HPAS/Allied Mains 2022 Answer Writing Challenge Day 230: Model Answer

Question: What is the objective of International Development Association (IDA)? Discuss its role in the India’s Development. (8 marks/120 words)

Answer:

The International Development Association (IDA) is the part of the World Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries.  It was established in 1960.

Objectives:

• To reduce poverty by providing interest-free credits and grants for programs that boost economic growth.
• To reduce inequalities.
• To improve people’s living conditions.

It is the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 79 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. It is also the single largest source of donor funds for basic social services in the poorest countries.

Since its inception, IDA credits and grants have totalled $222 billion, averaging $13 billion a year in recent years and directing the largest share, about 50 per cent, to Africa.

IDA lends money on concessional terms. This means that IDA credits have a zero or very low interest charge and repayments are stretched over 30 to 40 years, including a 5- to 10-year grace period. IDA also provides grants to countries at risk of debt distress.

It’s role in the India’s Development.

In the initial years, the IDA accounted for nearly three-fourths of all WB lending to India. By 1970, India was the largest recipient of IDA funds, accounting for more than two-fifths of all its lending.

• Health: IDA began lending to India’s health sector in 1972. Over the years, IDA helped India move towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for health, as well as improve child nutrition, and tackle the long-standing burden of disease.
• Education: IDA first began lending for primary education in India in the mid – 1990s, after the country committed to the Education for All (EFA) goals. IDA, together with other donors, provided significant support to India’s District Primary Education Programs (DPEPs) in areas where female literacy was low.
• Agriculture: IDA supported watershed development projects helped farmers increase the productivity of their lands by tackling depleting water resources, reducing soil erosion and recharging groundwater. This helped improve resilience among farming communities and laid the foundations for climate-smart agriculture.
• Infrastructure: India got its first investment from IDA for a highway construction project in 1961. Since 2004, IDA support of some $2 billion to India in building and improving all – weather village roads in some of its poorest and most inhospitable regions.