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[1] From: Regi P George <george_regi@yahoo.com> Date: Sun Aug 14, 2005 Subject: secret deal' now on water? After privatisation of power, a `secret deal' now on water? CPI accuses Delhi Government of succumbing to World Bank pressure and demands rollback of move for privatisation of the Capital's water supply system http://www.hindu.com/2005/08/14/stories/2005081411720100.htm --------------------------------- "World Bank interventions unwarranted and unacceptable" "Multinational companies are the intended beneficiaries" --------------------------------- NEW DELHI: Accusing the Delhi Government and the Delhi Jal Board of succumbing to pressure from the World Bank and taking up privatisation of the Capital's water resources and water distribution, the National Council of the Communist Party of India has demanded a rollback of the move and threatened to release documents about the "secret deal" if the issue is not addressed urgently. Briefing newspersons here on Saturday after a three-day conference of the CPI National Council, party general secretary A.B. Bardhan said privatisation of water resources and water distribution was being effected by the World Bank in the name of providing loans to the Delhi Government. But, in reality, he said, documents procured under the Right to Information Act had revealed that the World Bank had been intervening at every stage, including the terms of reference of contract, eligibility and selection criteria for bidders, and then forcing the Delhi Jal Board to subvert and manipulate the process of award of contracts to ensure that they are awarded to its favourites even if it has to violate the very criteria enunciated by it. Asserting that "this has been found in case of procuring consultancy contracts for Price Waterhouse Cooper'', the party resolution said the CPI condemned such interventions by the World Bank as "unwarranted and unacceptable". Aware that the multinational water companies have a dubious history of running the water sector of a number of developing countries with their own commercial interests, the party said in all those countries the water companies had made huge and unjustifiable profits at the expense of the local citizens. `Cancel contracts' Charging that many of these companies were now trying to enter India through patronage, the CPI said all this was happening at a time when the citizens of Delhi were already paying a huge price for power privatisation. As such the party has demanded "immediate cancellation of any contracts with the World Bank and its favoured companies" and urged the Government to have wider consultations with the political parties, the civil society organisations and experts to solve the water crisis. Mr. Bardhan taking up the issue now is significant considering that some time back he had written a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit about problems pertaining to the highly controversial exercise of privatisation of power in Delhi. But as he did not find the response to his letter satisfactory, he personally met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to present his views on the matter. It was after this meeting that Ms. Gandhi had written to Ms. Dikshit strongly expressing her dissatisfaction with the functioning of the Delhi Government. ---------------------------------------------- [2] Regi P George <george_regi@yahoo.com> Buy water, drink bacteria All nine brands tested found unfit for human consumption Gayatri Rajwade and Smriti Sharma Tribune News Service http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050715/main2.htm Chandigarh, July 14 That innocuous bottle of packaged drinking water that looks crystal clear and inviting particularly on a hot summer day is not so safe to drink, after all. Tests on samples of packaged drinking water indicate the presence of bacteria found in human and animal faeces which means the water is contaminated and not fit for human consumption. Of nine randomly picked up sealed bottles of packaged drinking water ??” HPMC, Thirst, KINLEY, FRESH ???N??™ COOL, AQUAFINA, Blue Label, EQUAL 212, Bisleri and Springwell ??” from the markets across Chandigarh, all samples have tested positive for bacteria which should not be present and are, therefore, not fit for drinking. The brands listed above have tested positive in the microbiological analysis for the Coliform Group which comprises Escherichia coli or E. coli, Coliform and Faecal streptococci. This result was revealed in a test conducted by The Tribune, through the Department of Microbiology, Punjab Agriculture University (PAU). Dr (Mrs) P.P. Sahota, believes, ???It is not always necessary to isolate or detect the pathogenic organism in drinking water. The most important method is detection and enumeration of the faecal indicators. Faecal