marketplace (DM) 2005,  the World Bank’s unusual initiative to identify and directly support innovative development ideas, will see roughly US$3 million being awarded to small-scale projects that not only deliver results, but also have the potential to be expanded or replicated elsewhere.

The DM 2005 will be the first thematic one in the series initiated in 1998. Its theme, Innovations for Livelihoods in a Sustainable Environment, reflects the World Bank’s efforts to promote global, national, and local leadership to manage natural resources in a sustainable manner and minimize environmental degradation.

Proposals must reflect the theme of Innovations for Livelihoods in a Sustainable Environment in any of the following areas:
• Renewable energy and energy efficiency at the community level
• Innovative application of clean technologies in small enterprises
• Biodiversity conservation
• Environmental education and awareness
• Protecting environmental health (air and water pollution, water supply and sanitation,   persistent organic pollutants)
• Sustainable use of natural resources (land, agriculture, water, forests)

Proposals are welcome from a range of development innovators – civil society groups, social entrepreneurs, private foundations, academia, private sector corporations, as well as, staff from the World Bank and other donor organizations.

How to Apply

Proposals must be submitted through the Development Marketplace Website at www.developmentmarketplace.org.
All proposals must be submitted by 6 pm Washington Local Time or 23:00 GMT or midnight India Time on 21 January 2005.
If you are unable to access the internet or the website, please contact the DM team at (202) 522-2042 by fax or send an e-mail to: DMinfo@worldbank.org.

DM2005 Timeline and Key Steps

Development Marketplace process is guided by the values of inclusiveness, diversity, fairness, and transparency.
The overall process is described below.
November 19, 2004 – January 21, 2005:
Call for proposals

All proposals for DM2004 should be submitted through our website (www.developmentmarketplace.org).
January – March 30th, 2005:
Review of proposals
Proposals will be assessed against the assessment criteria mentioned above.
March 30th, 2005:
Announcement of finalists
Assessors will select roughly 50-60 finalists.
April 1st-April 29th, 2005:
Finalists’ proposals
All finalists will be asked to submit a more detailed proposal by April 29th.
June 6-7th, 2005:

Environment Development Marketplace 2005
The Environment Development Marketplace will be held on June 6-7, 2005 as one of the World Bank’s major contribution to the World Environment Day (June 5th). At the Marketplace, an independent jury comprised of World Bank staff and leading individuals in development outside the Bank (academia, civil society, foundations, government, other donor institutions, and the private sector) will evaluate each proposal and select about 20-30 winners.

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From the Field

How a watershed project stopped the mountains walking

Kiarad Kalog is a tiny village in the lower reaches of the mountain state of Himachal Pradesh. Until a couple of years ago, existence in Kiarad Kalog was attuned solely to the rhythms of the rains. Fields could be sown only after the first showers came, irrigation tanks ran empty until the skies rained benevolence and drinking water wells gave up turbid slush until the monsoons filled their depths afresh.

But the rains, when they came, ravaged even where they reared. Hillsides stripped of vegetation by generations of grazing cattle and foraging villagers were unable to bear the onslaught from above. Little rivulets ran unchecked down the slopes, turning the little stream at the bottom of the hill into any angry torrent and isolating Kiarad Kalog for days. Only a fraction of the crops survived in the denuded soil, providing the villagers with a meager subsistence.

And, all the while, the mountains kept 'walking' – which is how the local people describe the inexorable movement of soil erosion in these parts.

Today, the mountains have stopped 'walking', stalled in their march to nothingness by the roots of young trees and shrubs planted and nurtured by the villagers; the fields are lush with cash crops through the year, watered in large part from earthen dams and tanks constructed by the villagers; and wells seldom run dry.

As for Kiarad Kalog, it is now linked to the road on the next hill by an all-weather paved path that fords the stream with a little footbridge. The metamorphosis of Kiarad Kalog, and a hundred other little mountain villages like it, stems from the Integrated Watershed Development Project (Hills), a US$ 135 million World Bank-assisted program being implemented in five states spanning the Himalayan foothills known as the Shivaliks – Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Uttaranchal.

As for Kiarad Kalog, it is now linked to the road on the next hill by an all-weather paved path that fords the stream with a little footbridge. The metamorphosis of Kiarad Kalog, and a hundred other little mountain villages like it, stems from the Integrated Watershed Development Project (Hills), a US$ 135 million World Bank-assisted program being implemented in five states spanning the Himalayan foothills known as the Shivaliks – Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Uttaranchal.

