4 Indian projects worth $800 million approved by World Bank.

Projects will aid India’s initiative to build back better by creating a sustainable and resilient economy.

To support development initiatives World Bank approved four India Projects on Wednesday worth over $800 million. The projects approved include: Chhattisgarh Inclusive Rural and Accelerated Agriculture Growth Project (CHIRAAG); Nagaland: Enhancing Classroom Teaching and Resources Project; and Second Dam Improvement and Rehabilitation Project (DRIP-2).

In a release, World Bank stated that, “The projects support a range of development initiatives- strengthening India’s social protection architecture, promoting nutrition- supportive agriculture for tribal households in Chhattisgarh, enhancing quality education in Nagaland and improving the safety and performance of existing dams across various states in India.”

In addition Junaid Ahmad, Country Director, World Bank India said, “These Projects will help many such families access better income opportunities, education, water supply and benefit from the expanded social protection schemes of the government.”

The $400 million Second Accelerating India’s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Programme project will aid India’s efforts at providing social assistance to the poor and vulnerable households who are badly impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic. In a programmatic series of two, this is the second operation. The second operation will supplement the expansion of India’s safety net programmes to create a portable platform securing food and financial aid for unorganised sector workers across the boundaries, poor households and urban migrants.

The first operation enabled immediate money transfer to about 320 million individual bank accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), identified through pre-existing national social protection schemes and additional food rations for about 800 million individuals. This operation was approved in May 2020 and is worth about $750 million.

The second Dam Improvement and Rehabilitation Project (DRIP-2) worth $250 million claims to improve the safety and performance of existing dams across India, also by building dam safety guidelines it will strengthen the dam safety with introduction of newer technologies. Worth $68 million, Nagaland: Enhancing Classroom Teaching and Resource claims the improvement of teaching system by building technology systems to provide students and teachers with more blended and online learning and also to allow monitoring of policies and programmes. CHIRAAG project which is worth $100 will develop sustainable production systems that will allow Chhattisgarh’s tribal household in remote areas to practice round-the-year production of diversified and nutritious food.