NEWSLETTER: World Bank in India - August 2021

World Bank in India Vol 24 / No. 1

August 2021

MARINE PLASTICS AND AIR POLLUTION

Regional Dialogue: MarinePlastics & Air Pollution

02

Multimedia

13

Publications

16

1

Regional Dialogue

MARINE PLASTICS AND AIR POLLUTION Plastics-free oceans and cleaner, bluer skies he mountains of Himalayas and the oceans of Maldives have something in common.

Discarded plastic—sometimes even as small as a sesame seed.

T

and Engagement in South Asia—are part of a bimonthly series that explores ideas for regional cooperation in economic connectivity, climate resilience, and human capital.

The two Punjabs in India and Pakistan, despite the boundaries, share the hazy skies and smog—often aggravated during the cropburning season.

Beat Plastic Pollution: Reduce, Upcycle, Innovate, and Collaborate

For South Asia—a region least integrated in terms of trade and people-to-people contact— plastics and air pollution are a shared concern.

To tackle them, the South Asian nations require consensus, cooperation, and collaboration. The World Bank’s Regional Integration, Cooperation and Engagement in South Asia program focused on such collaborative solutions during its two recent #OneSouth Conversations— Turning the Tide on Marine Plastics Pollution and Breathing Uneasy: Regional Response to Air Pollution in South Asia. Both webinars had policy makers and stakeholders reiterate the need for urgent policy action, innovation, and a shared vision for plastics-free oceans and cleaner, bluer skies.

The conversations— moderated by Cecile Fruman, Director, Regional Integration

2

A recent National Geographic Society experiment dropped a plastic bottle with a Global Positional Systems tracker in the Ganges river system. In 94 days, the bottle had travelled nearly 2,800 kilometers— roughly the distance from Islamabad to Colombo. The message in the bottle was clear: plastics travel through our transboundary rivers and oceans, and a coordinated regional approach is necessary.

In South Asia, some action is already underway.

All eight countries adopted a roadmap in 2019 that sets a policy framework for sustainable waste and resource management as well as one to address marine plastic pollution. In 2020, the World Bank along with South Asia Cooperative Environment Program (SACEP) and Parley for the Oceans, launched first of its kind regional project, Plastics free Rivers and Seas for South Asia (PLEASE). The $50-million program

World Bank in India

is leveraging public-private partnership, investing in innovation on circular economy solutions, and is supporting development of National Action Plans by member-countries to fight plastic pollution.

During the #OneSouthAsia Conversation on marine plastics, Ambassador M Ashraf Haidari, director-general of SACEP, said the spirit of regional cooperation on environmental issues dates to 1982, when SACEP was established with all eight nations on board.

The South Asian nations also led in banning singleuse plastics in national and sub-national jurisdictions.

The Indian State of Sikkim was the global first in 1998, followed by Bangladesh in 2002, Bhutan in 2005, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka in 2011, Pakistan in 2013 and Maldives in 2016. The implementation of these bans, however, has fallen short of desired results.

Hartwig Schafer, Vice President, South Asia Region, World Bank, said a regional response is even more urgent now with the COVID health crisis and surge in the use and improper disposal of plastic waste.

“As we build back better, we maintain our focus

on a recovery that will be resilient, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable,” said Schafer.

The panelists suggested ways forward, with stakeholder partnerships, and by thinking out-of-the box. Prasad Kariyawasam, a former Foreign Secretary of the Government of Sri Lanka, proposed a regional code of conduct to curb plastics pollution in South Asia, given the ubiquitous and transboundary nature of marine plastics.

But governments alone cannot fix this. Corporates need to share the responsibility. Shamima Akhter, head of corporate affairs for Unilever in Bangladesh, suggested frameworks for plastic producers in the region and stronger partnerships of private sector, governments, civil societies, suppliers, and communities for any change to take place.

Another strategy emphasized was Parley’s “AIR” approach—to avoid, intercept, and redesign plastics.

“We need to limit plastic packaging through policy, and redesign materials. Recycling alone is not a solution, it is band-aid,” said Shaahina Ali, Executive Director of Parley, Maldives Chapter.

PLASTICS POLLUTION: MISMANAGED WASTE South Asia is the second largest contributor of solid waste

a staggering 334 million tons annually. This is estimated to double by 2050 if no action is taken.

70 80

to percent of this solid waste travels into our rivers and oceans, and about percent is plastic.

12

• The Ganges delta alone carries over half a million tons of discarded waste to the Bay of Bengal every year.

• With the Maldives aside, all South Asia’s coastal nations are among the top twenty most polluting nations ranked by the volume of mismanaged plastic waste.

3

PLASTICS POLLUTION: STEPS TAKEN • In 2020, the World Bank in collaboration with Parley and SACEP launched a $50 million regional project for Plastics free Rivers and Seas for South Asia.

• All South Asia (SA) nations endorsed a Regional Marine Litter Action Plan in 2019.

• All SA nations banned single-use plastics. In 2002, Bangladesh was the first country in the world to introduce national restrictions on single use plastic bags.

• Sikkim was the global first to introduce a ban on plastic bags as early as 1998.