contamination of water indicated by detection of E.coli or increased numbers of Coliform bacteria always includes a high probability of occurrence of pathogens excreted by faeces. HPC or TPC determines hygienic quality of drinking water.??? She further spells out that, ???The higher the number of total plate count signifies a positive co-relation with the instance for the outbreak of waterborne diseases. Total Plate Count expressed as Colony Forming Units per ml becomes one of the standard techniques for microbiological water quality testing. The impression we have drawn from these nine samples is that water is not hygienically acceptable and this indicates a malfunction of the water treatment process.??? The samples were picked up from locations as varied as the Sector-17 Inter State Bus Terminus to the roadside stalls at Zirakpur to markets at Sectors 8, 26, 28, 29 and 34. Mr Avtar Singh, Deputy Director General of the Northern Regional Office of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) says, ???Water is a ???compulsory item??™ regulated under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act of 1954, which, in turn, is governed by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.??? The BIS has formulated separate standards for packaged drinking water and packaged natural mineral water. These are a list of stringent norms and regulations dealing with the Standard Mark (ISI) ??” hygiene, treatment, microbiological and chemical testing, packing and marking and labelling which must be followed during the manufacturing and packaging process. The BIS Packaged Drinking Water Specifications state clearly the standard to follow ??” drinking water (which) means water from any potable source, including public drinking water supply systems under IS 10500 (Indian Standard for drinking water). It also clearly lists that E coli, Coliform and Faecal Streptococci ???shall be absent??? in packaged drinking water. Prior to the above tests, in an independent sample test conducted for the presence of E coli and Coliform, through a Chandigarh-based laboratory on six randomly picked up bottles of packaged drinking water ??” Springwell, EQUAL 212, FRESH ???N??™ COOL, Thirst, Bisleri and AQUAFINA ??” only AQUAFINA and Bisleri tested negative for E .coli, the other four samples namely Springwell, EQUAL 212, FRESH ???N??™ COOL and Thirst, tested positive for the presence of E coli. The test for Coliform revealed that all samples, except for AQUAFINA, tested positive at the Chandigarh laboratory for the presence of Coliform in varying degrees. On getting these results, more bottles of these and other brands were picked up and sent for testing to Punjab Agriculture University. The tests were conducted twice by PAU to be absolutely certain of the results. According to Dr. (Mrs.) Sahota, ???The presence of E. coli is the most important indicator of water being contaminated.??? Mr Surjit Singh, CMD, Square Mineral Water Pvt. Ltd in Mohali, manufacturer of Springwell packaged drinking water, when asked about the quality of his product said, ???Our products are made under the most stringent hygienic conditions. Our source of water is regularly tested and treated and our samples also undergo testing, sometimes even five times a day. We also send our own people out into the market to collect random samples of our water to check for quality.??? Similarly, Mr Vinod Goyal, Director, Goyal Aqua & Packages Pvt. Ltd., Panchkula, who make the ???FRESH ???N??™ COOL??™ brand of packaged drinking water, said, ???We cannot have our own bore wells here, so we are dependent on the Haryana Urban Planning and Development Authority (HUDA) for our water which is then purified, tested and packaged by us.??? Even Equal Minerals Plant Manager, Ms Sima Pandey Choudhary, believes that, ???We have a good product in our hands???. Incidentally, Equal 212 is the only ISO 9001 certified packaged drinking water. HPMC, Springwell, EQUAL 212, FRESH ???N??™ COOL and Thirst are all locally made with their bottle manufacturing units and bottling plants situated in the Industrial Areas at Mohali and Panchkula. Bisleri is bottled at Ludhiana, AQUAFINA at Jammu, Blue Label at Narela, Delhi and KINLEY in the district of Ludhiana. Mr Avtar Singh clearly reiterated that the BIS regularly monitors licences and, ???On any first critical failure with compliance to the regulations, BIS withdraws the licence.??? BIS has already cancelled seven licences in the Northern Region. Despite all three claiming that they follow norms laid down by the BIS, the presence of bacteria in packaged drinking water is indeed worrisome. FRESH ???N??