NARMADA-Command Performance

Command Performance IF the Morse report and its fall-out have sent out a message it is this: that the World Bank is quite capable of protecting not only its own interests but that of those who dance to its tune. For, consider the terms of reference of the Independent Review Commission headed by Bradford Morse: to carry out an assessment of the resettlement and environmental aspects of the Sardar Sarovar Project bearing in mind the Bank's existing operational directives and guidelines as well as the fact that the credit and loan agreements were approved in 1985; and to make specific recommendations which "should include as appropriate, any recommendations for improvement of project implementation". And what has the commission concluded? "The absence of proper impact assessments and the paucity of undisputed data have limited our ability to make project- specific recommendations of the kind that were contemplated.