PLASTICS POLLUTION: PATH FORWARD • Stronger frameworks for plastic producers • Implement legislations on single-use plastics • Upcycle, innovate, and build circular economy • Reduce use and create awareness • Effective solid waste management systems • Leverage partnerships and regional collaborations

Watch the webinar here >

4

World Bank in India

A Shared Vision for Cleaner, Bluer Skies

T

he pandemic-induced economic shutdown in 2020 had a faint silver lining. In South and South-East Asia, the air quality improved in around 84 percent of countries, and 65 percent cities that were monitored.

“Though a temporary change, it was a reminder of what is possible and inspired renewed demands for cleaner air,” said Bidya Banmali Pradhan, Head, Air Pollution Solutions Program, ICIMOD . Pradhan was speaking at the #OneSouthAsia conversation that spotlighted a regional response to air pollution.

South Asia’s first concerted attempt at a regional response was the Male’ Declaration on the Control of Air Pollution and its Transboundary Effects in South Asia, signed way back in 1998.

Pradhan, who worked on its implementation, said that while the Declaration increased awareness on air pollution monitoring, it lacked ownership and an institutional support. Almost two decades after it was signed, there is now a

renewed focus on its revival and shared action.

The World Bank too has laid out the Clean Air Vision 2030 for South Asia with a 10-year roadmap to achieve aspirational W.H.O Interim Targets and improve air quality management in the region.

The Vision is for collective and urgent action since South Asia hosts 37 of the 40 top-most polluted cities globally. Unclean air travels across boundaries, and is costing the region its health, economy, and human capital.

Cooperation could begin with the low-hanging fruits: sharing reliable data, learning and knowledge. Sundeep, who is the director at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in India, said there is a strong potential in the region for uniformity in data generation, and sharing reliable models for estimation and predictions on air pollution.

AIR POLLUTION: HEALTH AND ECONOMIC COSTS OF THE TOP 40 MOST POLLUTED CITIES IN THE WORLD, 37 ARE IN SOUTH ASIA. • Represents the third-highest risk for premature death in South Asia.

• Impacts 95 percent of South Asians who are exposed to pollutant levels

• Contributes to around 11 percent of all deaths and approximately 40 million disability-adjusted life years in South Asia.

• Causes welfare losses equivalent to about 7.4 % of the region’s GDP.

5

Countries could learn from each other. For instance, India’s National Clean Air Program has learnings on best practices and challenges. The program has identified 124 cities with bad air quality, and set annual targets, fiscal incentives, and mechanisms to implement interventions.

Zahid Hussain, Secretary, Environment Protection Department, Punjab, Pakistan, said besides national and provincial actions plans, we need regional action. “There is a need to delink air pollution mitigation from political considerations. It is a common issue, and the solution to this should be a common one,” he said.

Active interventions are ongoing in the neighboring Punjab province in Pakistan. Around 8,000 traditional brick-kilns are being transformed to less-polluting “zig zag technology.” Crop-stubble burning is a major pollutant: farmers are being offered subsidized prices on machines like “rice shredders” and “happy seeders” that break down crop stubble and mulch it into the ground.

This avoids burning and in turn, cuts down on dark clouds of smoke.

There are also lessons from other regions. For example, the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, that emphasizes the need to establish common language and accountability or the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia, that is working on harmonizing data.

Under the World Bank’s $273 million Punjab Green Development Program, the province is also improving the transport sector, by replacing old polluting vehicles.

Bjarne Pedersen, Executive Director, Clean Air Asia, said the region lacks capacity in scientific air quality management and finance. “We need to create a common narrative around health, climate, clean air and galvanize public support to move this agenda forward,” Pedersen added.

AIR POLLUTION: POLICY ACTIONS • The Draft Clean Air Act in Bangladesh • The National Electrical Vehicles Policy in Pakistan • India’s National Clean Air Program

6

• The World Bank’s proposed Clean Air Vision 2030 for South Asia with a 10-year roadmap for action, knowledge sharing, and regional collaborations

World Bank in India

AIR POLLUTION: PATH FORWARD • • • • • •

Revive Male’ Declaration Galvanize public support Connect air quality to health, climate change agenda Introduce fiscal incentives and bans Generate uniform and reliable data Collaborate on knowledge and data sharing

Watch the webinar here >

7

2

PROJECTS A Green and Resilient Kerala

T

he Government of India, the Government of Kerala and the World Bank have signed a $125 million program to support Kerala’s preparedness against natural disasters, climate change impacts, disease outbreaks, and pandemics.

The program is part of a programmatic series of Bank-financed operations in the state. The First Resilient Kerala Development Policy Operation approved in June 2019 undertook several initiatives. It helped the state draft a River Basin Conservation and Management Act, which will conserve and regulate water resources and ensure their sustainable management, allocation, and utilization. It also introduced climate-resilient agriculture, risk-informed land use, and disaster management planning. The program laid the foundations for a 5-year State Partnership Framework.

“In today’s context of increased economic, climatic, and health shocks, building resilience of economies is a policy imperative,” said Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India. “The Bank is therefore investing in Kerala’s capabilities to respond to shocks to the state economy and, importantly, prevent as much as possible the loss of lives, assets, and livelihoods. The objective is not to finance

schemes but partner with the Government of Kerala to improve the state’s financial health; invest in sectors like health, water resources, social protection and agriculture; and address the drivers of natural disasters, climate change, and pandemic risks.”

