Publication: India : Policies to Reduce Poverty and Accelerate Sustainable Development
Loading...
Date
2000-01-31
ISSN
Published
2000-01-31
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report is a pilot in the Bank's new approach to country economic reports, embodying the Comprehensive Development Framework. It begins with a chapter on reducing poverty, followed by a chapter on human development. Chapter 3 focuses on the Indian states, which are key actors in human development and infrastructure provision, as well as regulation and governance. Chapter 4 deals with governance issues, a major concern of the Bank because of its links to poverty reduction and development. The next three chapters deal with ways to increase growth and its poverty reducing content through improvements in a) infrastructure, b) the incentive and regulatory framework to encourage efficiency and labor demand, and c) the financial system and corporate governance. Chapter 8 deals with recent developments, the sustainability of growth and ways to reduce vulnerability to macroeconomic crises that hurt the poor. Finally, Chapter 9 provides a brief forecast of India's prospects and summarizes policies that would accelerate poverty reduction and sustained development. Gaps in the knowledge base and in country experience have been identified as issues deserving further analysis and research. The most important ones include: improving the delivery of social services to the poor; the links between growth, poverty reduction, and governance; and the nature, causes, and cures of urban poverty.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2000. India : Policies to Reduce Poverty and Accelerate Sustainable Development. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15106 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication India : Reducing Poverty, Accelerating Development(New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000)Reducing poverty, and providing for minimum needs, is the ultimate yardstick against which to measure development. To this end, the study outlines India's growth rate, improved social indicators, and poverty reduction since the 1970s, but specifies that, despite this progress, poverty is a serious concern, where social indicators remain below comparator countries. Human development is examined, focusing on social indicators, stating the delivery of health and education is fraught with limited accountability for performance and with low management capacity. Governance is critical to development, but the country's inadequate and adverse factors hinder the development of public administration, instead, performance incentives, and accountability within a downsized civil service, effective financial management, and decentralization should be pursued. Infrastructure should attract private investments, but the perverse impact of subsidies preclude the provision of private services. However, regulatory agencies are imperfect alternatives to competition, but corporatization would be an essential step in attracting the private sector. The study further reviews deregulation to increase trade growth and improve labor market flexibility. Conclusions call for reforms, arguing it would lead to higher growth, favorable balance of payments, and further capital inflows, including foreign direct investments.Publication Dominican Republic : Social and Structural Policy Review, Volume 1(Washington, DC, 2000-03-23)The report outlines the macroeconomic stability in the Dominican Republic during the 1990s, suggesting its strong economic growth, and poverty reduction, will contribute to the gradual transformation the country is undergoing towards policy reform. It analyzes poverty, especially severe in rural areas, where misdirected agriculture policies, and insufficient public investments, such as education, limit opportunities. But, the advancing trade liberalization, is expected to reduce export taxes, and although displaced industrial, and agricultural activities will be subjected to adjustment costs, there will nonetheless be improvements in consumers' welfare, and real wages. However, public resources for education remain very low, particularly for secondary education, and this should be considered as key element of the government's poverty reduction strategy, in addition to the establishment of safety nets to curtail malnutrition, and expand health, and sanitation programs, to tackle the extreme poverty. Recommendations suggest, first, to reduce macroeconomic vulnerabilities, through tight fiscal, and monetary policies, and, second, implement reforms, to prod a business environment, and, a strengthened banking sector, through market, and regulatory mechanisms.Publication Kazakhstan : Public Expenditure Review, Volume 2. Main Report(Washington, DC, 2000-06-27)The report is the public expenditure review for Kazakhstan, and builds upon previous work on the country's transition experience to a market-oriented economy, and of recent public sector reforms. It comprises three volumes, namely, the Summary Report, the Main Report, and Annexes and Statistical Appendix, aiming at identifying key public expenditure issues, suggesting also, possible strategies, and policy options. Although the country achieved significant progress in liberalizing, and stabilizing the economy, including implementing institutional reforms to discipline public expenditures, outstanding issues remain, particularly regarding the persistent fiscal imbalance, the deficient domestic resource mobilization management, unreliable expenditure prioritization, and inefficient budgetary execution. The report suggests strategy options, and policy reforms that should, through a programmed deficit reduction, attain fiscal sustainability. These options address: the rationalization of domestic resource mobilization, mainly oil/gas rents to preserve domestic savings, capital, and development of non-oil sectors; the need for governmental action on program priority, such as budgeting, and performance evaluation; strengthening intergovernmental relations, through improved fiscal decentralization, increased local accountability, and tax reforms; and, creating the initiative for private participation.Publication Tanzania Economic Update, December 2013 : Raising the Game--Can Tanzania Eradicate Extreme Poverty?