From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Feb 11: India has witnessed a healthy transition from a centralised command structure to allow the States to adopt flexible policies and decide their own priorities without yielding to external pressures from international lending agencies, including the World Bank, said Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Addressing a select gathering of media persons, political leaders and academics after releasing a research book, 'Reflective Shadows: Political Economy of World Bank Lending to India,' authored by Dr Nagesh Prabhu, Deputy Editor of The Hindu, at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, the minister said it was a happy augury that India has become a strong and stable economy with the capacity and strengths to chart its own developmental path.
The country has emerged as a major economic power with different States and regions having different kinds of needs and therefore distinct priorities, she said there is a growing realisation that "one size does not fit all."
Describing the book, published by the prestigious Oxford University Press, as "academically enriching book" with its nuanced narration of the entire panoramic view of the World Bank lending policies and the political economy behind the various lending programmes to help in the economic reforms and poverty alleviation, the minister said the very fact the sectoral and structural loan programmes to India over the last six decades have had mixed results proved that indigenously developed model of growth was most suited to a country of the size and complexities of India.
Sitharaman appreciated Dr Nagesh Prabhu’s well researched and scholarly analysis of World Bank’s lending programme to India over the years and said the public discourse in the country’s developmental activities and programmes would be enriched if more journalists, who had ring-side view of the situation and were able to assess and analyse things without any pre-conceived notions that sometimes hamper the academics or subject experts. Such books on diverse subjects by the journalists outside their routine beats were very useful, she said.
Prof R S Deshpande, Director of the Centre for Development Studies at PES University in Bengaluru and former Director of ISEC Bengaluru, in his review of the book said it covered the different stages of World Bank lending to India over the years by providing a historical view and the pitfalls as well as achievements.
Dr Sugata Ghosh, Director of Oxford University Press, said a special preference was being given to publishing excellent, well-researched and scholarly works on diverse subjects and described Dr Nagesh Prabhu’s book as a welcome addition on the lending programmes and activities of World Bank from a journalistic perspective.
Dr B L Shankar, the President of Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath and former Chairman of Karnataka Legislative Council, said analytical and well-researched books on economy and financial system were very essential. He said the Parishath was very happy to provide a platform and facilities for authors to release their books and academic works as writing books was also a form of art and go a long way in educating and enlightening the people.
The author Dr Nagesh Prabhu narrated the different phases in the World Bank’s lending programmes to India. While international funding agencies like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and International Development Agency have tried their best to influence the country’s economic and structural reforms process, the successive governments have also prevailed upon the lending agencies to change and modify their policies.
Senior Journalist Gabriel Vaz welcomed the gathering. Prasanna Kumar proposed a vote of thanks.