The Hindu : National : Walkout in World Bank meeting over new proposal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 15, 2004

National

National

Walkout in World Bank meeting over new proposal

By Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI, DEC. 14. Environmentalists today walked out of a meeting with World Bank representatives to protest against its new proposal for lending that involves accepting India's environmental and social safeguards while funding mega projects. "We believe using `country systems' in lending will seriously undermine human rights and environmental standards that the World Bank is compelled to adhere to," environmentalists said in a letter read out at the meeting.

Copies of the letter would be sent to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and all Parliamentarians.

The World Bank is presently engaged in `consultations' in different parts of the world in an attempt to test the acceptability of its new proposal to use `country decision-making systems' as the basis of its operations. "We find it unacceptable that a meeting on issues of such far-reaching consequences was being held without providing basic information of such proposals and without providing the information in local languages to the affected communities," the letter said, adding the short time given for the meeting reinforced that the meeting was a mere formality.

A dozen pilot assessments world wide will run on approval of this policy by February 2005, and if found acceptable, could replace the existing Bank policies, that are relatively superior to India safeguard systems. `Shifting responsibility'

In India, the process of policymaking in recent cases of the draft National Tribal Policy, the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy and the draft National Environment Policy have evoked strong response in terms of lack of consultation, transparency and ad hoc decision-making.

Citing the example of the Sardar Sarovar Project across the Narmada, the environmentalists said that thousands of people affected in this project supported by the World Bank were yet to be rehabilitated, suggesting that the safeguards needed to be strengthened. "The World Bank, instead of taking steps to strengthen the implementation of the existing safeguards is attempting to give up its responsibility by the new proposal. The proposed changes would certainly weaken, both the safeguards and their implementation, at least as far as India is concerned," they said.

Online only

The World Bank invited comments by only listing the proposal online on its website October through to December, and without drawing attention to this fundamental shift in policy. The notice periods for organisations invited to the consultation were less than a fortnight, with absolutely no translation being made available of this heavy text in any Indian language, said the environmentalists.

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