SACW | Jan. 15-17, 2008
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at gmail.com
Wed Jan 23 22:22:11 CST 2008
South Asia Citizens Wire | January 15-17, 2008 |
Dispatch No. 2489 - Year 10 running
[1] Sri Lanka: A New Year resolution (Rohini Hensman)
[2] Pakistan: Why so much destruction? (M.B. Naqvi)
[3] India - Communalism: Narratives in Chhattisgarh (Saumya)
+ Modi's Victory (Editorial, EPW)
[4] India: Attack on Christians (Soli Sorabjee)
[5] India: Civil society in a confrontational state (Editorial, Economic Times)
[6] India: Paste a Poster, Go To Jail ! (Subhash Gatade)
[7] Bangladesh: Civil Society Activists ADB's proposed Phulbari Coal Project
[8] India Corruption in the Health Projects:
World Bank Disgrace (Wall Street Journal)
______
[1]
The Island
14 January 2008
A NEW YEAR RESOLUTION
by Rohini Hensman
The abrogation of the Ceasefire Agreement of 2002
by the government of Sri Lanka, and impending
departure of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission
established under it, impart an added urgency to
the need for a UN human rights monitoring mission
in Sri Lanka. Without such a presence, an already
unacceptable level of human rights violations
will only become worse.
Some weeks ago, LTTE Supremo Velupillai
Prabakaran was berating the international
community for supporting a racist Sinhala
government; then it was the turn of Foreign
Minister Rohitha Bogollagama and UN Ambassador
Dayan Jayatilleka to accuse the international
community of giving comfort to the LTTE. An
intelligent observer might well conclude that the
international community, far from being biased
towards either of these two sides, was perhaps
taking the side of a third party whose existence
neither of them acknowledges: the people of Sri
Lanka. Since the term 'international community'
is extremely vague, it is worth emphasising that
what both parties object to in particular is the
negative assessment of their human rights record
by the UN Human Rights Council and organisations
like Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch, which in turn has been used by various
governments to take action against the LTTE in
one case, and to put pressure on the government
of Sri Lanka to accept a UN human rights field
operation in the other.
The LTTE's Human Rights Record
Prabakaran's Heroes' Day speech, while full of
complaints against the Sri Lankan state and
international community, made no acknowledgement
whatsoever of the heinous crimes against
civilians perpetrated by the LTTE, as a result of
which it has been subjected to various sanctions.
He did not even seem to realise that the forcible
conscription of children and adults, the killing
of numerous Tamil political figures, massacres of
Muslims in the East and the wholesale expulsion
of Muslims from the North, and terrorist attacks
against unarmed civilians in the rest of Sri
Lanka, might constitute understandable and valid
reasons why the LTTE is proscribed in so many
countries. As if to underscore his lack of moral
or legal accountability, he followed up the
speech with three bomb attacks that killed dozens
of civilians in the South.
All this makes it clear that if his goal of a
separate Tamil state were ever to be achieved, it
would be a fascist hell-hole, in which people
from minority communities would be subjected to
ethnic cleansing and massacres, while Tamils
would be forced to bow down and acquiesce to his
every whim, or face torture and execution. The
very real human rights violations faced by Tamils
in Sri Lanka - discrimination, persecution,
ethnic cleansing and massacres - cannot justify
the policies dictated to the LTTE by Prabakaran.
Nor would Tamils be any better off if his goal
were to be realised. Only those who share his
totalitarian vision could quarrel with the
international community for proscribing the LTTE.
The Arguments of Government Spokespersons
Government justifications of its own human rights
violations mirror the arguments of the LTTE. In
this context, it is worth looking at the
arguments put forward by Ambassador Jayatilleka
for Sri Lanka's repeated rejection of offers by
UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour to
establish a UN human rights office in Sri Lanka
to investigate and report on violations by all
parties. Just as Prabakaran assumes that
atrocities committed by the LTTE are justified by
the government's Sinhala chauvinism, Jayatilleka
argues that human rights violations by government
security forces are justified by the ongoing war
and the LTTE's terrorism. This argument fails to
take into account the fact that international
humanitarian law, which protects civilians in a
time of war, is tailored precisely to the
circumstances in which the government of Sri
Lanka finds itself; it does not seem to have
dawned on him that 'war crimes' are, by
definition, crimes committed in the midst of a
war, and, therefore, breaking these laws is a
crime EVEN in a time of war against a terrorist
enemy.
Another argument is that Sri Lanka already has
robust national institutions which should not be
supplanted by international ones. Presumably the
reference is to Sri Lanka's National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC). But, how credible is this
body? Recently, it was downgraded from 'member'
to 'observer' status in the International
Coordinating Committee of National Institutions
for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
because of government encroachment on its
independence. In 2006, President Mahinda
Rajapaksa himself appointed commissioners to the
body, in violation not only of international
standards but also of SRI LANKA'S OWN LAWS, which
specify that appointments to the NHRC can only be
made by the multi-party Constitutional Council.
This was followed by the NHRC deciding not to
pursue complaints unless they were filed within
three months, although no such time limit is
specified in the relevant laws and regulations.
And it decided to abandon ongoing enquiries into
2000 cases of disappearances, unless the
government requested it to resume. Is this what
Jayatilleke means by 'robust'? Can anyone have
confidence that an institution packed with
presidential appointees and acting at the behest
of the government would be able to investigate
human rights violations by the government in an
independent manner? Hardly! Another domestic
institution claimed to be protecting human rights
is the Presidential Commission of Inquiry set up
over a year ago to investigate several
high-profile killings and disappearances. Asked
why this Commission had failed to solve a single
one of the cases it was investigating,
Jayatilleka replied, 'Even in post conflict
situations, it takes Truth Commissions many years
to get to the bottom of things, as we have seen
in South Africa.' This is a very revealing
comparison, perhaps a Freudian slip on the part
of the UN Ambassador. He compares the violations
committed under the present government of Sri
Lanka with those committed under the racist,
repressive apartheid regime of South Africa, and
suggests that the truth might be as difficult to
establish. And indeed, he is right: while the
apartheid regime was in power, free to destroy
evidence and terrorise or kill witnesses, it
would have been impossible to unearth the truth.
Jayatilleka seems to be arguing that the
situation in Sri Lanka is comparable, in which
case we can certainly give up expecting anything
from the CoI or any other domestic agency so long
as this government remains in power.
It appears that we do not have a single credible
domestic agency capable of investigating and
reporting the truth about human rights
violations. So this argument falls flat on its
face.
Yet another argument is that 'we don't want to be
preached at by countries whose own human rights
records are far from perfect.' It is certainly
true that some of the countries putting pressure
on Sri Lanka to improve its protection of human
rights are themselves guilty of violating human
rights. But, this is not true of the human rights
bodies on whose information they are acting.
Contrary to ignorant allegations by some
government spokesmen, these agencies have been
equally critical of rights violations by powerful
countries. Moreover, a Sri Lankan government that
constantly urges the international community to
take action against the LTTE on the basis of
reports by these very same agencies has no moral
basis for complaining when they haul the
government over the coals for perpetrating
similar atrocities.
This complaint plays upon a confusion arising
from the vagueness of the term 'international
community', which can be used to mean anything
from military intervention to international law.