Sant Ram, the pradhan or chief of the Kiarad Kalog Village Development Committee (VDC), sums up the difference the Project has made to his little village. “The Project has shown us the light,” he says. “For 50 years, we saw all our demands languishing. Roads, footpaths, water, bridges, forests – we had nothing and we kept waiting for someone to do something for us. But the Project showed us that we could create all these things ourselves.”

The Integrated Watershed Development Project (Hills) aims at halting degradation
in some 75 sub-watersheds of the Shivaliks, spanning some 200,000 ha and increasing their productive potential. Once covered by dense forests, the Shivaliks are almost totally denuded now, thanks to population pressures that have spurred demands for food, fodder and fuelwood in huge quantities. The marginal lands are also being cultivated now, leading to increased soil erosion. Today, the Shivaliks are among the eight most degraded rainfed eco-systems of India.

“The focus was not just on the soil or water, but on the entire farming system – food, fodder, livestock – and its ultimate aim was not just watershed development but also livelihood development,” says Daniel Sellen, the Bank task leader for the Project.

As the Project draws to a close, its impact indicators tell a success story:
• Incomes in Project-covered households, two-thirds of which comprise small and marginal farmers, rose by as much as 38 %
• 41,841 hectares of forest was planted
• 84,752 hectares of non-arable land was treated by planting trees, vegetative shrub barriers, developing pastures and other measures of landslide control.
• 9,294 hectares of hitherto unproductive land was irrigated by water harvesting schemes
• Improved farming techniques saw wheat  yields rise from 1.8 tonnes per hectare to 2.5 tonnes per hectare and maize from 1.8 to 2.2 tonnes per hectare
• A significant animal husbandry program saw milk yields for cows rise from 1.9 litres per day to 3.2 litres per day and buffalo yields from 3.44 litres per day to 4.9 litres per day.
• Rural access in the region improved by constructing 192 kms of rural roads; 1,584 kms of footpaths and 330 footbridges.
• 1,375 self-help groups established

The range of natural resource management interventions planned under the Project were all initiated in conjunction with the local communities of the target watersheds. The Project was impelled by villagers working through 1,337 elected Village Development Committees (VDCs), which served as effective channels for the Project funds. These VDCs – with incidentally 40 percent women’s representation – drew up micro-plans for their villages; spelled out their problems and priorities; and then worked on the solutions, contributing both part of the money and the labor. Together, they constructed some footbridges and paved tracks into the hills; they built check dams and flow barriers; they repaired terraces and bunds; they chose which trees to plant on denuded slopes and planted them; they built lift irrigation schemes and water supply pumps.

“The real sustainability of the Project is the social capital built in these groups,” says Sellen. Early indications from impact evaluation studies suggest that the majority of VDCs and self-help groups are likely to outlive the Project. “The glue we used was that of linking all institutions and activities to income generation for the villagers,” says the Project Director for the Himachal Pradesh wing of the Project, Mr R K Gupta.

Working on the ground through user groups – for irrigation schemes or drinking water schemes for instance – and thrift groups (the self-help groups), the Project has tried to help local communities manage their natural resources in a manner that not only sustains their environment but also creates livelihood opportunities. So, rainwater harvesting structures were constructed to irrigate lands that have historically been unproductive.

The farmers were then encouraged to plant high-value crops like vegetables, aromatic and medicinal plants and flowers, in these fields. Venture into the heart of the Shivaliks anywhere today to see farmers tending a variety of non-traditional crops. If it is medicinal aloe vera and safed musli (Chlorophytum Borivilianum) in Uttaranchal and onion seed in Haryana, in Himachal it is organically-grown vegetables that seem to have caught the farmers’ fancy.

Marginal lands were planted with fruit trees that not only increased plantation cover on the hills but also fetched farmers a tidy sum in the market. Then, the hillsides were reforested with species that could ease the demand for precious fodder and fuelwood or even provide raw materials for a host of small enterprises like making ropes, baskets or pattals, the leaf-plates used in traditional Indian ritual feasts. The on-farm production of fodder – planting juicy grasses like napier along the boundaries of fields – not only reduced indiscriminate grazing but also removed the need to buy supplementary cattle feed.

The instances of livelihood development under the Project are legion: In Haryana, Gujjar villages are populated the year through, as the transhumant herder community shows signs of settling down to farm, drawn by improved water resources.  In Himachal, the below-poverty line village of Nandowal are looking at prospects of prosperity. Two large earthen dams catch the rainwater and irrigate the lands of the village’s poorest families. Farmers who struggled to grow fodder a few years ago are now planting tomatoes. Fodder and fuelwood are abundant; the water table has been recharged and drinking water is being pumped to homes up the furthest slopes; and the village women are supplementing their household incomes making ropes, indigenous salt licks for cattle, and setting up forest nurseries.  “The forests have benefited and so have we,” says septuagenarian Majid.

