By PTI

Mumbai: The World Bank has been indicted on 29 charges of human rights abuse and environmental damages in India, according to a study.

A 13-member panel of the Independent People’s Tribunal on the World Bank Group, consisting of prominent Indian and international jurists, economists, scientists, retired government officials, and social and religious leaders have found the World Bank guilty of harming the environment and lowering the standard of living for most Indians.

Charges in the final report include -- failure in its mission to reduce poverty, advocacy of policies which contribute to increased hunger, contributing to the agricultural crisis, and deliberate posting of former staff in the Indian bureaucracy in order to influence policy and diluting Indian environmental legislation.

According to a release issued by the World Bank Tribunal Secretariat, “The evidence and depositions we have witnessed presents a disturbing picture of increased and needless human suffering since 1991 among hundreds of millions of India’s poorest in rural areas and in the cities. It is clear that a significant number of Indian government policies and projects financed and influenced by the World Bank have contributed directly and/or indirectly to this increased impoverishment and suffering.”