NEW DELHI (20 September 2007) – Over 50 organisations from all over India will meet this week to convene an Independent People´s Tribunal on the World Bank in India. The tribunal, the first of its kind, will give an opportunity for impacted communities to present testimony, evidence and research on the impacts of World Bank´s policies and projects.
Over four days this week, the testimonials would be heard by a 15-member jury, including Aruna Roy, former SC Judge P B Sawant, activists Amit Bhaduri and Arundhati Roy.
According to the organisers, the aim of this tribunal is to raise a comprehensive national debate over neoliberalism and economic policy.
"By bringing into the limelight and giving voice to the testimony and personal experiences of the poor, adivasis, Dalits, women, and other marginalised people, the tribunal will challenge the Bank´s (and the elite´s) most powerful tool: the monopoly of knowledge. These real stories are in direct conflict with the World Bank´s own means of understanding economic and social policy," said Prashant Bhushan, senior advocate, who will present his own analysis on the working of the World Bank at the tribunal.
One organizer of the tribunal said it is difficult to put a ballpark figure of how many top government officials are working or have worked with the World Bank but at the Centre itself there could be over a 100. "Then there are bureaucrats from the states who are also in hundreds, we are still trying to obtain the figures from the government under the RTI Act," he said.
