July-August  1999

 

Most Servile of them All

 

Chandrababu Naidu, after taking huge loans from the imperialists has introduced restructuring of the AP economy in nearly every sector.... pushing huge burdens onto the backs of the people and cutting social security. His capitulation is reminiscent of colonial times with World Bank ‘experts’ working like consultants and involving themselves with the administration at various levels since the last four years. No doubt many of these ‘experts’ are happy to provide counter-insurgency advice ! In fact, the documents the Bank produced "An Agenda for Reforms" in January ’97 and the "Project Appraisal Document" of May 1998, contain the nucleus of reforms Naidu put forth. The series of white papers published since 1996 show that the government had implemented a "time-table" set by the Bank experts. Even the letter that Naidu wrote to the Bank President, reads like a document drafted by the Bank’s ‘experts’, employing the same jargon and phrases that proliferate in the Bank’s documents. In fact the very State’s Budget was first appraised by the Bank’s ‘experts’ before it was presented to the Assembly last year.

The bulk of the loans are geared to assist counter-insurgency operations by weaning away the masses from the revolution and for privatisation of PSUs. The total so far given is a huge $2.8 billion (Rs. 12,000 crores) inclusive of a $1 billion loan by the British government granted in April, ’99. Of the $1.8 bn from the World Bank $1 bn is for privatisation of the power sector and the balance is for so-called anti-poverty measures. Of the $1 bn British loan, the bulk is for ‘development projects’ in urban areas while 20% is also for privatisation of the power sector.

In return the TDP government has virtually doubled the tax burden on the people — from Rs. 5,705 crores in 1995 to Rs. 10, 266 crores in 1999 (RBI).

 

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