Apart from the obvious on-farm and off-farm benefits, the Project has wrought a deeper change by supporting some key policy and institutional reforms in watershed management. Among its major achievements is the formulation of the Shivalik Watershed Development Strategy, a move towards harmonizing development guidelines across the five states that cover the Shivaliks.

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Events

REPORT LAUNCH
State Fiscal Reports in India: Progress & Prospects
22 September 2004 • New Delhi

A new report by the World Bank titled State Fiscal Reforms in India: Progress and Prospects was launched at a series of workshops held in New Delhi, Kolkata, Ranchi and Mumbai over November and December. The discussions organized to promote discussion of the issues raised in the report were attended by policy-makers, government officials, academics and others.

Recognizing the centrality of fiscal reforms to improving state government effectiveness, the World Bank has, since the mid-nineties, supported the efforts of several states to improve their fiscal performance. Several reports on fiscal performance and reforms in individual states have been written but this is the first report that looks across states to discuss what has worked, what hasn’t, and what more needs to be done.

The report notes that while some states have shown progress in fiscal reforms, at the aggregate level there are few signs of improvement. State debt continues to increase, and India’s states are now perhaps the most heavily indebted of all sub-national entities worldwide. The worsening fiscal position of the states since the late nineties is not only a macroeconomic issue: the report also shows that it has hurt the development effectiveness of the states, especially the poorer ones. What is important, therefore, the report argues is not fiscal adjustment alone, but development-oriented fiscal adjustment.

“If state finances are not put on a stronger footing, the sustainability of investments cannot be assured, and government effectiveness will continue to suffer. The poorer states are particularly at risk,” says Mr Stephen Howes, the Bank’s lead economist for India and one of the co-authors of the report.

Despite the limited progress to date, the report argues that states can successively adjust provided that they continue to contain their salary bill, control wasteful subsidies, and reform their tax regime. High on the tax agenda, the report argues, should be three things: introduction of the state-level VAT; a greater emphasis on the professions tax as a potentially important but neglected direct tax revenue source for the states; and greater focus on tax administration reforms and inter-state revenue coordination to simplify the system, and reduce corruption.

The report was released in New Delhi at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (November 23); in Kolkata at the Indian Institute of Management (November 30) in Ranchi on December 15 and in Mumbai (with the Mumbai University on December 22; it will also be discussed in Patna, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Lucknow and Bhubaneswar over the next few months. The entire report is available online in PDF format at the Bank’s India website
http://www.worldbank.org.in

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WORKSHOP
India and the Knowledge Economy: Leveraging Strengths and Opportunities
9 November 2004 • New Delhi

The Knowledge for Development (K4D) program of the World Bank Institute delivered a successful workshop in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) with the aim of initiating a broad discussion on how India can leverage its potential to further compete in the global knowledge economy.

The workshop used the World Bank report on the above theme as a launching pad for discussion among high level policy makers from the central and selected state governments in the areas of education, innovation, and ICT, including the Minister of State from the Prime Minister’s Office, Mr Prithviraj Chavan, industry representatives (such as from leading companies such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, ITC, and NASSCOM), academics, think tanks, consulting firms, and World Bank staff.

>>> Learn more about the presentations

CONFERENCE
Improving India’s Investment Climate
24 November 2004 • Mumbai

The World Bank, in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) organized a conference that brought together senior policy-makers and business leaders to discuss and debate the findings of three recent Bank reports: Investment Climate Assessment Report 2005 for India, Doing Business Indicators 2005, and the World Development Report 2005 – A Better Investment Climate for Everyone.

The conference provided a forum to discuss the key constraints and challenges to competitiveness facing India’s private sector, reviewed recent progress made by the Center and the states in addressing these constraints, exchanged ideas on how best to overcome investment climate bottlenecks, and explored ways in which the Bank could partner with government and business to create a more investor-friendly environment.

Mr Praful Patel, Vice President of the South Asia Region for the World Bank, gave the inaugural address at the conference while the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr Vilas Rao Deshmukh, delivered the concluding address at this Conference.

Several business leaders from India as well as leading Bank experts gave presentations and read papers at the conference.

>>> Learn more about the conference.

