C onsider this. An organisation which claims to be the right forum for discussing and deliberating on a whole lot of issues tormenting the globe, is essentially funded by global corporates – many of whom are directly or indirectly responsible for such a turmoil. The audited reports of the World Economic Forum (WEF) states that in 2005-06 it earned $84.12 million. Out of that, around $32.13 million was spent on personnel cost, $10.04 million on office cost & $34.3 million on so-called activity related costs! All this money gets spent on sitting and deliberating for practically nothing for the developing world. Add to this, the Strategic Partners of this mega-exercise include some of the biggest corporate names of the world, many of whose annual turnover is more than the GDP of many highly indebted sub-Saharan economies. Surprisingly, the list of Strategic Partners of WEF have the glitterati of American multinational companies (likes of Coca-Cola, which have been accused of fomenting water crisis and ground water pollution in the third world). At a time when an estimated billion plus populace of the world do not have access to safe drinking water, and millions of children are dying of water-borne diseases (according to WHO, 6 million died of water-borne diseases in 2003), WEF definitely needs a summit for its health.