World Bank approved $800 for Amravati despite negative internal view, court, NGO objections: CFA

By A Representative

Despite over 170 representatives by civil society organisations, hailing from 17 countries, all of them written to the World Bank’s executive directors calling upon the top banker to defer its approval, even as seeking further detailed studies, the Bank’s board of directors has approved $800 million for the Amaravati Capital City project.
Ironically, the Bank’s own Inspection Panel in 2019 had called for investigation into the project, and the Andhra Pradesh High Court had called the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) for its “prima facie illegal and non-compliant” of the National Green Tribunal orders. The Panel had sought strict adherence to the Bank’s policies, including ensuring meaningful, transparent consultations with all affected communities, before the project is approved.
Bringing this to light, the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) said, the civil society groups had also asked the World Bank to resist political pressures from the Government of India and take a courageous stand in defence of the rights of people, the environment, and the Bank’s stated commitments to sustainable development and social equity.
In spite of this, “the Board of Directors going ahead with the approval of the project reeks of disregard for the judicial system of the country, undermining its own accountability mechanisms and disrespecting the rights and concerns of the people”, CFA regretted in an email alert to Counterview.
According to CFA, the approval should be seen in the light of the World Bank having a historically contentious legacy in India, “marked by projects such as the Narmada Dam, the Singrauli thermal power project, the Tata Mundra coal plant, the Mumbai Urban Transport Project, and the Himalayan dams, among others”.
Warning that this project “is poised to be yet another stain on the World Bank's legacy”, CFA reported, this project was first presented to the World Bank in 2017, when the Bank approved a loan of US $300 million. However, before the financing details were finalised, the political landscape in the state changed, and the project was shelved in 2019.
Five years later, the same political party that proposed the project returned to power and sought World Bank financing again, said CFA, pointing out, in 2017, local communities impacted by the project raised their concerns with the World Bank’s Inspection Panel (IPN), which submitted its Third Report and Recommendation in March 2019.
“The Panel’s findings highlighted significant issues with the project, particularly regarding the violation of the Bank’s Involuntary Resettlement Policy (OP/BP 4.12). These issues, including inadequate (and illusionary, as the Andhra Pradesh High Court has observed in its order of March 2022) compensation, lack of livelihood restoration, and the absence of necessary consultations, remain unresolved to this day”, CFA asserted.
The IPN’s 2019 Report made several critical recommendations, noted CFA, “including the need for a thorough investigation into the alleged harm caused to local communities, particularly landless labourers who lost their livelihoods years ago.”
”The Panel also raised concerns over the LPS, noting that it had never been implemented at this scale and could set a dangerous precedent for future development projects. The adequacy of compensation, particularly whether it meets the replacement value, was also questioned”, it added.

It continued, “The Andhra Pradesh High Court held the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS), under which the State government acquired lands from farmers, to be prima facie illegal. As a result of the flip-flop decisions of the State government in the choice of location of the capital city at Amaravati since the Bank considered the project in 2017, the farmers who gave up lands under the LPS have been subject to irreparable loss.”
According to CFA, “In the absence of a formal statutory notification issued by Government of India under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 on the location of the capital city as on date, the farmers continue to face severe uncertainties in the matter of valuation of their precious lands”, underlining, how in the past 10 years have demonstrated the serious gaps in LPS”, rocked as it was by protests by LPS farmers on the streets for more than 1,600 days with over 500 criminal cases having been filed, including on women LPS farmers.
“Despite this, the project is being pushed forward under an increasingly authoritarian political climate, both at the state and national levels”, CFA said.
The two crucial judicial orders pronounced by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) referred to by CFA had wanted the State government to put in place mechanisms for compliance with environmental norms in implementing the Amaravati project in a sustainable manner, even as requiring that the State government should conserve the floodplains of River Krishna. The NGT orders “are yet to be complied with by the State government”, it commented.
In the light of this, CFA demanded that, despite the approval, the Bank can “still hold on to its lending until detailed studies are conducted, completed with the High Court and National Green Tribunal judgments and adherence to the Bank’s own policies vis-a-vis adequate consultation with affected communities and adequately compensating the people for their loss.”

Comments

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Kolkata dialogue flags policy and finance deficit in wetland sustainability

By A Representative Wetlands were the focus of India–Germany climate talks in Kolkata, where experts from government, business, and civil society stressed both their ecological importance and the urgent need for stronger conservation frameworks.

Beyond Lata: How Asha Bhosle redefined the female voice with her underrated versatility

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The news of iconic Asha Bhosle’s ‘untimely’ demise has shocked music lovers across the country. Asha Tai was 92 years young. Normally, people celebrate a passing at this age, but Asha Bhosle—much like another legend, Dev Anand—never made us feel she was growing old. She was perhaps the most versatile artist in Bombay cinema. Hailing from a family devoted to music, Asha’s journey to success and fame was not easy. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had already become the voice of women in cinema, and most contemporaries like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, and Noor Jehan had slowly faded into oblivion. Frankly, there was no second or third to Lata Mangeshkar; she became the first—and perhaps the only—choice for music directors and all those who mattered in filmmaking. Asha started her musical journey at age 10 with a Marathi film, but her first break in Hindustani cinema came with the film "Chunariya" (1948). Though she was not the first choice of ...

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

Maoist activity in India: Weakening structures, 'shifts' in leadership, strategy and ideology

By Harsh Thakor* Recent statements by government representatives have suggested that Maoism in India has been effectively eliminated, citing the weakening of central leadership and intensified security operations. These claims follow sustained counterinsurgency efforts across key regions, including central and eastern India. However, available information from security agencies and independent observers indicates that while the organizational structure of the CPI (Maoist) has been significantly disrupted, elements of the movement remain active. Reports acknowledge the continued presence of cadres in certain forested regions such as Bastar and parts of Dandakaranya, alongside smaller, decentralized units adapting their operational strategies.

46% own nothing, 1% own 18%: The truth about India’s land inequality

By Vikas Meshram * “Agriculture is the backbone of India” — this is what we have been hearing for generations. But there is a pain hollowing out this backbone from within: the unequal distribution of land. On one hand, news of farmer suicides, indebtedness, and rural migration keeps coming; on the other, agricultural land across the country continues to concentrate in the hands of a few wealthy individuals.

From Manesar to Noida: Workers take to streets for bread, media looks away

By Sunil Kumar* Across several states in India, a workers’ movement is gathering momentum. This is not a movement born of luxury or ambition, nor a demand for power-sharing within the state. At its core lies a stark and basic plea: the right to survive with dignity—adequate food, and wages sufficient to afford it.

US study links ultra-processed diets to preterm birth, sparks concern in India

By Jag Jivan A growing body of scientific evidence linking ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption during pregnancy to adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes has sparked fresh concern among public health experts, with Indian nutrition advocates warning of serious implications for the country’s already strained maternal health landscape.

Midnight weeping: The sociology of tragic vision in Badri Narayan’s poetry

By Ravi Ranjan* Badri Narayan, a distinguished Hindi poet and social scientist, occupies a unique position in contemporary Indian intellectual life by bridging the worlds of creative literature and critical social inquiry. His poetic journey began significantly with the 1993 collection 'Saca Sune Hue Kaï Dina Hue' (Truth Heard Many Days Ago). As a social historian and cultural anthropologist, Narayan pioneered a methodological shift away from elite archives toward the oral traditions and folk myths of marginalized communities. He eventually legitimized "folk-ethnography" as a rigorous academic discipline during his tenure as Director of the G.B. Pant Social Science Institute.

Search This Blog