Cut Out Taking Those Shortcuts
This February, in a landmark decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that financial institutions like the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) are not immune from the law of land, and can be held...
Bank Charges: Punishment for the Poor and Marginalised
Bad loans have worsened the banks’ balance sheet. Because of this, the money which banks need to put aside (called provisions) for bad loans has increased manifold, resulting in a decrease of money available...
Wake Up World Bank
Absolute immunity leads to impunity, and that foments lack of transparency and the reluctance to be held accountable Over three decades back, it looked quite impossible to ask the World Bank to review a...
Amaravati, Chandrababu Naidu’s Dream Capital In Andhra Pradesh, Faces A Huge Hurdle — Lack Of Capital
In the last four years since Amaravati was conceived, the government has successfully aggregated 34,000 acres of land from almost 28,000 farmers. According to agriculture experts, the area between Guntur and Vijayawada, which been...
As Bhopal Is Recast As A Smart City, Its Poor Have A Question: Where’s The Room For Us?
Madhya Pradesh’s capital is among the first 20 cities chosen for redevelopment under the Narendra Modi government’s Smart Cities Mission. The brochures sell a dream: new residences, services accessed through mobile phone apps, outdoor...
Not Just President, WB Needs New Perspective on Development
The resignation of the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim was an unexpected development given the fact that he had three more years to complete his tenure. Resignations at such a high level after bidding for...
World Bank: Jim Yong Kim and beyond
Here’s a lowdown on what good and bad came out of Kim’s reign as the bank’s president and what seems to be the future of the coveted title Jim Yong Kim resigned from the...
From Paris to Bangladesh, How the Climate-Change Accord is Imploding
The onslaught of a new power plant on the fragile ecology of the Sunderbans is fresh proof of the futility of climate reforms. We bring you a ground report. Until two years ago, 28-year-old...
How We’re Legalising the ‘Bezzle’
Much has been written about the nonperforming asset (NPA) crisis plaguing the Indian banking system. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has been widely hailed as the silver bullet. But it has arguably done...
MP’s Pond Revival Project Suffers As Funding Dries Up
Basanta Vasunya a 35-year-old farmer from Bheel tribe of Dudhikheda village points towards a flourishing pond on which three villages rely. A recently established fish hatchery that nourishes, employs and empowers about 250 households...
India takes second place in renewable energy
India is leading the race in renewable energy but is still expected to become the largest coking coal importer by 2022. Will the country be able to meet its ambitious targets in clean energy...
How Telangana’s 24-hr power policy is linked to groundwater decline and farmer suicides
In a state where about 70% of the agriculture is based on tube wells (groundwater), a 24-hour power supply may not be the best policy. It was in November 2017 that Telangana Chief Minister...
For Gujarat Fishermen Fighting World Bank, Donald Trump And US Supreme Court Are Unlikely Allies
The Mundra residents hope the US top court will allow them to sue the World Bank’s IFC, which partly funded Tata Group’s thermal power project. NEW DELHI–Villagers fighting against a controversial Tata Group thermal...
Suing the World Bank Group to save its mission
In 2015, farmers and fishworkers from rural India sued the World Bank Group in Washington, D.C., over impacts from a disastrous coal-fired power plant project that they said destroyed their livelihoods and damaged their...