While military intervention by any foreign
government or even the UN is certainly not called
for in Sri Lanka, support for international law
in the form of assistance with the investigation
of human rights violations and reporting on the
outcome of such investigations would certainly be
welcome to the vast majority of the population,
who are constantly under threat while rapists and
murderers are allowed to roam free. The power to
prosecute would remain with the government, so
its authority would not be undermined: indeed, to
the extent that it was serious about prosecuting
criminals, its authority would be enhanced. Far
from being a tool of imperialism, international
law could potentially be a powerful weapon
against imperialism; but this will happen only if
countries like Sri Lanka uphold and strengthen
it, instead of flouting and undermining it.
Finally and most revealingly, Jayatilleka assures
us that 'human rights violations will drop off
drastically when the war is over, when the enemy
has been defeated - just as human rights
violations in the South of Sri Lanka dropped off
sharply when the JVP had been militarily
defeated'. This makes his agenda crystal clear:
he wants government security forces to be allowed
to perpetrate atrocities on the same scale as
they did in the South during the
counter-insurgency against the JVP under the
Jayewardene and Premadasa regimes. Do the
majority of Sinhalese people think these were
justified?
It is true that the JVP committed some gruesome
and ghastly acts of violence that suggest we
should fear the worst if they ever come to power,
but they could not match the scale and horror of
the violence perpetrated by the state security
forces. He also seems to be suffering from
selective amnesia, forgetting that the human
rights violations stopped not only because the
JVP was defeated, but also because the LTTE blew
up Premadasa, and a new government took on the
task of restoring democracy.
Who Suffers for want of HR monitoring? While UN
human rights monitoring would be most
inconvenient to the criminals who are guilty of
violations, the opposite is true of their
victims. It is immediately obvious that innocent
civilians who are members of minority communities
suffer from the present regime, in which
perpetrators of human rights violations have
impunity. All those subjected to torture, rape,
disappearance, abduction and extrajudicial
execution have no redress, and the lack of any
effort to prosecute the criminals encourages them
to commit more crimes against helpless civilians.
But it is equally true, though less obvious, that
the majority of Sinhalese also suffer. How does
the LTTE continue to recruit dedicated fighters
and suicide bombers? It is helplessness combined
with bitterness that drives people into the
embrace of the LTTE, and this combination is
precisely the result of the freedom to perpetrate
human rights abuses enjoyed by government forces
as well as officials who have command
responsibility for atrocities against civilians.
So long as these feelings persist, the LTTE can
never be wiped out, even if it is defeated
militarily; so long as there are people willing
to use their own bodies as weapons, Sri Lanka
will never be free of terrorism.
The only way to end terrorist attacks is to cut
off the supply of LTTE fighters and suicide
bombers, and the only way to do that is to end
attacks on innocent Tamil civilians and assure
them of justice. By assisting in this process, a
UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission would help to
starve the LTTE of recruits, and thus help to end
terrorist attacks. Conversely, failing to clamp
down on such violations simply helps the LTTE to
recruit fighters and terrorists, and prolongs the
war indefinitely. Furthermore, the expertise of
the UN team would be most useful in rounding up
LTTE terrorist networks. As of today, the
government's strategy is incredibly crude and
ineffective. Basically, it consists in rounding
up all the Tamil people in the vicinity and
subjecting them to various forms of
ill-treatment. But the people who carried out the
Nugegoda bombing, for example, would hardly hang
around waiting to be caught. What this strategy
means is that innocent people are punished - not
only those who are rounded up and incarcerated,
but also their relatives, who suffer dreadful
anguish while waiting to discover the fate of
their loved ones - thus increasing hatred and
distrust of the government among Tamils.
Meanwhile, those who carried out the bombing get
away, and are able to plan another attack. The
general public suffers as a result of the
government's incompetence, its lack of
investigative and detective skills. If these were
enhanced by a UN mission, there would be much
greater success in catching and prosecuting the
real perpetrators of terrorist attacks. Thus, the
government's refusal to accept the offer of
assistance from the UN Human Rights Council helps
the LTTE in two ways. By allowing human rights
violations against Tamils to continue, it helps
the LTTE to recruit fighters and terrorists. And
by allowing LTTE terrorists to get away, it
allows them to continue with their activities.
This is analogous to the government refusing food
aid when the people are starving. The ultimate
losers are the ordinary people of all communities.
Time to Turn Over a New Leaf Spokesmen of the
Rajapaksa regime are trying to convince us that
the freedom to harass, rape, torture and kill
innocent Tamils helps to defeat the LTTE, but the
truth is the exact opposite. It is precisely such
activities of government forces that sustain the
LTTE. So long as killings like the murder of MP
Thiagarajah Maheswaran go unpunished, killings
like the murder of minister D. M. Dassanayake and
the earlier bombings will continue, and they,
too, will go unpunished because the government is
incapable of catching the terrorists. Nor will
elections in the North and East help. Reports
like those of University Teachers for Human
Rights (Jaffna) have described in graphic detail
the reign of terror prevailing in the North and
East, and we would have to be fools indeed to
believe that free and fair elections could be
conducted under such conditions. It is time for
all of us to make a New Year resolution to the
effect that we will ensure that Sri Lanka's human
rights record is cleaned up in the course of
2008, starting right now. That would involve
putting pressure on the government to
reconstitute the NHRC in accordance with our own
laws and to invite a UN human rights monitoring
mission to help identify and prosecute all those
who are guilty of human rights violations. Unless
we do this, terrorist attacks will continue, and
we will share in the responsibility for the
bloodshed.
______
[2]
The Post
14 January 2008
WHY SO MUCH DESTRUCTION?
by M.B. Naqvi
What followed Benazir Bhutto's assassination were
riots, inflicting horrendous economic losses. The
popular reaction constituted an explosion of
long-suppressed anger. It was mostly spontaneous,
but it is now clear that some of the riots may
have been encouraged by obscure forces. The
authorities certainly did not control them. There
is no point in the blame game. The ruling party
accuses the PPP of doing all that, while the PPP
leaders accuse the erstwhile rulers, PML(Q), of
holding back the police and Rangers from
preventing or controlling the arson. One merely
notes accusations and the losses without
adjudging who is right and who is not. The
significance of these riots is more important.
The people had been angry and frustrated. They
were also exasperated because no one ever
listened to them; no one ever tried to find out
how they were living or what their problems were.
The government had no vital relationship with the
people at the grassroots. The fact to note is the
pent up feelings of anger over things going wrong
and the helplessness of the people.
Look at the way hardships hit the common man. The
first blow comes in the shape of both terribly
high prices of foodstuffs and their scarcity.
Roti used to be two rupees eight years ago; it is
now selling at four and five rupees. Take any
foodstuff and the price is, from the common man's
viewpoint, skyrocketing. People see it as
attempts at creating a famine. How can people do
without atta, rice, or pulses or vegetables, meat
and sugar? Everything is becoming too dear. What
irritates is that officials talk of international
prices: prices in Pakistan are still lower than
in neighbouring countries. Maybe. But so what?
Economic conditions in nearby countries are
different. Anyway, it is no consolation that the
neighbour is also in trouble.