™ COOL and Equal 212 are manufactured from water supplied by HUDA while Springwell is manufactured from water procured through a bore well on its site. It is pertinent to point out that the plastic bottles are manufactured on site which restricts the possibility of contamination from procuring bottles from outside suppliers and despite this and the claims about treating the water with various purifying techniques like Ultra-Violet rays, .2-micron filter process and reverse- osmosis, the water still contains bacteria which indicate contamination. Coliform bacteria The presence of Coliform bacteria in drinking water indicates that the water has not been treated properly for pathogens or that it got contaminated somewhere in the distribution system. Similarly, the Escherichia coli or E. coli, a member of the Coliform group, are present in the human alimentary canal and are almost exclusively of faecal origin; thus, if it is found in water or food, it may indicate faecal contamination in the water. Faecal Streptococci are a specific group of bacteria that are found in both human and animal faeces. They also persist in water supply for extended periods and are, therefore, a valuable indicator for determining the extent of faecal contamination of a water source. Bacterial indications Name TPC (< 100/ml) 1. HPMC 1600 2. Thirst 4000 3. KINLEY 2000 4. FRESH ???N??™ COOL 4000 5. AQUAFINA 2800 6. EQUAL 212 2200 7. Bisleri 1960 8. Springwell 1700 9. Blue Label Not Potable According to Dr (Mrs) P.P. Sahota, Associate Professor at the Department of Microbiology at PAU the most desirable index of pathogenic micro organism pollution is its presence or absence. The microbial indicator that has been suggested are heterotrophic plate count (HPC) or the Total Plate Count (TPC) of the total Coliform or Faecal Coliform, Faecal streptococci, anaerobe spore forming bacteria such as Clostridium perfringens, opportunistic pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, bacterial pathogens such as E. coli, Salmonella or Shigella. All these are bacterial indications of contaminated water. Results of the tests at Punjab Agriculture University for microbiological analysis: Standards for Packaged Drinking Water, Coliform and E. coli to be absent ---------------------------------------------- [3] Regi P George <george_regi@yahoo.com> August 10, 2005 Terrorism, Agriculture and U.S India Cooperation By Vandana Shiva Terrorism and Agriculture are among the issues raised in the Joint India - U.S statement issued on 18th July 2005 during Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh's meeting with President Bush. As the statement declares, the two leaders resolved - - to create an international environment conductive to promotion of democratic values, and to strengthen democratic practices in societies which wish to become open and pluralistic. - To combat terrorism relentlessly. The leaders also agreed to - - launch a U.S - India knowledge initiative on agriculture focused on promoting teaching, research, service and commercial linkages. The MOU on Science and Technology signed between U.S and India on 20th July, 2005 has made it clear that teaching and research would focus on Biotechnology or genetic engineering, also often referred to as the second green revolution. The Science Technology Agreement cites the green revolution in the 1960's as the beginning of U.S - India cooperation in India. To assess the impact of the new agreement we need to do an honest appraisal of the impact of the green revolution. This is not the first time a U.S driven agriculture agenda is being imposed on India. The so-called green revolution was introduced forty years ago. And it fuelled terrorism and extremism in the 1980's in Punjab. While the two leaders resolve, "to combat terrorism relentlessly" they are promoting the technologies, and trade models, which serve the US corporate interests and destroy farmers' livelihood security thus becoming the breeding ground for terrorism as I have shown in my book "The Violence of the Green Revolution" (Zed Books). When we became independent, our agriculture was in crisis due to neglect and exploitation. The Agriculture Minister, K.M. Munshi put priority to repairing natures hydrological cycle and nutritional cycle. These are the principles followed in sustainable, ecological farming. However, while Indian scientists and policy makers were working out self-reliant and ecological alternatives for the regeneration of agriculture in India, another vision of agricultural development was taking shape in American foundations and aid agencies. This vision was based not on cooperation with nature, but on its conquest. It was based not on the intensification of nature's processes, but on the intensification of credit and purchased inputs like chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It was based not on self-reliance, but dependence. It was based not on diversity but uniformity. Advisors and experts came from America to shift India's agricultural research and agricultural