People's Democracy

ANDHRA PRADESH

Resolve To Fight Back World Bank’s Conditionalities

                                                                     M Venugopala Rao

A ROUND-TABLE conference organised by the state units of the CPI(M) and the CPI  on “World Bank’s New Agreement And Its Dangerous Consequences” in Hyderabad on February 20 unanimously resolved to expose the harmful conditionalities of the World Bank and continue the struggles against their implementation. Leaders of several opposition parties, mass organisations, intellectuals and journalists participated in the conference. They expressed all-round concern against the conditionalities and their disastrous consequences on different sections of the people and stressed on the need for defeating the TDP government and continuing struggles against implementation of the conditionalities after the elections also.

The CPI(M) state secretary, B V Raghavulu, explained the background in which the agreement relating to the second Andhra Pradesh Economic Reform Loan/Credit (APERL 2) sanctioned by the World Bank was signed in New Delhi on February 12. As per the report No. 26534-IN prepared by the World on January 9, 2004, relating to this loan of  $220 million (about Rs 1100 crore) sanctioned under project ID number IN-P075191, the loan/credit would be disbursed in one tranche in an amount equivalent to $220 million (50 per cent each by IBRD and IDA plus another $100 million as grant from DFID of the United Kingdom). The loan is sanctioned for implementation of a six-point programme (see People’s Democracy, December 15-21, 2003). Following discussions with the World Bank in New Delhi in December last, the chief secretrary of the government of Andhra Pradesh, Dr Mohan Kanda, had sent a letter of development policy of the state government, asking the government of India to request the World Bank and the DFID to consider APERL 2 amounting to about Rs 1610 crores. On the recommendation of the government of India on January 6, 2004, the board of the World Bank had sanctioned the loan on February 10.  Raghavulu explained that all these developments and details made it very clear that the contention of the Telugu Desam Party’s government that no new agreement was made and  that the loan was being sanctioned as per the old agreement was simple humbug.

Explaining the harmful and objectionable conditionalities of the World Bank, Raghavulu made it clear that if the Chandrababu Naidu government returned to power, with the implementation of those conditionalities in the fields identified, more and more backbreaking burdens would be imposed on the people and interests of workers, employees, pensioners, farmers, power consumers, the youth, the poor, women and other weaker sections would be affected severely. He demanded the chief minister to make the contents of the loan agreement public at the Vijayabheri meeting being organised by the TDP in Hyderabad on February 22 and explain to the people as to why the loan was necessitated and agreement with the World Bank signed secretively and that, too, when a new government was going to be formed within another two months after the elections. Raghavulu asked the CM to make the conditionalities of the loan as points of his election campaign and seek votes of the electorate on that basis, if he thought that they were really beneficial to the people.  If Chandrababu did not respond to the challenge, it was to be construed that he was telling lies.  Pointing out that there was no truth in the argument of the TDP government that the loan was available with cheaper rate of interest, Raghavulu said that it was sanctioned by the World Bank with a view to facilitating the Naidu government to gain electoral benefit.

D Srinivas, president of A P Congress committee, alleged that the CM received a commission of fifteen per cent of the loan amount, i.e., about Rs 150 crore, and that the TDP was trying to gain electorally by spending such amount in the elections.  He announced that if the Congress came to power after the elections, an enquiry by a special commission on how the loan amounts taken by the Naidu government were actually spent would be ordered and the same reviewed.   He said there were strong suspicions that Chandrababu was in collusion with the World Bank and was getting kickbacks on a large scale.  Though other state governments were getting loans from the World Bank, there were no such disastrous conditionalities attached to them, Srinivas said.  He expressed concern that the conditionalities attached to the World Bank’s loans sanctioned to the Naidu government were extremely harmful and detrimental to the interests of the people.

S Sudhakar Reddy, state secretary of the CPI, who presided over the meeting, said the caretaker government had no right to get such a fresh loan from the World Bank.  Accusing the Chandrababu government of hoodwinking the people on the conditionalities of the Bank, he demanded the TDP to put the conditionalities to discussion in the Vijayabheri meeting.  The meeting, in a resolution moved by Sudhakar Reddy, strongly condemned the loan agreement with the World Bank and the approval of the government of India to the same. Demanding the new government to be formed after the elections to amend the harmful conditionalities of the loan, the meeting resolved to expose the conditionalities by holding conferences, meetings and distributing pamphlets in the coming days.

Nayani Narasimha Reddy, general secretary of the Telangana Rasahtra Samithi, said that knowing fully well that he would not return to power, Chandrababu was committing many mistakes. He appealed to the people to make use of the opportunity provided by advance elections and teach a fitting lesson to the Naidu government. G Vijayakumar of the CPI(ML)  expressed concern that if the conditionalities were implemented, agricultural markets would be abolished and primary education would be transferred to the private sector. Murahari of the SUCI said the conditionalities were a part and parcel of the ruling class policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation.  Dr Bhasskar Rao of a voluntary organisation, PEEM, said the Chandrababu government was acting against the Constitution by taking foreign loans directly.

Retired Professor A Prasada Rao of NG Ranga Agricultural University, veteran journalist V Hanumantha Rao, Pasya Padma of A P Mahila Samakhya, M Venugopala Rao, special correspondent of Prajasakti, Y Siddhaiah, state secretary of the CITU, N Narayana, general secretary of A P United Teachers’ Federation, were among those who spoke.

Earlier, Y Venkateswara Rao, state secretariat member of the CPI(M), welcomed the participants and explained the theme of the conference.