New Delhi:
Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank president is in India on his first visit after taking over in July last year, to see firsthand some of the development challenges facing the country as well as ways that could help in reducing poverty.
NDTV's Vikram Chandra spoke to the president on his first impressions of the country.
Highlights of his interaction.
- Very significant that on my first visit to India I got to go to Uttar Pradesh.
- I left knowing that there is so much great stuff happening in Uttar Pradesh.
- Meeting with government officials, I have never been more convinced that you have an extremely committed group of leaders
- Never doubt the possibilities for this country.
- We can't end poverty without India; so India simply has to grow.
- We learnt from the Arab Spring - you can have GDP growth but if it is not inclusive, you are building inequities into the society.
- The good news is the government of India understands this as well as any other government.
- Conditional cash transfers have been extremely successful because it puts money directly in households but makes it conditional.
- We are happy to see Indian government is interested in these kind of programmes and I think it can work.
- Data from Brazil and Mexico are really overwhelming.What they found was that not only did it have direct impact like keeping kids in school, it also spurred economic growth We have to find a way to make it work in India.
- We at World Bank have zero tolerance to corruption; all our projects are audited