policy from an indigenous and ecological model to an exogenous, and high input one, finding, of course, partners in sections of the elite, because the new model suited their political priorities and interests. There were three groups of international agencies involved in transferring the American model of agriculture to India - the private American Foundations, the American Government and the World Bank. The Ford Foundation had been involved in training and agricultural extension since 1952. The Rockefeller Foundation had been involved in remodeling the agricultural research system in India since 1953. In 1958, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, which had been set up in 1905, was reorganized, and Ralph Cummings, the field director of the Rockefeller Foundation, became its first dean. In 1960, he was succeeded by A.B. Joshi, and in 1965 by M.S. Swaminathan Besides reorganizing Indian research institutes on American lines, the Rockefeller Foundation also financed the trips of Indians to American institutions. Between 1956 and 1970, 90 short-term travel grants were awarded to Indian leaders to see the American agricultural institutes and experimental stations. One hundred and fifteen trainees finished studies under the Foundation. Another 2000 Indians were financed by USAID to visit the US for agricultural education during the period. The work of the Rokefeller and Ford Foundations was facilitated by agencies like the World Bank, which provided the credit to introduce a capital-intensive agricultural model in a poor country. In the mid 1960s India was forced to devalue its currency to the extent of 37.5%. The World Bank and USAID also exerted pressure for favourable conditions for foreign investment in India's fertilizer industry, import liberalization, and elimination of domestic controls. The World Bank provided credit for the foreign exchange needed to implement these policies. The foreign exchange component of the Green Revolution strategy, over the five year plan period (1966 - 71) was projected to be Rs. 1114 crores, which converted to about $ 2.8 billion at the then official rate. This was a little over six times the total amount allocated to agriculture during the preceding third plan (Rs. 191 crores). Most of the foreign exchange was needed for the import of fertilizers, seeds and pesticides, the new input in a chemically intensive strategy. The World Bank and USAID stepped in to provide the financial input for a technology package that the Ford ad Rockefeller Foundations had evolved and transferred. The occurrence of drought in 1966 caused a severe drop in food production in India, and an unprecedented increase in food grain supply from the US. Food dependency was used to set new policy conditions on India. The US President, Lyndon Johnson, put wheat supplies on a short tether. He refused to commit food aid beyond one month in advance until an agreement to adopt the green revolution package was signed between the Indian agriculture minister, C.S. Subramanian and the US Secretary of agriculture, Orville Freeman. The combination of science and politics in creating the green revolution goes back to the period in the 1940s when Daniels, the US Ambassador to the Government of Mexico, and Henry Wallace, Vice President of the United States set up a scientific mission to assist in the development of agricultural technology in Mexico. The office of the Special Studies was set up in Mexico in 1943 within the agricultural ministry as a cooperation venture between the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican Government. In 1944, Dr. J. George Harrar, head of the new Mexican research programme and Dr. Frank Hanson, an official of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York invited Norman Borlaug to shift from his classified wartime laboratory job in Dupont to the plant breeding programme in Mexico. By 1954, Borlaug's 'miracle seeds' of dwarf varieties of wheat had been bred. In 1970, Borlaug had been awarded the 'Nobel Peace Prize' for his 'great contributions towards creating a new world situation with regard to nutrition'. However, the green revolution did not bring peace to Punjab, it brought terrorism. The Green Revolution, awarded a Nobel Prize for Peace in 1970, has contributed to two social and environmental disasters in India. One was the extremist movement and terrorism in Punjab, which led to the military assault on the Golden Temple and finally the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. The other was the gas leak from the Union Carbide pesticides plant in Bhopal, which killed 3,000 people on that tragic night of December 1984. In the two decades since that tragedy, 30,000 people have died in Bhopal due to the leak of these toxic gases. The Punjab violence also took the lives of 30,000 people in the years following 