The program will be statewide. In the Pamba River Basin, Kerala will test a multisectoral approach in Idukki, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, and Alappuzha districts.

The $125 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a final maturity of 14 years including a grace period of six years.

The Resilient Kerala program will: Incorporate disaster risk planning in the master plans of urban and local self-governments Help make the health, water resources management, agriculture, and road sectors more resilient to calamities

8

World Bank in India

Protecting India’s Informal Sector Workers

T

he World Bank has signed a $500 million program to support India’s large informal workforce and create greater flexibility for states to cope with the ongoing pandemic, future climate, and disaster shocks.

Creating a Coordinated and Responsive Indian Social Protection System (CCRISP) builds on the $1.15 billion Accelerating India’s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Program to support schemes under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). With the new program states will get greater flexibility and more money in their hands.

Devolution of funds under the 15th Finance Commission recommendations will help states create a more adaptive social protection system, provide support to excluded groups and cater to context-specific needs, not only for COVID-19 but also for any future crisis, ecological risk, or natural disaster. Enhanced disaster relief funds to geographically targeted hot-spot districts will support states during the current phase of the pandemic and any future waves. Finally, the government has announced new urban platforms.

The program will strengthen these platforms to deepen social protection coverage in urban areas.

The first two operations approved in 2020 provided immediate emergency relief cash transfers to about 320 million individual bank accounts identified through pre-existing national social protection schemes and additional food rations for about 800 million individuals. States can now access flexible funding from disaster response funds to design and implement appropriate social protection responses.

For strengthening the nuts and bolts of cash delivery and identification of the vulnerable in cities and municipalities, the operation will invest in social protection programs for urban informal workers, gig-workers, and migrants. A National Digital Urban Mission will create a shared digital infrastructure for people living in urban areas through investments at the municipal level.

The digital platform will help to scale up urban safety nets and social insurance for informal workers. It will also include gender-disaggregated information on women workers and femaleheaded households. This will allow policymakers to address gender-based service delivery gaps and effectively reach the unreached, particularly widows, adolescent girls, and tribal women.

The program will give street vendors access to affordable working capital loans of up to Rs10,000.

Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) will identify them through an IT-based platform. Some five million urban street vendors could benefit from the new credit program.

Of the $500 million commitment, $112.50 million will be financed by a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) – the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm and $387.50 million will be a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), with a final maturity of 18.5 years including a grace period of five years.

The total World

Bank funding towards strengthening India’s social protection programs to help the poor and vulnerable households since the

start of the COVID pandemic stands at $1.65 billion.

9

Improving Quality of Learning for Over 5 Million Students Across Andhra Pradesh

T

he World Bank has approved a $250 million project to improve the quality of education, teaching practices, and governance in government-managed schools in Andhra Pradesh.

Students from all grades and stages of school education will benefit from the project.

The Supporting Andhra's Learning Transformation Project will support the state in fulfilling its vision of transforming government schools into vibrant institutions focused on foundational learning for young children.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the learning crisis across the world. Its impact on the human capital of this generation of learners is likely to be long-lasting. Urgent action is needed to realize a new vision for education, one in which learning happens for everyone, everywhere,” said Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India. “This project will support the Andhra Pradesh government’s vision of ensuring quality education for all through better infrastructure facilities, enhanced digital learning, and financial incentives for students from economically weaker backgrounds.”

The focus on foundational learning would be through short-term in-service training courses for Anganwadi workers and early grade (Grade 1

and 2) teachers and the supply of pedagogically appropriate Teaching Learning Material (TLM) across these centers and schools. Such attention to foundational learning will improve the readiness of schools in preparing children with the cognitive, socio-behavioral, and language skills needed for future labor markets. The project will introduce a one-year preschool-level course in 3,500 schools in the tribal blocks. It will help address the issue of low learning levels amongst the tribal community.

The project will help with better maintenance of school facilities, support involvement of parents in school management and monitoring, make data available, and enhance school safety.

The $250 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a final maturity of 33.5 years including a grace period of six years.

The beneficiaries: About 4 millions students (between age 6-14 yrs) in over 45000 government schools Over 1 million children (between age 3-6 yrs) in Aanganwadis About 190,000 teachers More than 50,000 Aanganwadi workers

10

World Bank in India

Making Existing Dams Safe and Resilient across India

T

he Government of India, the Central Water Commission, government representatives from 10 participating states and the World Bank have signed a $250 million project, to support the Government of India’s long-term dam safety program and improve the safety and performance of existing dams across various states of India.

The Project was approved by the Bank Board in December 2020.

The Second Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP-2) will strengthen dam safety by building dam safety guidelines, bring in global experience, and introduce innovative technologies.

Another major innovation envisaged under the project, that is likely to transform dam safety management in the country, is the introduction of a risk-based approach to dam asset management that will help to effectively allocate financial resources towards priority dam safety needs.

The project will be implemented in approximately 120 dams across the states of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu, and at the national level through the Central Water Commission (CWC). Other states or agencies may be added to the project during project implementation.

“This is the world’s largest dam management program. Its objective is to break the costly cycle of ‘build-neglect-rebuild’ which characterizes the operations and maintenance of infrastructure across sectors,” said Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India. “The expected outcomes will be game-changing: sustaining the livelihoods

and food security of millions of Indians who depend on irrigated agriculture and enabling farmers to shift out of pumping groundwater, thereby, reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This program can act as a lighthouse for other countries tackling the challenge of managing hydraulic infrastructure.”