WORKSHOP
Better Air Quality in Asia
6-8 December 2004 • New Delhi

According to WHO estimates, approximately 500,000 premature deaths are caused by urban air pollution in Asia every year. To assist countries and cities in the region to improve their air quality, the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) was launched by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and others in 2001. The annual conference of the CAI-Asia, Better Air Quality 2004 (BAQ 2004) held in Agra in early December attracted over 600 participants from 40 countries.
“Nowhere is the relationship between economic growth and air pollution being posed more clearly than in Asia. The combination of rapid urbanization, motorization, and industrialization is putting tremendous stress on air quality management. Today, nine of the 16 world megacities are in Asia and the region continues to be rapidly urbanized,” says the Bank’s Country Director for India, Mr Michael Carter.

The economic costs of air pollution in Asia are estimated in several billion US dollars annually, representing productivity losses, health costs and the deterioration of urban quality of life. Many sources contribute to urban air pollution, from household heating to cooking to biomass and garbage burning to industrial emissions, power generation, and mobile sources.

“A three-pronged approach is needed: Coordinating environmental policies at the national and regional level; taking proactive actions at the city level; and engaging stakeholders at all levels,” says the Bank’s Lead Environment Specialist in the East Asia and Pacific Region, Mr Jitendra Shah.

For more details on CAI-Asia visit
http://ww.cleanairnet.org/caiasia

WORKSHOP
Urban Air Quality Management in India: Progress and Future Challenges
18-19 October 2004 • New Delhi

A workshop on urban air quality  management was organized jointly by the World Bank and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF). Pegged to the launch of the recently concluded report For a Breath of Fresh Air: Ten Years of Progress and Challenges in Urban Air Quality Management in India 1993-2002 (read the full report at www.worldbank.org/sarurbanair), the workshop was attended by representatives of all states that are in the process of developing ‘action plans’ for addressing urban air pollution in critically polluted cities.

Key issues that emerged during the course of the presentations and the discussions included improving the quality of the National Air Quality Monitoring Program by coopting industries and industrial associations to enhance efficiency and fill data gaps. A need to strengthen data analysis and interpretation was also voiced as was the need to conduct emission inventory studies to identify varying pollution sources.

There was unanimous opinion that current action plans are too heavily loaded towards addressing vehicular emissions. It was felt that since the so-called ‘first generation’ reforms undertaken in Delhi are considered a success, other cities are following the ‘Delhi model’ – which is perceived as having an excessive focus on the addressing emissions from vehicular sources. However, it was pointed out that the real ‘Delhi model’ included a mix of actions that targeted not only the automobile sector, but also urban, and industrial sectors. As such, it followed a more integrated approach than is perceived.

ACTIVITIES OF THE PUBLIC INFORMATION CENTER
World AIDS Day
1 December 2004 • New Delhi

Starting December 1, a series of activities were organized at the World Bank’s New Delhi office to mark World AIDS Day. Staff wore ribbons to express solidarity and support to HIV/AIDS control initiatives. A poster and publications display was set up in the foyer and the Public Information Center (PIC). Handouts were available for visitors. Documentaries and public service announcements were screened in the PIC and the foyer from December 1-10.  Posters and music videos obtained from partner agencies were extensively used to promote HIV/AIDS awareness in the workplace.

NGOs implementing care and support activities for high-risk groups and street children held an exhibition-cum-sale of products generated as part of their income generating activities for the affected communities. The proceeds went to the communities directly. NGO staff and people living with HIV/AIDS interacted with visitors.

Tales of the Night Fairies, a highly acclaimed movie was screened on December 15 to staff. The director, Ms Sohini Ghosh, and the cameraperson, Ms Sabeena Gadihoke attended the screening and interacted with the audience. Also slated for screening is Phir Milenge , an award-winning feature film in Hindi directed by Revathy Menon. The movie deals with stigma and discrimination attached with HIV/AIDS and explores the legal, ethical and gender dimensions of the HIV/AIDS problem in the Indian context.

>>>Learn more about the activities of the New Delhi Public Information Center

>>>Learn more about HIV/AIDS in India

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Recent Project Signings and Approvals 

Madhya Pradesh Water Sector Restructuring Project
30 November

The agreement for the US$ 394.02 million loan was signed at the Ministry of Finance, with Dr Ranjit Bannerji, Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, signing on behalf of the Government of India. Mr Subroto Banerji, Principal Secretary in the Water Resources Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh, signed on behalf of the Government of Madhya Pradesh. Mr Michael Carter, the Country Director for India, signed on behalf of the World Bank.

Carbon Tetrachloride (CTC) Sector Plan Implementation Project
10 December 2004

An agreement for a US$53.04 million  grant was signed at the Ministry of Environment  and Forests with Dr Prodipto Ghosh, Secretary in the Ministry of Environment  and Forests, Government of India, signing on behalf of the Government of India. Mr S W Patwardhan signed on behalf of the Industrial Development Bank of India Limited, while Mr Fayez S Omar, Senior Manager of the India Program and Acting Country Director for India, signed on behalf of the World Bank.

