History of the World Bank:
The history of the World Bank dates back to 1945 when it was established as an International institution to take care of construction and other infrastructural development of the developing countries. France was the first recipient of the World Bank to have received a loan of $250 million for reconstruction work. It was the post world war era and there were numerous infrastructural objectives that needed to be addressed to and the support of the World Bank proved greatly beneficial.
Other than the reconstruction and rebuilding aspects of the various developing nations, the World Bank has over time also taken care of features like eradicating poverty as well as debt management in those countries. Currently, the World Bank is working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
Salient features of the World Bank:
The World Bank is equipped to basically offer two kinds of loans. Firstly it offers Investment loans under which the various economic as well as social development projects are taken care of and secondly the development policy loans which offer financial assistance to sustain institutional reforms and other policies of the countries. The most significant areas that it takes care of are:
Agriculture and Rural Development
Economic Policy
Education
Energy and Environment
Poverty
Public + Private Sector Governance
Social Development
Transport
Urban Development
Water Resources
World Bank and India:
India has been very closely associated with the World Bank, ever since its inception. The various state governments as well as the central government work closely with the World Bank to better the social as well as economic growth and also ensure stability of the economy. Health, education, enhancing the efficiency of the government as well as promoting the private sector in a big way are a few of the key issues of India in the agenda of the World Bank.
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