World Bank support to dam safety in India includes the recently closed DRIP-1 ($279 million + $62 million Additional Financing) that improved the safety and sustainable performance of 223 dams in six states of India and one central agency.

Other important measures that DRIP-2 will support include flood forecasting systems and integrated reservoir operations that will contribute to building climate resilience; the preparation and implementation of Emergency Action Plans to enable vulnerable downstream communities to prepare for and enhance resilience against the possible negative impacts and risks of climate change; and the piloting of supplemental revenue generation schemes such as floating solar panels.

The $250 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a maturity of 13 years, including a grace period of 6 years.

The Second

Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project

(DRIP-2) will strengthen dam safety by building dam safety guidelines, bring in global experience, and introduce innovative technologies.

11

3

SOME RECENT BLOGS

EASTERN WATERWAYS GRID TO BENEFIT BANGLADESH, BHUTAN, INDIA, AND NEPAL Rivers are the oldest means of transport in the massive Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, where a dense lattice of waterways once carried over 70 per cent of the goods and passengers within the region. Today, however, less than 2 percent of goods are transported by water. Bangladesh and India are reviving these long defunct water channels. The Eastern Waterways Grid has the potential to rejuvenate the economies of the eastern subcontinent, generating rich dividends for the region’s 600 million people.

Read more: https://blogs.worldbank.org/ endpovertyinsouthasia/eastern-waterways-gridbenefit-bangladesh-bhutan-india-and-nepal

FARMERS LEARN CLIMATE ADAPTATION IN ‘OPEN SKY’ SCHOOLS IN INDIA In 'open sky' schools in the drought prone districts of Maharashtra, farmers learn how to adopt appropriate agricultural practices to help better adapt to climate change. This ground breaking project has demonstrated that addressing the critical knowledge gaps among small farmland holders can significantly improve productivity, farmer prosperity, and environmental sustainability, all at the same time.

Read more: https://blogs.worldbank.org/ endpovertyinsouthasia/farmers-learn-climateadaptation-open-sky-schools-india

HOW AIR POLLUTION IS ACCELERATING HIMALAYAN GLACIERS MELT New evidence shows that black carbon compounds the effects of climate change to accelerate the melting of the glaciers of the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, and the Karakorum mountain ranges. More than 750 million people depend on the glacier and snow-fed Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra rivers for freshwater, and changes in the volume and timing of flows will have important economic and social implications.

Read more: https://blogs.worldbank.org/ endpovertyinsouthasia/how-air-pollutionaccelerating-himalayan-glaciers-melt

12

4

World Bank in India

MULTIMEDIA

Little by little, India restores it mangroves and salt-water crocodiles. What’s more, they are powerhouses for carbon storage, sequestering four times more carbon than rainforests, with most of this carbon being stored in the soil beneath.

Mangroves play a vital ecological and protective role. Found exclusively in the intertidal zones of rivers and estuaries, they help recycle nutrients, maintain the hydrological cycle, protect the coast from storm surges, and serve as nurseries for fish and other marine creatures of high ecological and economic value.

Since 2010, the World Bank has supported community-managed plantation of 20,000 hectares of mangroves in India. Restoring India’s mangroves is the way forward for building coastal resilience.

Disaster risk management projects now need to mainstream them.

They also house endangered wildlife like the Royal Bengal Tiger, fishing cats, otters

13

5

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Over 7 decades of partnership THE WORLD BANK IN INDIA

14

World Bank in India

d Bank m a Worl o fr s d n itation. ith fu y rehabil hased w a rc w u il p ra s r e tiv ia fo Locomo de to Ind loan ma

18th August 1949 First loan to India $34 million for The Railways Project

India signs first Loan Agreement with the World Bank to purchase locomotives, spare parts, and boilers to help increase and improve the freight haulage capacity of the Indian railways and cater to the needs of independent India on the road to industrialization 15

6

PUBLICATIONS

Glaciers of the Himalayas: Climate Change, Black Carbon, and Regional Resilience Muthukumara Mani This report investigates the extent to which the Black Carbon (BC) reduction policies of South Asian countries may affect glacier formation and melt within the context of a changing global climate. It assesses the relative impact of each source of BC on snow and glacier dynamics. The authors simulate how BC emissions interact with projected climate scenarios, estimate the extent to which these glacial processes affect water resources in downstream areas of these river basins, and present scenarios until 2040.

Summary of Lessons from Tracking India’s Social Protection Response to COVID-19 Bhattacharya, Shrayana Sinha Roy, Sutirtha The Report presents a stock-taking of India’s social safety net response to COVID-19. The paper provides stylized facts on coverage and targeting of welfare measures under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) for individual states and at the national level. This analysis relies on a nationally representative household survey on social protection, conducted in partnership with the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

Lessons in Investment Promotion: The Case of Invest India Phillips, Joe Heilbron, Armando Kher, Priyanka Prior to 2009, India did not have a national dedicated organization with a specific mandate to promote and facilitate FDI. Invest India, established in 2009 has in part, contributed to India’s stellar FDI performance in 2020. While some challenges remain, Invest India’s journey provides valuable learnings for other investment promotion agencies (IPAs), which in the context of the Covid-19 crisis, will need to be in a period of review and reform.