Inflation is a terrible thing. It destroys the
middle class. It further pauperises what is
mostly the lumpen proletariat. Needless to say,
no one accuses Pakistan of being a country with a
social security system or where jobs are
plentiful. If prices need comparison with the
region's or global prices, why do they not
compare the average wage here with international
wages? Big landlords while wanting international
wheat prices are not prepared to pay their hired
agricultural labourers the average international
wage. Minimum Western wages for farm hands would
be a dream for similar Pakistanis. Why do they
not compare international wages with average
Pakistani wages?
The significance of these riots is not so much
about the love of Benazir, which of course was
the lightning rod, but it is more an explosion of
anger at the way social, political and economic
conditions are being handled by the authorities
here. Pakistan is a highly unequal country. The
rich are getting richer while the poor are
getting poorer. A few give credence to
Islamabad's economic claims. But there are no
other figures. The world has to take official
figures as these are the only ones available.
Even official figures show that the achievements
of the government are limited to: (a) high GDP
growth rates; (b) $ 16 billion in monetary
reserves; (c) and the evidence of consumption in
the shape of cars, electronic gadgets like cell
phones, which the government claims prove
prosperity.
Few are fooled. Not every farm hand in the
countryside has a cell phone or a motorcycle. All
the cars in the countryside are of the landlords
or upwardly mobile middle class, who are often
retired military men. Living conditions of the
poor in rural areas and urban katchi abadis are
there for all to see. No improvement can be
noticed during these eight years, while the pain
caused by inflation and unemployment is there for
all to hear and see.
True, evidence of a prosperous middle class is
also there. Not too far from any katchi abadi are
palatial houses - of the upper classes. That sets
up envy in the poor and it grows into hatred when
the living conditions continue worsening for
many, while the upper classes are visibly getting
richer. Now superimpose on it political
conditions: are the rulers responsive? Do they
represent the poor? Is there any living
relationship or communication between the two? Do
the rulers reach out to the common people to
alleviate their conditions or even pretend to be
doing so? The answer is no. Is that not a cause
for accumulating anger?
Why did the explosion of anger take place last
December and not before? BB was seen as a popular
leader. Many went out to protest even earlier for
the lawyers and the judges. That was the time
when they saw absolutely shocking things going
on. They were already fed up and began seething
with discontent - and exploded when Benazir was
killed. They showered their anger in an
unorganised and spontaneous way. Their
demonstrations were joined by uninvited criminals
that may have been sent by interested parties.
There were some jail breaks. There is however no
knowledge of any collusion between officials and
such anti-PPP forces. Anyhow, it just happened.
However, the trail of destruction shows that (a)
the authorities did not try to control it in the
initial days; (b) there may have been criminal
negligence or intent in withholding the law
enforcing agencies from doing their job.
The question finally reverts to the reason why
the economic conditions are so bad. One is
leaving out the political matters in this space.
It is however clear that today's economic
conditions are a legacy of the economic team that
was making economic decisions. Some will call
them the legacy of likeable Mr Shaukat Aziz. What
is his legacy? Well, one has already mentioned
the inflation led by prices of foodstuffs and
scarcity of essentials like food grains,
electricity, gas, etc.
The supposedly 'Dream Team' of Musharraf has
tom-tommed its own achievements for so long and
so loudly that one likes to show their hollowness
with a bit of anger caused by the inability to do
anything about it. For starters, the price of
every essential commodity has shot through the
roof. That atta is selling at Rs 24 to 40 a kilo
at different times or places could not have been
believable in earlier years. Why has not even one
megawatt of electricity been added during the
eight years long watch of Mr Aziz? Why was Thar
coal not utilised all these years? Half a million
tonnes of wheat was allowed to be exported at $
250 per tonne while a lot more is now being
imported at over $ 400 per tonne. Why did nobody
come down heavily on big hoarders and profiteers?
How is the economy shaping? The State Bank of
Pakistan (SBP) says the economy is not doing well
at all. The SBP has more credibility than
Islamabad and is more competent. Common citizens
can also see that the country today is teetering
on the brink of what might be a disaster.
The GDP might still be growing at above six
percent. But what is the composition of this
growth? Who is earning more and spending more?
The overall figure means nothing. This writer's
income and that of any big tycoon can be averaged
and it would still be a figure that would be
beyond the writer's dream. Gross figures do not
convey any meaningful picture from the viewpoint
of the people's welfare.
All the old ills are back. The budgetary deficit
was again rising in the last four years. The
authorities seem to be on a spending spree. They
have allowed imports freely. These are sure to
cross $ 30 billion soon. At this rate, imports
would soon be twice the exports, maybe even next
year. The media has conclusively shown that this
year the government has bungled in overstating
the GDP expectations in agriculture and allowing
small exports at lower prices. There was no need
to do that except for the propaganda of a bumper
crop of 23 million tonnes; it gave the excuse to
many powerful people to export or smuggle out.
Should the government have raided a few big wheat
hoards and arrested and punished the hoarders, no
matter what social or political position they
hold, it would have had a salutary effect on the
situation. Most other indicators are also looking
down. The overall indebtedness of the economy is
huge: Pakistan is indebted to the tune of $ 41
billion. The Rupee has travelled from Rs 46 to
over 62 to a dollar now in these eight years.
Destroying the stability of the currency destroys
price stability and makes production and profit
expectations uncertain, inhibiting growth. The
current account deficit is again rising. It has
already risen to $ 7 billion despite the inflow
of $ 5 billion from expatriate Pakistanis. The
performance of most other macro-economic
indicators is bad. What is alarming is the
innards of the economy are even worse. Would the
authorities wake up?
The writer is a veteran journalist and freelance columnist
______
[3]
Economic and Political Weekly
January 12, 2008
COMMUNALISM: NARRATIVES IN CHHATTISGARH
by Saumya
The expansion of the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram's
activities amongst tribals in Chhattisgarh shows
the influence of communalism in these areas. The
strategies used by the organisation along with
other Hindutva outfits in Jashpur, for example,
delineate how communalism works to crystallise
religious identities by playing upon the
socio-political and cultural background there.
http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/11427.pdf
______
EPW - 29 December 2008
Editorial
MODI'S VICTORY
Narendra Modi spearheads another triumph in
Gujarat for the Bharatiya Janata Party.
For the second consecutive time, Narendra Modi
has led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to a
massive victory in the Gujarat assembly
elections, making it the fourth time in a row
since 1995 for the party. In every assembly
election, the BJP has pitched a campaign theme;
while it was the issue of anti-corruption in 1995
and an aggressive pitch for Hindutva in 2002, it
was development of a "vibrant Gujarat" in 2007.
The victory in 2007 is different from the earlier
assembly triumphs. The strings of BJP leadership
in Gujarat had virtually passed on to Narendra
Modi, with the gradual sidelining of other senior
leaders who have either broken ranks or have
remained dissidents. From former ministers
(including ex-chief ministers) in the BJP
government to other leaders in the Sangh parivar,
an array of people who were in the forefront
during the communally
polarised elections in 2002 were this time ranged
against Narendra Modi. Numerous exit polls and
media surveys predicted that the outcome would be
a close call between the Congress and the BJP.
Yet, the prognosticators were proved completely
wrong. This was Narendra Modi's election and this
was his personal triumph, even if many had hoped
that the Gujarat electorate would hold him
accountable for the crimes of 2002, for which
there has neither been atonement nor justice for
the victims.