1984. Why did a 'Revolution' awarded a Nobel Peace Prize lead to so much violence? The Green Revolution came with a promise of peace. But its crude linearity - Technology -> Prosperity -> Peace - failed. The reason for this failure was because the technologies of the Green Revolution, like technologies of war, leave nature and society impoverished. To expect prosperity to grow out of violent technologies that destroy the earth, erode biodiversity, deplete and pollute water and leave peasants indebted and in ruins was a false assumption made during the launch of Green Revolution. This false assumption is being repeated in the launch of the Second Green Revolution based on biotechnology and genetic engineering, which are at the core of the US - India agreement. The 'terrorism' and 'extremism' in Punjab was born out of the experience of injustice of the Green Revolution as a development model, which centralized power and appropriated resources and earth from the people. In the words of Gurmata from the All Sikh Convention (quoted in my book, The Violence of the Green Revolution), on 13th April 1986, "If the hard-earned income of the people or the natural resources of any nation or the region are forcibly plundered; if the goods produced by them are paid for at arbitrarily determined prices while the goods bought are sold at higher prices and if, in order to carry this process of economic exploitation to its logical conclusion, the human rights of a nation, region or people are lost then the people will be like the Sikhs today - shackled by the chains of slavery." The peasants and people of Punjab were clearly not experiencing the Green Revolution as a source of prosperity and freedom. For them it was slavery. The Green Revolution, the social and ecological impacts it had, and the responses it created among an angry and disillusioned peasantry, has many lessons for our times, both for understanding the roots of terrorism and searching for solutions to violence. These are connections our leaders fail to make. The more they fight terrorism, the more they create it with their policies that create economic insecurity. The more they talk democracy, the more they destroy freedom by imposing trade rules and policies that deny people freedom and work against farmers and citizens. The Agreement on Agriculture of the WTO was drafted by a Cargill official. TheTrade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement was drafted by a group of US corporations including Monsanto. Monsanto's seed monopolies have already pushed thousands of farmers in India to suicide. Promoting commerce for Monsanto and Cargill through the US India Agreement on Agriculture will kill more farmers, and ultimately destroy India's food security, sovereignty and democracy, fuelling more terrorism and extremism. The Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement between US and India establishes intellectual property protocols of research by passing consultation with Indian scientists and the Indian public which has been resisting the US style IPR regimes which force countries to patent life, and create monopolies on seeds, medicine and software. For us, these agreements are instruments of corporate dictatorship; they are not instruments of democracy. And as dictatorship, they will fuel more anger, more discontent, more frustration. Terrorism is a child of economically unjust and anti-democratic policies, as became clear in Punjab in India and Oklahoma in the US. As Joel Dyer says in the Harvest of Rage, an investigation on the Oklahoma bombing and its roots in the US farm crisis, farmers loosing their farms and livelihoods are victims of long-term stress. If they are not helped, they get violent. If they blame themselves, they direct violence inwards and commit suicide. If they blame others, they turn their violence outwards. This is the violence of terrorism and extremism. The only lasting solution to dealing with terror is to increase people's freedom and security by protecting their livelihoods, their cultures, their rights to resources, and their democratic choices in how their society and lives are organized. The India - US Agreement on Agriculture and Science and Technology will do the opposite. It will breed more insecurity and erode people's capacity to make choices. It will therefore fail in its two prime objectives of promoting democracy and ending terrorism. http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2005-08/10shiva.cfm ----------------------------------- [4] From: Regi P George <george_regi@yahoo.com> Stop funding hate interview August 11, 2005 http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=66&ItemID=8489 ---------------------------------------------------- INDEPENDENCE DAY GREETINGS the.moderator India Thinkers Net |
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