16

World Bank in India

Policy Research Working Papers (India)

WPS9718

WPS9701

A Household-Level Model of Demand for Electricity Services and Welfare Analysis of Electricity Prices in Rajasthan

Why Do Manufacturing Firms Sell Services?

Evidence from India Arti Goswami Grover and Aaditya Mattoo

Sutirtha Sinha Roy and Frank Anthony Wolak This paper estimates a model of household-level demand for electricity services and electricity demand in the Indian state of Rajasthan using a combination of household-level survey and administrative data. The model incorporates customer-level demographic characteristics, billing cyclelevel weather variables, and the fact that households face increasing block prices of electricity.

Manufacturers in India are increasingly selling services—a phenomenon referred to as servitization.

The paper indicates that servitization appears to be an aspect of “premature deindustrialization” in India, driven by the inability of manufacturers to cope with import competition, rather than structural transformation associated with a maturing manufacturing sector.

WPS9680 WPS9713

Efficient Irrigation and Water Conservation: Evidence from South India

Participatory Theater Empowers Women: Evidence from India Karla Hoff, Jyotsna Jalan and Sattwik Santra

Ram Fishman, Xavier Gine and Hanan G. Jacoby This paper reports on a randomized controlled trial conducted in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to evaluate the potential productivity and water-saving benefits of smallholder drip irrigation. The evidence thus suggests that drip adoption in South India, while increasing irrigation efficiency, will not save groundwater.

Domestic violence is common, socially, and economically very costly, yet widely accepted in many countries. Can participatory theater—a novel cultural intervention— reduce its occurrence? Through a survey that the authors conducted in 92 villages in West Bengal, India, this paper provides a first large-scale evaluation of participatory theater.

17

South Asia Publications

Connecting to Thrive: Challenges and Opportunities of transport Integration in Eastern South Asia

Hidden Debt: Solutions to Avert the Next Financial Crisis in South Asia Martin Melecky

Edited by Matias Herrera Dappe and Charles Kunaka The report explores the extent to which the BangladeshBhutan-India-Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) supports the cross-border operation of road transport services and identifies the gaps in the agreement that need to be addressed to improve its effectiveness. It explores how the local impacts of a regional corridor could be enhanced in rural areas by improving access to markets along the corridors and how women’s participation in export-oriented agriculture value chains could be improved to allow women to take advantage of improved regional connectivity. The Report will be of interest to policy makers, private sector practitioners, and academics with an interest in regional connectivity in eastern South Asia.

18

Hidden Debt examines the trade-off between tackling development challenges through direct state presence in the market and avoiding unsustainable debt due to economic inefficiencies of such off–balance sheet operations, which greatly leverage public capital. The study recommends a reform agenda based on the four interrelated principles of purpose, incentives, transparency, and accountability (PITA). The reforms can mitigate the risks that off–balance sheet operations will become the source of the next financial crisis in South Asia.

World Bank in India

Other Publications Global Economic Prospects, June 2021 T he Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group Flagship Report that examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies.

A Global Study on Digital Capabilities Samia Melhem and Astrid Herdis Jacobsen This study is a deep dive into the digital capabilities of leadership, skills and culture and is aimed at stimulating reflection and at repositioning the human capital aspects of digital transformation as a key contributor alongside digital infrastructure and applications..

Development Research in Practice: The DIME Analytics Data Handbook Kristoffer Bjarkefur, Luiza Cardoso de Andrade, Benjamin Daniels and Maria Ruth Jones Development Research in Practice leads the reader through a complete empirical research project, providing links to continuously updated resources on the DIME Wiki as well as illustrative examples from the Demand for Safe Spaces study. The handbook is intended to train users of development data how to handle data effectively, efficiently, and ethically.

The Distributional Impacts of Trade Empirical Innovations, Analytical Tools, and Policy Responses Jakob Engel, Deeksha Kokas, Gladys Lopez-Acevedo, and Maryla Maliszewska This report provides a deeper understanding of the distributional effects of trade across regions, industries, and demographic groups within countries over time. A better understanding of how trade affects distributional outcomes can lead to more inclusive policies and support the ability of countries to maximize broadbased benefits from trade.

Global Productivity: Trends, Drivers, and Policies Edited by Alistair Dieppe Global Productivity: Trends, Drivers, and Policies presents the first comprehensive analysis of the evolution and drivers of productivity growth, examines the effects of COVID-19 on productivity, and discusses a wide-range of policies needed to rekindle productivity growth.

Analyzing Banking Risk (4th Edition) : A Framework for Assessing Corporate Governance and Risk Management Hennie Van Greuning and Sonja Brajovic Bratanovic The Report provides a comprehensive overview of topics focusing on assessment, analysis, and management of financial risks in banking. The publication emphasizes

19

risk management principles and stresses that key players in the corporate governance process are accountable for managing the different dimensions of financial and other risks.

World Bank Group Climate Change Action Plan 2021– 2025: Supporting Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development The Climate Change Action Plan 2021–2025 aims to advance the climate change aspects of the WBG’s Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development (GRID) approach, which pursues poverty eradication and shared prosperity with a sustainability lens. The new Action Plan represents a shift from efforts to “green” projects, to greening entire economies, and from focusing on inputs, to focusing on impacts.

