Answer:
(i)
Bolivia is a poor country in Latin America.
(ii) The World Bank pressurised the government to give up its control of municipal
water supply.
(iii) The government sold these rights for the city of
Cochabamba to a multinational company (MNC).
(iv) The company immediately increased the price of water
by four times.
(v) Many people received monthly water bills of ` 1,000 in a country
where average income is around `
5,000 a month. This led to a spontaneous popular protest.
(vi) In January 2000, a new alliance of labour, human
rights and community leaders organised a successful four-day general strike in
the city.
(vii) The government agreed to negotiate and the strike
was called off. Yet nothing happened.
(viii) The police resorted to brutal repression, when the
agitation started again in February.
(ix) Another strike followed in April and the government
imposed the martial law.
(x) But the power of people forced the officials of the
MNC to flee the city and made the government concede to all the demands of the
protesters.
(xi) The contract with the MNC was cancelled and water
supply was restored to the municipality at old rates.
This came to be known as the Bolivia's water war.
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