The continued dominance of the BJP in 2007 points
to the failure of the Congress in effectively
countering the seeping in of communal
consciousness that has been a fallout of
uninterrupted BJP rule in the state. At the same
time, the emphasis on "development" in the 2007
elections by the BJP suggested that Narendra Modi
wanted to be judged by the voters on his
government's record in issues such as
industrialisation, irrigation support, rural
electrification, and economic growth. The agenda
of "cultural nationalism" and Hindutva, which
dominated the 2002 elections, was missing, even
as, during the later stages of the election
campaign, Narendra Modi started stirring up such
issues again.
The Congress had hoped to mobilise support from
disenchanted sections among dalits, tribals and
particularly the minorities who have continued to
live in fear and neglect in the BJP regime. It
was expected that the "caste arithmetic" success
formula in the 1980s for the Congress, the
Kshatriya-Harijan-Adivasi-Muslim (KHAM) alliance
would be again forged, this time with the help of
sections in the Patidar community led by BJP
rebels. However,
the inability of the Congress to address the
ideology of Hindutva head on or to provide
alternate solutions to the development paradigm
followed by the BJP, as well as the absence of a
viable charismatic leadership to take on Narendra
Modi has resulted in yet another defeat for that
party. Narendra Modi's image as a chief minister
with a direct style of governance, bypassing
patronage networks and his being seen as
responsible for services such as irrigation
facilities, power systems, and investment for
industry, was cultivated into a personality based
propaganda campaign by the BJP's. Modi's tenure
has been marked by a penchant for breaking away
from party structures and pressure groups in
favour of direct hands on management based on
personal charisma. This personalised emphasis -
which won him widespread popularity within the
state - and the BJP's aggressive "regional
identity" message was manifest in the party's
campaign theme, "Jeetega Gujarat" (Gujarat will
win).
The BJP has been clever in setting an agenda
around communalism and majoritarianism during
every assembly poll, while the Congress has
always played second fiddle, unsure in its
criticism and in its rejection of Hindutva as
well as in the formulation of a more inclusive
economic policy. The BJP's victory in Gujarat
despite the horrors of the state-led pogrom in
2002 and the continuing denial, subversion of
justice and relief to the victims and survivors
of the riots does point out to the weaknesses of
liberal democratic institutions. It questions the
ability of formal democracy to ensure that those
who are guilty of violating constitutional duties
and norms are held responsible for their actions.
Irrespective of the massive verdict in favour of
Narendra Modi in the assembly elections, we must
continue to work to ensure justice for the
victims of 2002. And if the ideology of hatred
that has taken root has to be defeated
politically, all efforts must be made to project
a viable alternative that wins the support of the
Gujarati people. Only this can provide a strong
counter to the charisma that Narendra Modi wields
in Gujarat.
______
[4]
Indian Express
January 06, 2008
ATTACK ON CHRISTIANS
by Soli Sorabjee
The claim to civilisation of any state should be
measured by the treatment meted out to its
minorities. The recent spate of attacks on
Christians in Gujarat and Orissa in particular is
shameful. The pretext for these attacks is that
missionaries are effecting conversions with the
aim of making India a Christian state. This is
ludicrous. Statistics establish that against
Orissa's 3.47 crore Hindus, there are only
8,97,861 Christians. There has been no steep
increase in the number of converted Christians.
Right of conversion is implicit in the guarantee
of freedom of religion in our Constitution. No
doubt this right is not absolute, but can be
reasonably restricted on the heads specified in
the Constitution. There is a law in Orissa that
prohibits and punishes conversions made by force
or allurement. If any person violates the law,
prosecute him or her by all means. But remember
that conversions do take place because of the
degrading treatment meted out to the
'untouchables' and the prospect of a life of
dignity by embracing Christianity. Besides, the
law cannot be selectively applied and must be
enforced also against Hindus who reconvert
Christians by force and intimidation.
Indiscriminate attacks on peaceable Christians,
disrupting their church services and burning
their churches, especially during Christmas, is
barbarous. It is hoped that Orissa Governor Murli
Bhandare will put in place initiatives to restore
the confidence of the Christians and to ensure
adequate protection to them.
______
[5]
Economic Times
17 Jan, 2008
Editorial
CIVIL SOCIETY IN A CONFRONTATIONAL STATE
Binayak Sen's incarceration in Chhattisgarh
underscores the paranoia of the developmental
state towards NGOs that understand poverty in
holistic terms. That has fuelled more violent
forms of seeking redress, says Prabhu Ghate.
Shaheed Hospital in Dalli-Rajhara is a unique
civil society institution. It started life 25
years ago as a dispensary, with donations of
money and labour from the mine-worker members of
the independent trade union started by Shankar
Guha Neogi in this small iron ore mining town 70
km south of Bhilai. It attracted idealistic
doctors and devoted nurses, and managed to pay
for itself while adding to its facilities with no
help from the state.
Among the group of founding doctors was Dr
Binayak Sen, a gold medalist from Christian
Medical College, Vellore. Today Shaheed Hospital
has grown to a capacity of 100 beds, but the
wards are still overflowing. It seems to run
itself, under a highly collegial system of
management, with doctors and staff taking very
low salaries, and volunteer workers pitching in
after their shifts in the mines.
This writer was here to attend a meeting on
irrational drug use. There was a fabulous view
from the terrace as the sun set on the ochre
slopes of the open-cast mines rising in tiers
across the valley, and adivasi families
accompanying patients from miles around lit their
evening fires at the back of the building. Any
serenity one might have experienced, however, was
disturbed by a depressing thought. Shankar Guha
Neogi has been assassinated, and Binayak Sen is
incarcerated in Raipur jail on vague charges of
alleged links with the Naxalites. He has been
denied bail since May last year. Clearly,
something has gone badly wrong in Chhattisgarh in
the relationship between civil society and the
developmental state.
The charismatic Neogi was as much a thorn in the
side of the state as he was of the various mafias
that flourished in the steel belt, and his
murderers were never brought to book. Binayak
Sen, after leaving Shaheed Hospital, devoted
himself to enhancing the effectiveness of the
rural health delivery system, a contribution that
was recognised in a prestigious award conferred
on him during the recent annual conference of the
Indian Social Science Congress, ironically just
two days after a Raipur court started framing
charges against him. The state at one time did
work closely with Sen and other rural health NGOs
in developing the 'Mitanin' programme, which is
the Chhattisgarh version of the flagship ASHA
(Accredited Social Health Activists) programme
under the National Rural Health Mission. Mitanins
are selected by the people through the panchayats
and trained by the state or by accredited NGOs.
About 5% of the programme in the state is being
implemented by NGOs. Many of them take the word
"activist" in the acronym ASHA seriously, unlike
the government which just pays it lip service.
They encourage their mitanins to monitor the
situation with respect to the attainment of other
rights and entitlements too, such as whether the
poor have been getting their rice and sugar from
the local PDS shop, or have access to the muster
roll under the NREGS. The logic is that unless
the poor learn to demand the delivery of their
entitlements generally, they are not likely to
complain when the village health sub-centre is
out of medicines, or has an absentee or
incompetent doctor, either.