Green Roads for Water: Guidelines for Road Infrastructure in Support of Water Management and Climate Resilience Frank van Steenbergen, Fatima Arroyo-Arroyo, Kulwinder Rao, Taye Alemayehu Hulluka and et.al.

The study provides strategies to use roads for beneficial water management tailored to diverse landscapes and climates, including watershed areas, semiarid climates, coastal lowlands, mountainous areas, and floodplains.

The underlying premise of Green Roads is therefore quite simple: designing roads to fit their natural and anthropomorphic contexts; minimize externalities; and balance preservation of the road, water resources, landscape, and soil resources will usually cost less than traditional protective resilience approaches and will produce more sustainable overall outcomes.

20

An Investment Perspective on Global Value Chains Christine Zhenwei Qiang, Yan Liu and Victor Steenbergen The Report examines the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in global value chains (GVCs). , GVC formation has stagnated in the past decade. To stimulate economic transformation through GVCs, policy makers in developing countries need to better understand the business strategies of multinational corporations (MNCs), internationalization pathways for domestic firms, and how policies can create a favorable environment for both types of firms.

Urban Food Systems Governance: Current Context and Future Opportunities James Tefft, Marketa Jonasova, Fang Zhang and Yixin Zhang Historically, governments have invested considerable resources in increasing production of staple foodstuffs to meet national food demands with a focus on the rural farmer. Pandemics like Coronavirus (COVID-19) are forcing nations to face food system issues in all their dimensions. This report presents insights and emerging lessons on food systems governance from the experience of nine cities that have developed urban food interventions.

World Bank in India

Policy Research Working Papers

WPS9724

WPS9719

Are Firm Capabilities Holding Back Firms in Mozambique?

Natural Disasters and the Reshaping of Global Value Chains

Gemechu Aga, Francisco Campos and Adriana Conconi

Caroline Freund, Aaditya Mattoo, Alen Mulabdic and et.al.

WPS9723

Is Investment in Preprimary Education Too Low? Lessons from (Quasi) Experimental Evidence across Countries Alaka Holla, Magdalena Bendini, Lelys Dinarte and Iva Trako

WPS9718

A Household-Level Model of Demand for Electricity Services and Welfare Analysis of Electricity Prices in Rajasthan Sutirtha Sinha Roy and Frank Anthony Wolak

WPS9722

WPS9717

What Makes a Program Good? Evidence from Short-Cycle Higher Education Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean

Labor Market Effects of Short-Cycle Higher Education Programs: Challenges and Evidence from Colombia Maria Marta Ferreyra, Camila Galindo and Sergio Urzúa

Lelys Ileana Dinarte Diaz, Maria Marta Ferreyra, Sergio Urzua and et.al.

WPS9721

Entry and Competition in the Market for Short-Cycle Programs

Coding Bootcamps for Female Digital Employment: Evidence from an RCT in Argentina and Colombia Julian Aramburu, Ana Goicoeche and Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak

WPS9720

The Role of Justice in Development: The Data Revolution Manuel Ramos Maqueda and Daniel Li Chen

WPS9716

Juan Esteban Carranza, Maria Marta Ferreyra, Ana Gazmuri, Andrea Franco

WPS9715

Gender and Tax Incidence of Rural Land Use Fee and Agricultural Income Tax in Ethiopia Hitomi Komatsu, Alemayehu A. Ambel, Gayatri B. Koolwal and et.al.

21

WPS9714

WPS9707

Do Investments in Clean Technologies Reduce Production Costs? Insights from the Literature

Intergenerational Mobility around the World

Govinda R. Timilsina and Sunil Malla

Roy Van Der Weide, Christoph Lakner, Daniel Gerszon Mahler and et.al.

WPS9713

WPS9706

Efficient Irrigation and Water Conservation: Evidence from South India

The Falling Price of Cement in Africa Fabrizio Leone, Rocco Macchiavello and Tristan Reed

Ram Fishman, Xavier Gine and Hanan G. Jacoby

WPS9705

WPS9712

Financial Incentives, Fertility, and Son Preference in Armenia

Informal Firms in Mozambique: Status and Potential Gemechu A. Aga, Francisco Moraes Leitao Campos, Adriana Conconi and et.al.

Maria Florencia Pinto, Josefina Posadas and Gil Shapira

WPS9704

WPS9711

Behavioral Insights in Infrastructure Sectors: A Survey

Neutral Real Interest Rates in Inflation Targeting Emerging and Developing Economies

George Joseph, Sophie Charlotte Emi Ayling, Pepita Miquel-Florensa and et.al.

Franz Ulrich Ruch

WPS9703

WPS9710

How Did the COVID-19 Crisis Affect Different Types of Workers in the Developing World?

Carbon Tax in an Economy with Informality: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis for Cote d’Ivoire Govinda R. Timilsina, Yazid Dissou, Mike Toman and et.al.

Maurice David Kugler, Mariana Viollaz, Daniel Vasconcellos Archer Duque and et.al.

WPS9709

WPS9702

Gender and COVID-19: What have we learnt, one year later?

Does Title Increase Large Farm Productivity?

Institutional Determinants of Large LandBased Investments’ Performance in Zambia

Carmen De Paz Nieves, Isis Gaddis and Miriam Muller

WPS9708

Would Mexican Migrants be Willing to Guarantee Americans a Basic Income?