Recent Project Approvals

Orissa Socio-Economic Development Credit/Loan
2 November 2004

A US$125 million Orissa Socio-Economic  Development Credit/Loan was approved by the World Bank. This assistance will help the state address its severe fiscal stress, characterized by large deficits and unsustainable debt, which has hindered its ability to release resources to tackle poverty effectively.

Small and Medium Enterprise Financing and Development Project
30 November 2004

A US$120 million loan was approved by  the Bank Board to the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), backed by a Government of India guarantee. This loan is aimed at improving Small and Medium Enterprises’ access to finance and business development services, thereby fostering growth and employment creation.

Assam Agricultural Competitiveness Project
14 December 2004

A US$154 million credit to the state of  Assam was approved by the Bank Board to assist in improving the productivity of its agricultural sector. The project is designed to stimulate the growth of Assam’s agricultural economy, through activities directed primarily at small and marginal landholders, poor fishing communities, and the landless. Rural communities across the state will benefit.

Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project
16 December 2004

A credit of US$110.83 million was  approved to help the state of Tamil Nadu improve the effectiveness of its health system, both public and private. The project will help introduce new approaches in the way the health sector functions in the state, such as promoting collaboration with the private sector, adopting quality assurance mechanisms, and addressing the growing burden of non-communicable diseases.

Lucknow-Muzaffarpur Highway Project
21 December 2004

The World Bank today approved a loan  of US$620 million to upgrade the stretch of National Highway No. 28 between Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and Muzaffarpur in Bihar on the East-West National Highway Corridor. The Project is the fourth World Bank loan to support the Government of India’s National Highway Development Project and will help reduce transport costs  as well as contribute to opening access to the more remote North East of the country.

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Forthcoming Events

CONFERENCE
Mobilizing Urban Infrastructure Finance in a Responsible Fiscal Framework:  Lessons from Brazil, China, India, Poland and South Africa
6-8 January 2005 • Jaipur

The conference will address different dimensions for reconciliation between fiscal policy and urban infrastructure investment: in policy design, analytical understanding, national and international debt rules, and the politics of policy implementation. India, China, Brazil, Poland, and South Africa will share their experience. All five countries are pursuing a form of decentralized urban infrastructure management against a backdrop of significant fiscal management challenges.

TRAINING PROGRAM
Procurement Procedures for World Bank-aided Projects
24 January-4 February 2005 • Hyderabad

The Administrative Staff College of India [ASCI], Hyderabad is organizing a program on procurement procedures for The World Bank-aided projects from January 24 to February 4, 2005. The program is supported by the Bank’s New Delhi office by provision of faculty/training materials.
Contact:
Dr BS Chetty, Programme Director
Fax: 91-40-2332 4365 and 91-40-2331 0952
E-mail: bschetty@asci.org.in,  poffice@asci.org.in.

WORKSHOP
Land Acquisition and Resettlement & Rehabilitation Issues in the Transport Sector
10-11 February 2005 • New Delhi

This knowledge-sharing workshop aims to assess the working capacities of Country Systems (laws, regulations and institutions) and Bank’s procedures that followed to implement the Land Acquisition and R&R, in order to improve project results.
The workshop intends to identify approaches and systems used and propose appropriate improvement to the existing systems and procedures of R&R for existing and new transport projects.

TRAINING PROGRAM
Procurement Procedures for World Bank-aided Projects
14-25 February 2005 • Faridabad

The National Institute of Financial Management, Faridabad  is organizing a program on procurement procedures for World Bank-aided projects from February 14 to 25, 2005. The program is supported by New Delhi office by provision of faculty and training materials. 
Contact: Dr Anand Sharma, Programme Coordinator,
Tel: 2418876 [O], 2412299 [R], 9810722989 [M]. E-mail: anand_nifm@yahoo.com
Or contact: Mr R N Ghosh,
Joint Coordinator, Tel: 2418857 [ext.239], 9810323469 [M], E-mail: chanron@vsnl.com

PIC EVENTS

The following are the major knowledge events being organized by the World Bank Public Information Center (PIC) in India over January – February 2005: 

• Full-day knowledge event at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune
  21 January 2005
• Full day knowledge event at Mumbai University Library, Mumbai
  24 January 2005
• Display of World Bank publications and electronic knowledge resources at the Kolkata Book Fair.
  25 January - 6 February 2005