The lack of pressure from below allows poor
governance to flourish unhindered, fuelling
social unrest and leading ultimately to more
violent forms of seeking redress. Instead of
appreciating this dynamic, the state has allowed
its lower level functionaries to harass NGO
mitanins, especially in the parts of the state
where they are most needed, such as Dantewada and
Bijapur districts where health services have been
withdrawn from a large number of villages because
of conditions of virtual civil war between the
Naxalites and Salwa Judum. Because mitanins are
allowed by the Naxalites to continue visiting and
providing services in these villages, they too
have become suspect and are often detained for
questioning by the police.
The stance towards NGOs, who take a more holistic
and structural view of poverty and the
incarceration of Binayak Sen, are both
reflections of the extreme paranoia that has
overtaken the state government and its exclusive
reliance on a narrow law-and-order approach. It
is significant (and ridiculous in the context of
framing charges against Sen) that the government
pleader spent much of his time in the recent
court hearing dwelling on how the mitanin
programme was being used to aid the Naxalites.
Sen has never condoned violence by the Naxalites.
He learnt over the years, however, that
improvements in the nutritional and health status
of the poor required a secure foundation of food
security, a stable eco-system, respect for human
rights and above all social justice and equity.
His work in defence of these causes on behalf of
the PUCL raised the hackles of the state. This is
the real reason for his incarceration under the
states' draconian "anti-terrorist" law.
Clearly, there are many complex socio-economic
causes of extremist violence in the tribal areas,
including the sense of insecurity engendered by
the loss of control over resources, the demise of
traditional livelihoods, and alienation of land
for state and private sector projects without
adequate rehabilitation and just compensation.
However, the neglect of basic social services
such as food security, health and education is
certainly a major cause, and one would have
thought the state would do its utmost to forge
useful partnerships with civil society to improve
their provision.
It could also give the social sectors much higher
priority by posting the best officers to them.
State governments need to change the present
value system that regards social sector jobs as
inferior if not punishment postings. Being health
secretary or education secretary should be as
prestigious as finance or industries secretary.
Also, the IAS urgently needs to revert to its
area of comparative advantage, which is to
provide good clean routine administration and
public services. IAS officers need to spend many
more years in the districts and in the same job,
learning it properly instead of moving on to
greener pastures early in their careers, never to
return. These are some of the failures in
governance reform the country is paying a high
price for, including left-wing extremism.
______
[6]
PASTE A POSTER, GO TO JAIL !
by Subhash Gatade
The recent bill aptly titled 'Delhi Prevention of
Property Defacement Act 2007' introduced in the
Delhi assembly makes depressing reading.
According to its provisions a mere act of putting
posters on the walls or writing anything with
chalk. paint or any other material can make you
liable for a punishment of one year in jail.
Additionally you can be asked to pay a fine of
Rs.50,000.
The proposed act is said to be an improvement in
the earlier act in operation in the state which
was considered lenient. With this act the state
seems to have Any such act would be considered
cognisable offence means you can be arrested
without even getting into the formality of
preparing a warrant.
As it is widely known the Delhi government had
adopted 'West Bengal Prevention of Defacement of
Property Act 1976' supposedly to penalise those
people who are found to be engaged in 'defacing
public property'. And it duly arrested around
2802 people during a short span of two years (
2001-2003). 1925 people were also punished for
doing wall writing, putting posters, stickers and
banners.
Looking at the stringent provisions in the
proposed act and the way in which a mere act of
putting posters would be bracketed as 'cognisable
offence' one can easily see a spurt in the no of
people getting arrested or facing punishment.
Interestingly the period during which this draft
bill was put before the house for discussion, one
came across another decision of the government
which talked of the government's move to allow
putting ads behind auto-rickshaws. The goverment
expects that it could see a quantum jump in its
revenue. A few months back the local Municipal
Corporation has also decided to allow putting of
ads in the radio taxies which could similarly
increase its cofferes by a few crore Rs.
Any layperson could comprehend the rationale
behind the contrary approach adopted by the
people in power.While on the one hand it seeks to
penalise those people under the spacious plea of
'defacement of public property' ,it has no qualms
of any sort about propaganda, if you are in a
position to pay for it. It is clear that only
moneybags or big corporate houses would be able
to avail this opportunity of putting across their
message by paying for it and a large majority of
the working population of the city who has to
struggle hard to make both ends meet would be
denied any such opportunity. In the changed
ambience, where one is finding 'criminalization'
of the right of freedom of expression granted by
the constitution, it would be increasingly
difficult to express one's disenchantment with
the state of affairs. One cannot expect ordinary
people who are living on the margins of society
and who are at the receiving end of the goverment
policies and social institutions would ever find
themselves in a position to express their stand
vis-a-vis the custodians of democracy.
One still remembers few years back thousands of
people working in different factories in Delhi
were asked to either shift to new places of work
or get ready to leave the job altogether, as the
powers that be had decided to close the factories
supposedly to 'control pollution'. One also saw
the well planned drive by the city authorities to
demolish slums and 'decongest the cities'. A
senior judge of the courts had no qualms in
comparing slum dwellers with pick pocketers
denying them any alternate accomodation claiming
that it would be 'rewarding the pick pocketters'.
Imagine a similar situation where the people on
the margins of society want to express their
discontent about the state of affairs. How do
they do it if they are denied even the
opportunity of putting posters. Do they have any
way out before them than getting ready to get
arrested and pay a hefty fine for daring to put a
handmade poster.
Anybody can see that the situation which seems to
be emerging cannot be said to be a sign of
healthy democracy which is considered to be a
'rule of the people, by the people and for the
people'. How can it be called a 'real democracy'
if its citizen are even denied the opportunity to
exercise their political rights. Everybody knows
that the concept of citizenship has evolved down
the ages and being a citizen of any country
imbues you with political rights. And if we limit
the idea of political rights to mere right to
vote occasionally, then one is making a travesty
of the definition.
The key thing to be noted in this debate is that
under the present phase of neoliberalism - where
market forces have been given a free play and the
state seems to be withdrawing from key sectors of
running the government- the very move to
'criminalize right to freedom of expression' is a
sign of the hollowing out of the idea of
citizenship.
One is aware that the legally enforceable duties
of citizenship vary depending on one’s country,
and may include such items as:paying taxes
(although tourists and illegal aliens also pay
some taxes such as sales taxes,etc), serving in
the country’s armed forces when called upon (in
the US even illegal immigrants must serve in case
of a draft), obeying the criminal laws enacted by
one’s government, even while abroad. As per its
purely ethical and moral duties are concerned
they tend to include:demonstrating commitment and
loyalty to the democratic political community and
state , constructively criticizing the conditions
of political and civic life, participating to
improve the quality of political and civic life ,
respecting the rights of others, defending one’s
own rights and the rights of others against those
who would abuse them, exercising one’s rights .
It is evident that by putting someone in jail for
putting posters would not only deny the citizen
the right to freedom of expression, it would deny
her/him the 'ethical and moral duties' of a
citizen.
Questioning the manner in which 'public is being
differentiated into a hierarchy of individuals'
under a neoliberal regime and also substituting
'citizen with consumer' leading Political
Scientist Colin Leys raises few valid questions
in his forthcoming book 'Total Capitalism'. (
Three Essays Collective 2008) 'But can we have
democracy without society - without a modicum of
equality of status and condition, secured by
universal public services, and a significant
degree of social solidarity based on this ? It
seems unlikely.'
