IMPERIALISM IN INDIA S9 transfer of power on 15 August 1:947. India adopted the path of capitalist development after achieving independence but this path bf development could not have been smooth because India was entering quite late in capitalist development and also in a phase when world capitalist system was its The public policy makers in India have. always afgued that we are operat-ing in a framework of an inter-dependetit world and we have diversified our sources of aid, trade and import of technology and by following this policy of diversification we have maintained a relative autonomy in world affairs. It would be worthwhile to examine the argument of diversification of the Indian public policy makers to understand the Indian reality. The World Bank and its affiliates have been the most important source Of funding for the Indian economic development India has received US $7.3 billion as IBRD loans during the last thirty-five years* Since 1960, India has revived soft credit from the IDA amounting to US $ 12.5 billion. Of this, the share of the agriculture and rural development sector was 13.6 per cent and that of the energy sector 30.^ per cent. It may be clearly stated here that India's linkage with the World Bank has many ramifications and they cannot be just ignored by describing it as multilateral aid. The World Bank links India with the world capitalist system and sells its policies to tht Indian public policy makers through its own opinion makers* Many of the erstwhile employees of the World Bank hold important positions in the Reserve Bank of India, in the Prime Minister's Secretariat, in the economic ministries of the Government of India and in the Planning Commission of India. By giving a large quantum of aid to India, the World Bank has created an important base in the decision-making mechanisms ol the Government of India and this social constituency of the Bank in India sells the Bank^s recipe of development to the Government. The World Bank operations in India are smooth because it has a base among economic planners and politico-bureaucratic decision makers in the country. The World Bank is an institution of the imperialist countries and it is a mechanism ot "collective nco-coloniaT policies and its fuhfctionirtg is facilitated because its voices are heard favourably in the corridors of power in India. Such smooth sailing for the World Bank in India would not have been possible if it did not have a social base in the important ministries and autonomous organisations of the Government of India. The I.M.F. and the World Bank are twin brothers and when the Government of India went in for a large loan from the I.M*F., erstwhile employees of the Fund and the Bank were already occupying crucial positions in rhe