Have posted the debate on PRAJA (refer link below) to enlarge the debate to a wider section of public. Members are welcome to add comments there if they so wish. Muralidhar Rao http://bangalore.praja.in/blog/murali772/2009/01/19/world-bank-gbwasp-a-different-conspiracy
On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 9:25 AM, Muralidhar Rao <[email protected]> wrote: > Well said, Vijayan. There's always been a debate over whether the > politician is the bigger problem, or the bureaucrat. I have always held that > even bigger than the two, there's another formidable force - the > status-quoist. And, the solutions to the countries problems lies in tackling > him. > > Muralidhar Rao > > On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 6:50 PM, Vijay Menon <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> When something is repeated over and over again and not disputed then >> it is perceived to be correct. So let me write on this oft repeated >> "so called conspiracy" by the World Bank on "poor developing >> countries" and how we are all too blind too see their "sinister" >> designs. >> >> Elsewhere is this groups I have also been named as someone who would >> know the true inside story of GBWASP and how the World Bank and its so >> called agent (need I name??) threatened to loot our 'poor country" and >> state until the great socialists came to rescue us!! They were >> supposed to take over our resources, our water. >> >> Conveniently, as the argument goes, this privatization /take over of >> resources was an unwritten agenda, a behind the scenes conspiracy. >> So deep a conspiracy that the only ones who knew about it was this >> same anti World Bank lobby. So much easier to invent a conspiracy then >> really search for a real one.!! >> >> The point is all this kind of talk, is rooted in some ancient view of >> the world of black and white, good and evil and also from the last >> bastions of those who have "anti-America" as the core minded agenda. >> Along with this "anti" stance is the anti capitalism, anti >> privatization stances. >> >> The story is simply.(since I am supposed to know about GBWASP) that >> the World Bank. wanted in the project >> >> a) Transparency >> b)Accountability >> c) Citizen participation >> (do these tenets seem familiar !!) >> >> And yes sustainability. That means a system where the project is self >> sustaining, not forever dependant on subsidies. Free from political >> and bureaucratic milking. >> And not eating into tax payer's money in perpetuity…a commercially >> feasible project. That's about it. >> >> It is this objective ( and yes the world bank does have sustainability >> and commercial viability as tenets) that was construed by this so >> called citizen centric lobby to mean privatization of natural >> resources, an extremely emotional issue which requires only wild >> accusations for a project to grind to a halt. >> >> And remember, this same lobby had an unforgiving hate for the "agent" >> who was responsible for the citizen participation part of the World >> Bank agenda. >> >> And guess what ..the government did not refute the charges. It was in >> their interest to limit world bank influence and citizen participation >> for a mega project like this ( good money was available for milking >> please !!) >> >> And that's the short story of how the anti America/anti privatization/ >> anti World Bank lobby played into the hands of the bureaucracy and >> political class and destroyed something that could have been a >> watershed infrastructure project, with an inbuilt watch dog mechanism. >> >> So in conclusion, >> The World Bank is not lily white and blameless. No one is. But this >> taken for granted stance that all things World Bank is a sinister >> conspiracy, and the tendency to promote this as an internal belief >> system in CAF,is the actual sinister conspiracy!! >> >> >> > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Citizens' Action Forum" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/citizens-action-forum?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
