The Centre and the Bihar Government today signed an agreement with the World Bank for 100 million US dollar additional credit to scale-up the ongoing Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project, Jeevika.The Project is aimed at enhancing the social and economic empowerment of the rural poor in Bihar. According to release issued by Ministry of Finnace, the additional financing will help consolidate and expand the Project to cover all the blocks in the existing six districts covered under the Project.

This will not only allow the Project to cover all the villages in the existing districts, but also provide a comprehensive district wide model for poverty alleviation in Bihar. The Project has initiated a number of interventions on a pilot basis through convergence with other government programs and enabled access to public entitlements for the poor.

These include access to social security pensions for nearly 29,000 households in partnership with the social welfare department and access to wage employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in partnership with the rural development department for nearly 5000 Self Help Group women.

In a major setback for the Bangladesh government, the World Bank has decided to cancel its loan of 1.2 billion US Dollars for construction of the 2.9 billion dollar Padma Multipurpose Bridge project with immediate effect. According to a statement issued by the World Bank in Washinghton, the bank decided to cancel the loan in the light of inadequate response by the Government of Bangladesh to its proposed actions that it had recommended for dealing with the credible evidence that had emerged with regard to corruption in the project.  The bank has claimed that it had provided the evidence that emerged from two investigations to the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Finance Minister A.M.A Muhith and the Chairman of the country's Anti Corruption Commission in September 2011 and April 2012.

The World Bank has approved a sixty million dollars credit to Nepal for maintaining and constructing bridges on it’s Strategic Roads Network. This will cover to about 10,800 kms of national highways, feeder roads and other roads of national importance in the country.

Under the Bridges Improvement and maintenance program the fund approved yesterday will be utilized to maintain eighty- nine bridges, many over thirty-five years old, complete major and minor maintenance on over three hundred bridges, and construct hundred and twenty-one new bridges.

The Program will be financed through a new World Bank financing instrument called the program for results that links disbursements of funds directly to the delivery of verifiable results. This is the first Program-for-Results to be approved by the World Bank’s Board under IDA, the Bank’s concessional financing window. The Bank will provide approximately forty per cent of program financing, with Government of Nepal providing the remaining sixty per cent.

According to press release, the World Bank has funded six road projects in Nepal. By improving mobility and access, including in the poorest regions of western and far-western Nepal, these projects are generating economic opportunities while reducing the vulnerability of excluded and marginalized groups.

World Bank is to give 13,000 crore rupees for infrastructure development of power generation facilities in the North East .

Stating this in Silchar on Thursday, Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) Chairman-cum-Managing Director R N Nayak said that the company was keen to improve the power scenario in the region and is executing several long term and short term projects in it.

Mr. Nayek added that the PGCIL was building a 800 KV substation in Arunachal Pradesh and another substation at Byrnihat in Meghalaya which was nearing completion.
 

The World Bank has sanctioned 32 crore rupees for Rural Electrification at Sagar Island in Sunderbans of West Bengal. 

The project for house to house power connection will be inaugurated today at Rudra Nagar in Sagar Island. Under the scheme 42 gram panchayats will be electrified. 

The State Power Minister Mr. Manish Gupta will hand over consumer cards to 45 families of the area at the inauguration of the programme. 

The entire project will be completed by next three years in which around 2 lakh 50 thousand people will be benefited.

Dr. Jim Yong Kim, an American of Korean descent will carry the day. The Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the only remaining challenger to Dr. Kim.

The former Colombian Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo has withdrawn from the race to become the next head of the World Bank. Mr Ocampo said he will support the Nigeriana Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to win the job. 

She is the only remaining challenger to the US nominee Jim Yong Kim. The World Bank is expected to choose a successor to its current President Robert Zoellick on Monday.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has lauded the contribution of the World Bank in India's development. World Bank Group President, Robert B. Zoellick in New Delhi, Mr Mukherjee appreciated the Bank’s support during the last financial crisis. He also commended the major achievements of President Zoellick, and thanked him for his special efforts in increasing engagement of the Bank with India. The Finance Minister said that India still needs large investments for infrastructure as well as for tackling poverty and in addition to securing long tenure development funds from the Bank. Mr. Zoellick said that the Bank will seek to offer India additional financing to help overcome poverty and seize the opportunities ahead.  He said his primary aim to visit India was to thank the Government and its people for their partnership and friendship.  Mr. Zoellick added that he also wanted to lay the groundwork to ensure the momentum of the Bank’s engagement with India continues in the future.