Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Understanding the Bond between the World Bank and its Largest Borrower
- Chapter One The First Half-Century: From Bretton Woods to India's Liberalization Era
- Chapter Two Remaining Relevant: The World Bank's Strategy for an India of States
- Chapter Three Reasserting Central Government Control, Reorienting Aid toward “Lagging States”
- Chapter Four A Bittersweet “Graduation” from Aid: Can IDA Hold on to India, and Will India Let It?
- Chapter Five Commencement: India's Changing Relationship to Global Development Assistance
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter Two - Remaining Relevant: The World Bank's Strategy for an India of States
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Understanding the Bond between the World Bank and its Largest Borrower
- Chapter One The First Half-Century: From Bretton Woods to India's Liberalization Era
- Chapter Two Remaining Relevant: The World Bank's Strategy for an India of States
- Chapter Three Reasserting Central Government Control, Reorienting Aid toward “Lagging States”
- Chapter Four A Bittersweet “Graduation” from Aid: Can IDA Hold on to India, and Will India Let It?
- Chapter Five Commencement: India's Changing Relationship to Global Development Assistance
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
There was always agreement between the two partners that the Bank should make a greater contribution to Indian development than it actually had. The disagreement was over whose fault it was. Like many arranged marriages, however, the relationship has endured and grown stronger over time, despite the absence of romance in the beginning and the persistence of irritating behavior on both sides over the decades. […] In 1996, there were some reasons for optimism that the Bank could finally make a difference in India. […] Some states were breaking out of the pack by pursuing aggressive reform and growth policies, led by a new generation of politicians.
Edwin (“Ed”) Lim, World Bank Country Director for India (1996–2002) (Lim 2005: 108–9)Being chief minister in contemporary India is a tough proposition. States can no longer look to the Centre for resources, they have to fend for themselves. […]
A politician who wants to deliver cannot have an ego. He has to lobby with the Central government for funds, using every persuasion he can think of.
Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of India's Andhra Pradesh state (1995–2004) (Naidu and Ninan 2000: 6–7)I consider your money to be my money.
Palaniappan Chidambaram, Finance Minister of India (1996–8, 2004–8) to the World Bank's Ed Lim, 1996 (Lim interview, 2003)In the mid-1990s, the World Bank evolved a new assistance strategy for India.
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- India and the World BankThe Politics of Aid and Influence, pp. 41 - 96Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2010