Agence France Presse indicated that the programme in question is the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) programme, intended to combat child and maternal mortality. The Indian Express indicated that “the Bank has also postponed consideration of the second phase of the RCH and two other programmes, the Second National Tuberculosis Control Project and the Karnataka Health Systems Project”.

What does this mean for India, the worlds’ largest democracy? The Indian Express claimed that “at this time there exist two Indias – the India of high technology and exciting services and consumer class-led growth, and the India of depressing poverty lagging regions, appalling public services, and avoidable human misery”. The paper indicated that “money dispersed is often taken as a mark of money well-spent”. Michael Carter, the World Bank’s director for India, indicated to Agence France Press that “corruption has gutted many ambitious and expensive public welfare programmes in India”. The Times of India writes: “The Bank may have just discovered corruption, but it is no news at all to the public”.

India Today reported that the government has put 14 safeguards in place to ensure greater transparency in the programme. Even the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development has "concurred with the safeguards and expressed its unhappiness at the delay in the approval of the project by the Bank”.