To save itself from the charges of 'throttling
the right to freedom of expression' the Delhi
goverment plans to develop around 150 notice
boards ( 5 ft long and 15 ft broad) spread over
Delhi whose population is moving rapidly to 1.25
crore mark. Anyone can comprehend that it is a
mere formality.'
To conclude, all these moves are part of a wider
gameplan of 'beautification of the city' to
prepare itself for the Commonwealth Games to be
held in 2010. There could be no doubt that they
may help 'beautify' the city outwardly by
removing 'unwanted/ illegal structures'. But it
would also help reveal the larger anomalies
inherent in the society and the party.
______
[7]
banglapraxis.wordpress.com
January 11, 2008
The ADB Board of Directors
Asian Development Bank
P.O. Box 7890980
Manila, Philippines
RE: PHULBARI COAL PROJECT (BAN 39933-01)
Dear Director:
We, the undersigned organizations, are writing
with regard to ADB's proposed Phulbari Coal
Project (BAN 39933-01), which is scheduled for
approval by the ADB Board on 27 March 2008. We
believe the Phulbari Coal Project is in violation
of the ADB Energy Policy (1995), Indigenous
Peoples Policy (1998), Involuntary Resettlement
Policy (1995), Environment Policy (2002), and
Public Communication Policy (2005).
The current political situation in Bangladesh
does not allow freedom of speech and assembly in
the region. The project is fiercely opposed by
the people of the region in the four
sub-districts of Birampur, Nawabganj, Parbatipur,
and Phulbari; yet public documents approved by
the ADB continue to state that there is community
support. The non-transparent and unaccountable
processes at the project planning stage have made
us deeply concerned about the capacity of the
ADB, its proposed private sector partner Global
Coal Management/Asia Energy PLC, and local
authorities to adequately and justly prepare for
and deliver on social and environmental aspects
of this project.
We therefore urge you to discontinue ADB's
pre-appraisal due diligence on this Project and
take it out of the funding pipeline due to the
following issues:
1) Violation of ADB Energy Policy (1995)
The Summary Environmental Impact Assessment
(SEIA) of the Phulbari project (dated August 2006
and posted on ADB website on August 16, 2006)
mentions that "At full production, about 8
million tonnes will be exported by rail and
barges to an offshore reloading facility at Akram
Point for export to international markets, some 4
million tonnes will be exported to India via
railway, and the remaining 3 million tonnes will
be used for a proposed mine-site 500 MW power
plant and sold for domestic use"(SEIA , page 2).
Paragraph 86 (ix) of ADB Energy Policy states
(excerpts highlighted) that "Coal is the primary
energy source in the Bank's largest DMCs and its
use is a major cause of environmental
degradation. The Bank should actively promote
environmentally sound mining practices and clean
coal technologies. As coal is an increasingly
internationally traded commodity, the Bank should
not directly finance coal mine development except
where it is for captive use by a thermal power
plant, and economically superior to other coal
supply options."
We submit that the premise of the ADB Energy
Policy is to only approve financing of mine-mouth
projects. Phulbari is clearly not a "captive
use" mine-mouth project as the majority (almost
80%) of the coal is intended for export to India
and international markets. Since the ADB Energy
Policy has to apply in its entirety to the full
Project -- and not merely to sub-projects in a
piece meal fashion -- it is our view that
Phulbari Coal Project stands in violation of the
ADB Energy Policy. We are thus surprised that
ADB Management cleared the concept paper for this
project in October 2005 and continues to conduct
"due diligence" on this project when it so
clearly violates an existing Board approved
policy.
2) Massive Displacement, Loss of Livelihoods and Basic Services
According to ADB management, Phulbari Coal
Project would create approximately 50,000
affected people (12,000 affected households,
including 2,200 indigenous peoples) in the
project area, out of which 43,000 people will be
physically displaced. [1] According to the
December 2006 version of the Resettlement Plan
for the Coal Mine Area of the Phulbari Coal
Project prepared by Asia Energy PLC, compensation
would be provided to legal owners of land and
houses, and other socially recognized
agricultural land users and sharecroppers would
receive livelihood restoration grants for a
period of two years.
However, the Expert Committee formed by the
Government of Bangladesh to evaluate Asia
Energy's project documents found that 129,417
persons will be directly affected by the project
and 220,000 persons will be indirectly affected
due to the de-watering of the mine area and
because the primary source of water in this area
is tubewells. [2]
In addition to displacement, severe loss of
livelihoods will result as the land proposed for
the project is one of the most fertile and
populated areas in a country that is prone to
chronic water-logging and where much of the land
is uncultivable for many months of the year. The
recent cyclone clearly demonstrates the true
value of such land for food security and
habitation for the entire country. Out of the
total land proposed for the Phulbari open-pit
mine, 78% is agricultural land and there is
limited possibility for land rehabilitation. The
majority of affected people will not be employed
by the mine and projections of multiplier effects
of such an operation are based on spurious
grounds. Thus the impoverishment of thousands is
a likely scenario. Given the sheer magnitude of
affected people, wide spread opposition and
social unrest is likely to remain an ongoing
reality of this project.
3) Environmental Degradation
The Project will have severe environmental
consequences. First, no practical ground level
tests appear to have been conducted on the actual
impact of dewatering in the mining area and thus
long term impacts of such a procedure on
desertification in the area remain highly
uncertain. The Expert Committee Report indicates
that arsenic contamination of water could be a
real possibility during and after the mine life
of 30-35 years given the depth of the coal
extraction (656-1028 ft). Asia Energy PLC
documents suggest that land will be filled after
extraction and the company will leave a
freshwater lake at the end of the mine life.
However, environmental experts maintain that
neither the land (dredged and rehabilitated) nor
the ensuing "lake" will be conducive to
agriculture or other activities such as
fisheries given the toxicity level of both. The
depletion of groundwater will impact
approximately 314 sq km. Though Asia Energy
claims that it will re-inject water in the area,
its discussion on this issue is based on
speculative hydrological and climactic
projections. [3]
Second, the main coal off-loading facility will
be at Akram Point, a deep water anchorage site
situated within the Sundarbans Reserve Forest.
The Sundarbans are a World Heritage Site given
its biodiversity and marine habitat. Equally
disturbing is the admission in the SEIA that
shipping channels "...will pass at least 1.5 km
from these protected areas" (SEIA, page 7).
Moreover, preventive measures suggested in the
SEIA deals inadequately with rail and river
accidents frequently associated with mining
activity of this scale, not to mention response
to sudden large scale natural disasters as
Bangladesh has recently witnessed.
Finally, though the ADB continues to maintain
that the EIA and SIA "have been carried out to a
very high international standard by the sponsor"
[4]both the EIA and the SIA have been
commissioned by the same company which wishes to
extract the coal; hence, serious conflict of
interest issues remain endemic in the project.
This is especially so given that Asia Energy's
leadership is dubious and it has no pre-existing
record of operating a coal mine.[5]
4) Human Rights violations
On 26 August 2006, around 20,000 local residents
participated in a large peaceful gathering to
protest the displacement of the large number of
people to give way to the project. Regretfully,
the Bangladesh Rifles opened fire on the
demonstrators. Three people from the Phulbari
area were killed, one paralyzed and over a 100
people were injured in the horrifying incident.