(Washington, DC, 2013-12)The special focus of this fourth economic update is as much a concern for policymakers as for ordinary citizens. This economic update discusses a bold new way of lessening extreme poverty by transferring cash directly to the most vulnerable people. In Tanzania, the success of a similar program piloted by the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF), which includes conditional cash transfers as well as public works for productive infrastructure, is also very encouraging as shown by an independent evaluation. Although cash transfers are promising, as this update discusses, there are risks associated with implementation on a large scale. It will be essential to ensure effective targeting and sound monitoring. And the decision to scale up needs to be embedded in strategic thinking about medium-term fiscal sustainability. The economic update also discusses the state of the economy more broadly. Strong and stable economic growth and gradually declining inflation have been the hallmarks of Tanzania's recent economic performance. Tanzania needs to strike the right balance between making large capital investments and maintaining fiscal discipline. Tanzania needs to maintain fiscal discipline and continue to keep the country's debt and debt-service at acceptable levels to consolidate the gains achieved over the past decade. In this context, the report is organized in two parts: part one is the state of the economy; and part two is money to people: can conditional cash transfers make a difference?Publication Toward Economic Diversification in Trinidad and Tobago(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-04)This paper contributes to the predominant diversification debate that has been ongoing in Trinidad and Tobago for more than three decades. The paper makes a determination of the key impediments to the country's attempts at diversification. Econometric techniques are applied on panel data to identify the most significant obstacles to economic diversification for a set of 183 countries. The results indicate that openness to foreign direct investment inflows is the most fundamental driver of diversification. The findings are then applied to the specific case of Trinidad and Tobago through a detailed analysis of the links in the trends followed by foreign direct investment and diversification between 1980 and 2011. Greater openness to foreign direct investment and improving the business climate appear to be key policies the twin-island republic could implement further in order to expand the range of activities of its economic structure.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Remarks to the Annual Meetings 2020 Development Committee(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10-16)David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, announced that the Board approved a fast track approach to emergency health support programs that now covers 111 countries. Most projects are well advanced, with average disbursement upward of 40 percent. The goal is to take broad, fast action early. The operational framework presented back in June has positioned the Bank to help countries address immediate health threats and social and economic impacts and maintain our focus on long-term development. The Bank is making good progress toward the 15-month target of 160 billion dollars in surge financing. Much of it is for the poorest countries and will take the form of grants or low-rate, long-maturity loans. IFC, through the Global Health Platform, will be providing financing to vaccine manufacturers to foster expanded production of COVID-19 vaccines in both part 1 and 2 countries, providing production is reserved for emerging markets. The Development Committee holds a unique place in the international architecture. It is the only global forum in which the Governments of developed countries and the Governments of developing countries, creditor countries and borrower countries, come together to discuss development and the ‘net transfer of resources to developing countries.’ The current International Financial Architecture system is skewed in favor of the rich and creditor countries. It is important that all voices are heard, so Malpass urged the Ministers of developing countries to use their voice and speak their minds today. Malpass urged consideration of how we can build a new approach to debt restructuring that allows for a fair relationship and balance between creditors and debtors. This will be critical in restoring growth in developing countries; and helping reverse the inequality.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication World Development Report 2011(World Bank, 2011)The 2011 World development report looks across disciplines and experiences drawn from around the world to offer some ideas and practical recommendations on how to move beyond conflict and fragility and secure development. The key messages are important for all countries-low, middle, and high income-as well as for regional and global institutions: first, institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When state institutions do not adequately protect citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice; when markets do not provide job opportunities; or when communities have lost social cohesion-the likelihood of violent conflict increases. Second, investing in citizen security, justice, and jobs is essential to reducing violence. But there are major structural gaps in our collective capabilities to support these areas. Third, confronting this challenge effectively means that institutions need to change. International agencies and partners from other countries must adapt procedures so they can respond with agility and speed, a longer-term perspective, and greater staying power. Fourth, need to adopt a layered approach. Some problems can be addressed at the country level, but others need to be addressed at a regional level, such as developing markets that integrate insecure areas and pooling resources for building capacity Fifth, in adopting these approaches, need to be aware that the global landscape is changing. Regional institutions and middle income countries are playing a larger role. This means should pay more attention to south-south and south-north exchanges, and to the recent transition experiences of middle income countries.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Doing Business 2014 : Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises(Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2013-10-28)Eleventh in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2014 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: Starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, Getting electricity, Registering property, Getting credit, Protecting investors, Paying taxes, Trading across borders, Enforcing contracts, Closing a business, Employing workers. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2013, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business”, and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. The Doing Business reports illustrate how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. Doing Business is a flagship product by the World Bank and IFC that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies use the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 870 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.