No role for World Bank in planning, says CPI

The government's decision to allow the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to have a say in the country's planning process touched a discordant note with the Communist Party of India (CPI), an ally of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

The party said India's reform needs and economic outlook could not shaped on the basis of World Bank and ADB prescriptions.

AB Bardhan, CPI general secretary, said: "As it is, the World Bank's advisory is being followed by our top economic departments. To now formally include any World Bank representative would be giving Bank's dictate an institutionalised platform."

Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia had told Business Standard on Tuesday that the multilateral agencies would be consulted in those sectors where they were providing aid to India.

Though the Planning Commission has been consulting multilateral agencies on an informal basis till now, this is the first such move to formally induct World Bank and the Asian Development Bank representatives into the consultative committees being formed by the plan panel to evaluate the 10th Five-Year Plan.

The World Banks is being represented in the committee on water resources and the Asian Development Bank in the committees on agriculture, transport and financial resources.

Interestingly, the Planning Commission sources said there were differences even within the commission as to the formal inclusion of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank representatives into the committees.

Officials said the initial decision was to designate these representatives as "special invitees". The Opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is likely to oppose the move.

Given that some top government officials were former World Bank employees, the CPI said what more the government hoped to achieve by formally making them part of the planning process.