Michael M. Lokshin and Martin Ravallion

22

Daniel Ayalew Ali and Klaus W. Deininger

WPS9701

Why Do Manufacturing Firms Sell Services?

Evidence from India Arti Goswami Grover and Aaditya Mattoo

World Bank in India

WPS9700

WPS9693

Heterogeneous Impacts of SPS and TBT Regulations: Firm-Level Evidence from Deep Trade Agreements

Incentivizing Conservation of de facto Community-Owned Forests

Ana Margarida Fernandes, Kevin Jean-Rene Lefebvre and Nadia Rocha

WPS9699

Economics of Distributed Photovoltaics: An Illustration from Bangladesh Govinda R. Timilsina

WPS9698

Incentivizing Carbon Taxation in LowIncome Countries: Tax Rebating versus Carbon Crediting Jon Strand

WPS9697

Does Better Access to Finance Help Firms Deal with the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Evidence from Firm-Level Survey Data Mohammad Amin and Domenico Viganola

WPS9696

Lives versus Livelihoods during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Testing Softens the Trade-off Ergys Islamaj, Duong Trung Le and Aaditya Mattoo

WPS9695

Occupational Sex Segregation in Agriculture: Evidence on Gender Norms and Socio-Emotional Skills in Nigeria Smita Das, Clara Anne Delavallade, Ayodele Emmanuel Fashogbon and et.al.

WPS9694

Climate-Related and Environmental Risks for the Banking Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Preliminary Assessment Pietro Calice and Faruk Miguel Liriano

Daan van Soest, Guigonan Serge Adjognon and Eline van der Heijden

WPS9692

How Much Does Latin America Gain from Enhanced Cross-Border Electricity Trade in the Short Run? Govinda R. Timilsina, Ilka Fabiana Deluque Curiel and Debabrata Chattopadhyay

WPS9691

Public Work Programs and Gender-Based Violence: Evidence from Lao PDR Elizaveta Perova, Erik Caldwell Johnson, Aneesh Mannava and et.al.

WPS9690

Improving Public Procurement Outcomes: Review of Tools and the State of the Evidence Base Mihály Fazekas and Jurgen Rene Blum

WPS9689

Lowering Prices of Pharmaceuticals, Medical Supplies, and Equipment: Insights from Big Data for Better Procurement Strategies in Latin America Mihály Fazekas, Alexandre Borges De Oliveira and Nóra Regös

WPS9688

When do Refugees Return Home?: Evidence from Syrian Displacement in Mashreq Lori A. Beaman, Harun Onder and Stefanie Onder

WPS9687

Information, Loss Framing, and Spillovers in Pay-for-Performance Contracts Sebastian Peter Alexander Bauhoff and Eeshani Kandpal

23

WPS9686

WPS9680

Long-Run Effects of Trade Liberalization on Local Labor Markets: Evidence from South Africa

Participatory Theater Empowers Women: Evidence from India

Paulo S. R. Bastos and Nicolas Eduardo Santos Villagran

WPS9685

Scalable Early Warning Systems for School Dropout Prevention: Evidence from a 4.000-School Randomized Controlled Trial

Karla Hoff, Jyotsna Jalan and Sattwik Santra

WPS9679

Gender Dimensions of COVID-19 Economic Impact in Chad: Insights from a CGE Model and Household Phone Survey Kayenat Kabir, Hasan Dudu and Fulbert Tchana Tchana

Francisco Haimovich Paz, Emmanuel Jose Vazquez and Melissa Ann Adelman

WPS9678

WPS9684

Timothy DeStefano and Jonathan David Timmis

Linking Intra- and Inter-Country Spatial Price Adjustments in Global Poverty Measurement: Urban PPP Bias and Reference Price Mismatch

Shohei Nakamura and Nobuo Yoshida

Robots and Export Quality

WPS9677

The Intergenerational Mortality Tradeoff of COVID-19 Lockdown Policies Lin Ma, Gil Shapira, Damien B. C. M. De Walque and et.al.

WPS9683

Barriers to Growth-Enhancing Structural Transformation: The Role of Subnational Differences in Intersectoral Productivity Gaps Saumik Paul and Dhushyanth Raju

WPS9676

Reducing Bias in Phone Survey Samples: Effectiveness of Reweighting Techniques Using Face-to-Face Surveys as Frames in Four African Countries Alemayehu A. Ambel, Kevin Robert Mcgee and Asmelash Haile Tsegay

WPS9682

The Scarring and Hysteresis Effects of Steep Recessions and the Implications for Fiscal Policy in ECA Transition EMDEs Martin Brownbridge and Roy S. Canagarajah

WPS9675

The Impacts of COVID-19 on Informal Labor Markets: Evidence from Peru

Ronald Cueva, Ximena Vanessa Del Carpio and Hernan Jorge Winkler

WPS9681

Using Registry Data to Assess GenderDifferentiated Land and Credit Market Effects of Urban Land Policy Reform: Evidence from Lesotho

WPS9674

Daniel Ayalew Ali and Klaus W. Deininger

Trade Facilitation Provisions in Preferential Trade Agreements: Impact on Peru’s Exporters Woori Lee, Nadia Patrizia Rocha Gaffurri and Michele Ruta

24

World Bank in India

WPS9673

WPS9667

Death and Destitution: The Global Distribution of Welfare Losses from the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Hidden Potential of Call Detail Records in The Gambia

Francisco H. G. Ferreira, Olivier Christian Brigitte Sterck, Daniel Gerszon Mahler and et.al.