Moreover, in February 2007, Mr. SM Nuruzzaman,
one of the local leaders of the Phulbari
campaign, was detained and tortured.[6]
Based on local reports, intimidation of local
community members continues, preventing them from
openly gathering in groups and voicing concerns
regarding this project. However, ADB management
continues to publicly support the project. And
ADB documents continue to maintain: "The entire
process has been underpinned by free, prior, and
informed consultations with stakeholders,
including local communities, NGOs, various levels
of government, inter-ministerial committees, and
outside stakeholders. Public consultation has
been and remains a continuous process." [7] This
is particularly disturbing given the conflicting
reports from community members themselves (see
Disclosure section below).
5) Indigenous Peoples Policy
The affected indigenous peoples of the Munda,
Santal and Mahili ethnic groups have been farmers
and agricultural laborers in the region for
generations. The draft Indigenous People's
Development Plan (page 47) for the Phulbari
project proposes indigenous families into
resettlement sites with only 1/8 hectare of land
per household or cash compensation for
resettlement. The resettlement sites are in
areas already densely populated, with little
scope to obtain alternative agricultural land and
labor opportunities. It is also unlikely that
they will be able to purchase land of equal
productive capacity from the non-indigenous
population given limited compensation offered and
existing land scarcity. The project violates ADB
IP Policy with regard to consultations with these
groups and given the unlikelihood of these groups
to sustain their way of life under the
resettlement options suggested.
6) Violation of the Public Communications Policy
Many local elders claim that Asia Energy
Corporation has only informed prospective
affectee communities of the benefits of the
project, and not explained the negative impacts
it may cause the environment and the local
communities. They also claim that they have never
received nor been consulted on any key documents,
e.g. environmental impact assessment, draft
resettlement plan and draft indigenous peoples
development plan, among others. The chairman of
the Phulbari Municipality and elected
commissioners of Phulbari have demanded that Asia
Energy Corporation provide them key project
documents, but to no avail. Asia Energy's
information on its Bangla website reads more like
public relations documents. Moreover, even
Global Coal Management's site no longer contains
the English versions of the draft EIA,
Involuntary Resettlement Plan and Indigenous
People's Plan as suggested by ADB staff.
Asia Energy's Public Communication and
Development Plan (PCDP) cites that 74.1% of those
surveyed between February and August 2005 felt
that they would support the project if there was
proper compensation; however, this survey was
conducted while Asia Energy gave limited
information about what the project would entail.
The Expert Committee Report states that names of
certain officials were listed in consultations
where they were actually not present. The
President of the Expert Committee Report,
Professor Md. Nurul Islam was one of them. There
are several such examples of misinformation.
Committee members found out that Asia Energy
surveyors wrote down information and opinions of
the local people in pencil while the form was
written in EnglishŠlocal population are therefore
suspicious about whether their opinion against
the coalmine has been accurately reported by the
surveyorsŠduring the field visit and consultation
with the local people the Committee members felt
that the impression given in the [Asia Energy
Feasibility Report] is far from accurate. The
majority of the local community with whom the
Bangladesh Government's Expert Committee
exchanged views was against the Phulbari coal
project" (See Expert Committee Report).
Conclusion
Asia Energy's Public Information Center was shut
down after the killings in August 2006; the
Bangladesh Government also signed an agreement
with community members that the company would not
return to the Phulbari area. We recognize that
the current interim government under the state of
emergency disregards this agreement; however, the
agreement attests to the sheer lack of community
support behind this project.
The project violates ADB social and environmental
policies and its Public Communication Policy.
And given the explicit human rights violations
associated and anticipated with this project, we
respectfully ask you to take leadership, and
ensure that the Asian Development Bank
discontinues its involvement in the Phulbari Coal
Project. Please note that this letter supports
the letter (attached) sent to you by Community
members of Phulbari and other Bangladeshi
citizens, dated December 15, 2007.
Sincerely yours,
1. Hemantha Withanage - NGO Forum on ADB
2. Bruce Jenkins -
Bank Information Center (USA)
3. Muhammad Riza - Yayasan Duta Awan - Solo (Indonesia)
4. Violeta Corral -
Public Services International Research Unit -
Asia Desk
5. Le Van Lan - Center
for Rural Development in Central Vietnam (Vietnam)
6. Souparna Lahiri -
National Forum of Forest People & Forest Workers
(India)
7. Jiten Yumnam -
Citizens Concern for Dams and Development (NE
India)
8. Gururaja Budhya - Urban Research Centre (India)
9. Nang Shining - Images
Asia Environment Desk (Thailand)
10. Jessica Rosien - Oxfam Australia
11. Flint Duxfield - Aid/Watch (Australia)
12. Joanna Levitt -
International Accountability Project (USA)
13. Dilena Patharagoda - Sri Lankan
Working Group on Trade and IFIs (Sri Lanka)
14. Ravindranath Dabre - Centre for Environmental Justice (Sri Lanka)
15. Suranjan Kodithuwakku - Sri
Lanka Green Movement (Sri Lanka)
16. Dang Ngoc Quang - Rural Development Services Centre (Vietnam)
17. Titi Soentoro - NADI (Indonesia)
18. Prof. Sanjai Bhatt - University of Delhi (India)
19. Prajeena Karmacharya -
Rural Reconstruction Nepal / South Asia Alliance
for Poverty
Eradication (Nepal)
20. Sergei Vorsin - Eco Centre (Tajikistan)
21. A. Ercelan - Creed Alliance (Pakistan)
22. M. Nauman - Pakistan
Institute of Labour Education & Research
(Pakistan)
23. Mahar Safdar Ali - Anjuman Asiaye Awam (Pakistan)
24. Azhar Lashari - ActionAid - Pakistan
25. Philip Gain - Society
for Environment and Human Development (Bangladesh)
26. Fabby Tumiwa -
Institute for Essential Services Reform
(Indonesia)
27. Srinivas Krishnaswamy - Greenpeace India
28. Ahmed Swapan - VOICE (Bangladesh)
29. Svetlana Spatar - The
Ecological Society Green Salvation (Kazakhstan)
30. Zakir Kibria - Bangla Praxis (Bangladesh)
31. Anna Dreyzina -
Oil Workers Rights Protection Organization Public
Union
(Azerbaijan)
32. Shailendra Yashwant - Greenpeace Southeast Asia
33. Sushovan Dhar -
Vikas Adhyayan Kendra (India)
34. Prabin Man Singh - Collective
Initiative for Research and Action (Nepal)
35. Naing Htoo - EarthRights International
36. Rustam Murzakhanov -
Researcher of Environmental Law Center "Armon"
(Uzbekistan)
37. Isagani Serrano - Philippine
Rural Reconstruction Movement (Philippines)
38. Ram Wangkheirakpam - North
East Peoples Alliance on Trade, Finance and
Development
(NE India)
39. Nursaule Umbetova -
Ecological-Lawful Initiative Center ''Globus"
(Kazakhstan)
40. Parviz Umarov -
Center for Development of Civil Society
(Tajikistan)
41. Shynar Izteulouva - NGO "TAN" (Kazakhstan)
42. Pieter Jansen - Both ENDS (The Netherlands)
43. Grainne Ryder - Energy Probe Research Foundation (Canada)
44. Bruce Rich - Environmental Defense (USA)
45. Ashish Fernandes - Greenpeace India
46. Soile Koskinen -
A SEED Europe (The Netherlands)
47. Isabel de la Torre - Earth Economics (USA)
48. Jim Enright - Mangrove Action Project (Thailand)
49. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho - Institute of Science in Society (UK)
50. Paula Palmer - Global Response (USA)
51. Jennifer Scarlott -
International Conservation Initiatives Sanctuary
Asia (USA)
52. Helen Leake - Forest Peoples Programme (UK)
53. Dr. Andreas Missbach - Berne Declaration (Switzerland)
54. Dr. Poonam Pande
55. Yuki Tanabe -
Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and
Society
56. Knud Vocking - Urgewald (Germany)
57. Suzanna Dennis - Gender Action (USA)
58. Peter Fugazzotto - Oceans and Communities (USA)
59. Sébastien Godinot - Les Amis de la Terre (France)
60. Saodat Saidnazarova - CSSC "Kalam" (Tajikistan)
61. Tom Kucharz - Ecologistas en Acción (Spain)
62. Jenina Joy Chavez - Focus on the Global South (Philippines)
63. Shalmali Guttal - Focus on the Global South (Thailand)
Cc:
Board of Directors, ADB
Haruhiko Kuroda, President, ADB
Liqun Jin, Vice President (Operations 1), ADB
Kunio Senga, Director General, South Asia Regional Department, ADB
Robert Bestani, Director General, PSOD, ADB
Hua Du, Country Director, Bangladesh Resident Mission, ADB.
Mats Elerud, Senior Investment Specialist, PSOD, Asian Development Bank
Bart Edes, Head, NGO Center, ADB
[1] As per Asia Energy's Draft Resettlement Plan
dated December 2006; SEIA suggests 40,000 people
will be physically displaced.
[2] Report of the Expert Committee to Evaluate
Feasibility Study Report and Scheme Development
of the Phulbari Coal Project, pg 47. The report
is in Bangla but a summary translation can be
provided to you.
[3] See R. Moody, "Bangla Nagar: August 26, 2006" 28 August 2006
[4] Response from ADB President Kuroda to Civil
Society Organizations about the Phulbari Coal
Mine; July 23, 2007, mimeo
[5] See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/press1101.htm
[6] http://www.newagebd.com/2007/feb/13/nat.html
[7] See SEIA, para 280
______
[8]
World Bank Journal
January 14, 2008; Page A12
Review & Outlook
WORLD BANK DISGRACE
Credit Robert Zoellick for knowing how to put the
best face on a profound embarrassment. On Friday,
the World Bank president announced in a press
release that the bank had "joined forces" with
the government of India to "fight fraud and
corruption" in that country's health sector. This
is happening at the same time that Mr. Zoellick's
colleagues are hounding bank anticorruption chief
Suzanne Rich Folsom, the person primarily
responsible for bringing the scandals to light.
Corruption is an endemic problem in bank
projects, swallowing unknown but significant
chunks from its $30 billion-plus annual
portfolio. No less a problem has been the bank
staff's ferocious resistance to anything that
might stand in the way of its lending ever more
money to projects run by the same governments
that tolerate this malfeasance.
* * *
[See a photo slideshow.]
Renovated wiring outside of Laboratory CHC-II,
Bijipur, April 5, 2007. See more images.
Yet nothing we've seen so far can compare to what
has now been uncovered about five health projects
in India, involving $569 million in loans. The
projects were the subject of a "Detailed
Implementation Review," a lengthy forensic
examination undertaken by Ms. Folsom's Department
of Institutional Integrity, known within the bank
as INT. As of this writing the bank has not
publicly released the review, though it's been
shared with the bank's board. But we've seen a
copy and are posting its executive summary on
wsj.com/opinion and OpinionJournal.com (click
here to see it). We are also posting photographs
that show the real price that corruption in bank
projects exacts on the poor. Here are some of the
lowlights:
* In the $54 million "Food and Drug Capacity
Building Project," for which money is still being
disbursed, the INT found "questionable
procurement practices, some of which indicate
fraud and corruption, in contracts representing
87 percent of the number of pieces and 88 percent
of the total value of equipment procured." That
is nearly $9 of every $10 in aid funds.
* For the $194 million "Second National AIDS
Control Project," the INT discovered that "some
of the test kits supplied by particular companies
often performed poorly by producing erroneous or
invalid results, potentially resulting in the
further spread of disease."
* In the $114 million "Malaria Control Project,"
the review found "numerous indicators of poor
product quality in the bed nets supplied by the
firms." And in the $125 million "Tuberculosis
Control Project," the INT discovered "bidders
sharing the same address and telephone numbers,
unit prices showing a common formula, and
indicators of intent to split contract awards
among several bidders."
* After visiting 55 hospitals connected to the
bank's $82 million "Orissa Health Systems
Development Project" (Orissa is one of India's
poorest states), INT investigators found
"uninitiated and uncompleted work, severely
leaking roofs, crumbling ceilings, molding walls,
and non-functional water, sewage, and/or
electrical systems." It also found "neonatal
equipment that lacked adequate electrical
grounding, potentially exposing babies and their
medical staff to electrical shocks."
All this would be bad enough if Indian companies
or officials were making off with ill-gotten
gains behind the backs of World Bank staff.
Instead, the INT found evidence of the bank
repeatedly looking the other way. In the case of
Orissa's 55 "hospitals," the INT found that the
"construction management consultants (CMCs) who
supervised the work certified that 38 of these
hospitals to be complete to project
specifications." In the AIDS Control Project,
"the bank appeared to pay scant attention to the
performance and quality of the goods supplied to
the blood banks and testing centers, instead
focusing on the number of such facilities being
erected."
The report goes on in this vein for hundreds of
pages. With the exception of Paul Volcker's
investigation of the U.N. Oil for Food scandal,
we can think of no comparable review of an
international organization that has brought such
damaging facts to light, certainly not one that
was internally conducted.
Yet not only does Mr. Zoellick's press release
fail to praise INT's dogged achievement, it
ignores Ms. Folsom altogether. It does, however,
give pride of place to bank managing director
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was recently hired by
Mr. Zoellick and is quoted as saying she is
encouraged by the Indian government's "strong
resolve" to deal with corruption.
We'll believe that resolve when we see it. Such
promises would be more credible if Mr. Zoellick
took meaningful steps to hold accountable those
in the bank who acquiesce in this corruption.
Former President Paul Wolfowitz showed real spine
when he stopped lending to a related Indian
health project after a previous INT investigation
uncovered fraud. Yet lending to Indian health
projects resumed the moment he departed last year.
We wonder, for example, what this now-documented
Indian corruption means for the career of Praful
Patel, who has been running the bank's South Asia
operations since 2003, and for Managing Director
Graeme Wheeler, who until recently oversaw Mr.
Patel's work. Instead of accountability for these
supervisors, the bank offers up the Orwellian
contrivance by which Ms. Folsom has been
whited-out from this story, like the proverbial
vanishing commissar.
The foreign aid lobby sometimes says that
corruption is the inevitable price of "doing
good" in the developing world. Our online readers
should look at the photographs of hazardous
laboratories and sewage overflowing in hospitals,
and wonder how anyone can make that case with a
clear conscience.
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