WPS9672

The Impact of FDI on Domestic Firm Innovation: Evidence from Foreign Investment Deregulation in China

Ayumi Arai, Erwin Willem Yvonnick Leon Knippenberg, Moritz Meyer and et.al.

WPS9666

Recurrent Climatic Shocks and Humanitarian Aid: Impacts on Livelihood Outcomes in Malawi Nancy Mccarthy, Talip Kilic, Joshua Milton Brubaker and et.al.

Yan Liu and Xuan Wang

WPS9665

WPS9671

Digital Payments and Business Resilience: Evidence in the Time of COVID-19

Productivity and Firm Exit during the COVID-19 Crisis: Cross-Country Evidence

Youssouf Camara

Silvia Muzi, Filip Jolevski, Kohei Ueda and et.al.

WPS9664

WPS9670

Climate Anomalies and International Migration: A Disaggregated Analysis for West Africa

Financial Structure and Firm Innovation: Evidence from around the World Davide Salvatore Mare, Francesca De Nicola and Faruk Miguel Liriano

WPS9669

What Are the Benefits of Government Assistance with Household Energy Bills?

Evidence from Ukraine

Fernanda Martínez Flores, Svetoslava Petkova Milusheva and Arndt Rudiger Reichert

WPS9663

Polygyny and Farm Households' Resilience to Climate Shocks Sylvain Eloi Dessy, Luca Tiberti, Marco Tiberti and et.al.

Anna Alberini and Nithin Umapathi

WPS9668

International Trade and Labor Markets: Evidence from the Arab Republic of Egypt Raymond Robertson, Mexico Alberto Vergara Bahena, Deeksha Kokas and et.al.

WPS9662

Rural-Urban Migration in Developing Countries: Lessons from the Literature Harris Selod and Forhad J. Shilpi

WPS9661

Diamonds in the Rough?: Repurposing Multi-Topic Surveys to Estimate Individual-Level Consumption Poverty Theophiline Bose-Duker, Isis Gaddis, Talip Kilic and et.al.

25

WPS9660

WPS9654

Representativeness of Individual-Level Data in COVID-19 Phone Surveys: Findings from Sub-Saharan Africa

Gain without Pain? Non-Tariff Measures, Plants’ Productivity and Markups

Joshua Milton Brubaker, Talip Kilic and Philip Randolph Wollburg

Massimiliano Cali, Marco Le Moglie and Giorgio Presidente

WPS9653

WPS9659

Trade Impacts of Intellectual-PropertyRelated PTAs: Evidence from Using the World Bank Deep Trade Agreements Database Keith E. Maskus and William Clifton Ridley

WPS9658

Automation and Manufacturing Performance in a Developing Country Massimiliano Cali and Giorgio Presidente

WPS9652

Heterogenous Teacher Effects of Two Incentive Schemes: Evidence from a LowIncome Country

How Has COVID-19 Affected the Intention to Migrate via the Backway to Europe

Felipe Barrera-Osorio, Jacobus Cilliers, Marie-Helene Cloutier and et.al.

Tijan L Bah, Catia Batista, Flore Gubert and et.al.

WPS9651

WPS9657

Firm-Level Adoption of Technologies in Senegal

Measuring Public Procurement Rules and Practices: Benchmarking a Recurrent Infrastructure Contract

Xavier Cirera, Diego Adolfo Comin, Marcio Jose Vargas Da Cruz ane et.al.

Antoni Albert Nogues Comas and Nuno Filipe Mendes Dos Santos

WPS9656

WPS9650

Does the Gender Wage Gap Influence Intimate Partner Violence in Brazil?

Evidence from Administrative Health Data

One Country, Two Systems: Evidence on Retirement Patterns in China

Elizaveta Perova, Sarah Anne Reynolds and Ian Schmutte

WPS9655

Expansionary Austerity: Reallocating Credit Amid Fiscal Consolidation Bernardo Morais, Javier Perez-Estrada, José-Luis Peydró and et.al.

26

John T. Giles, Xiaoyan Lei, Gewei Wang and et.al.

WPS9649

Economic Governance Improvements and Sovereign Financing Costs in Developing Countries Girum Dagnachew Abate, Michael Andrew Brown, Alex Sienaert and et.al.

World Bank in India Publications and Knowledge Resource Center The World Bank The Hindustan Times House (Press Block) 18-20, Kasturba Gandhi Marg New Delhi - 110 001, India

Media Inquiries

For more Information

The World Bank 70, Lodi Estate New Delhi - 110 003

Global: www.worldbank.org India: www.worldbank.org/in Facebook: WorldBankIndia Twitter: @worldbankindia

Contact: Nandita Roy Email: mediaindia@worldbank.org Tel: +91-11-4147 9220

Contact: Sunita Malhotra Email: smalhotra@worldbank.org Tel: +91-11-49247753

Rights and Permissions: The material in this work is copyrighted. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or inclusion in any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the World Bank. The World Bank encourages dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission promptly.