Northeast and other updates (November 28, 2010)

1) Book review: When Churchill starved India Linky

Churchill’s racism toward Indians, especially Hindus, is no longer news, such has been the tide of revisionist thinking that began with the historian John Charmley’s 1993 book Churchill: The end of glory – A Political Biography. Nevertheless, the scale of British perfidy towards the 400 million people of India, and the scale of the famine that befell Bengal in 1943, are recounted by Mukerjee with such blistering coolness that one is left reeling. The fact that today, these things should be so badly forgotten, or treated as a surprising revelation, also gives pause for thought.

India’s job in the 1940s, as far as the British were concerned, was to ward off the Soviets from Afghanistan, to join in the defeat of the Germans in the Middle East and Africa, and, after Pearl Harbour, to join in the defeat of the Japanese. But there was another job Britain did, too: it removed India’s best troops from India, so that no nationalist mutiny there could be successful. Added to this, as Mukerjee makes clear, the colony’s entire output of timber, woollen textiles and leather goods, as well as three quarters of its steel and cement, were diverted to the defence of the British Empire. India was, next to Britain, the largest contributor to the Empire’s war.

Minutes from Britain’s War Cabinet in February 1940 record that Churchill regarded the ‘feud’ between Hindus and Muslims ‘as the bulwark of British rule in India’. The more Britain built up IOUs to India, the more Churchill came to favour partitioning India and creating Pakistan. The liberal-leaning Conservative elder statesman Leopold Amery (who had drafted the 1917 Balfour Declaration promising Jews a homeland in Palestine) was, as Churchill’s secretary of state for India, more cautious than his boss. On the other hand, Lord Cherwell, the Anglophile German scientist and War Cabinet member F A Lindemann, could massage any statistic to reinforce Churchill in the view that emaciated Indians were in fact thoroughly greedy in asking for food supplies (indeed, Cherwell also singled out the working-class areas of Dresden for bombing with incendiaries). But even Field Marshall Archibald Wavell, who became viceroy at the end of October 1943 and who often opposed Churchill’s policy of starving the Indians, at the same time felt that they had reached, at best, the ‘tiresome’ age of adolescence. Even if, as a one-time friend of Lawrence of Arabia, he could also see the merit of supporting what for him were martial Muslims over conniving and more populous Hindus.

2) Raju Barua bail: Linky

Barua was released from Central Jail in Guwahati at 11.30am after being granted bail in two TADA cases and a CBI case. A festive atmosphere gripped Barua’s native village when he reached there around 1pm.
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Barua told reporters that Ulfa wanted talks to be held with full dignity and honour. “We will not hold talks by keeping people in the dark.” He said they wanted Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Barua and general secretary Anup Chetia to join the peace process.

3) Rail and road connectivity: Linky

The Ministry of Railways has an investment plan of over Rs 17,000 crore in different projects in the North-east, which are scheduled for completion by 2015. The Central Government has also approved augmentation of foodgrain storage capacity in the region by 5.25 lakh tonnes, more than doubling the existing storage capacity of 4.58 lakh tonnes. On the Railway Ministry’s investment plan of more than Rs 17,000 crore in projects in the region to be completed by 2015, it was assured that those projects would be taken up as per schedule and funding would not be a constraint. On the road sector, it was emphasized that NH-44, NH-53 and NH-39 would be taken up on priority and efforts would be made to speed up work, including maintenance, before the onset of the next monsoon. The need for regular maintenance of the roads, particularly by BRO, was also stressed.

Sentinel adds: Linky

“The Ministry of Railways has an investment plan of more than Rs 17,000 crore in projects to be completed by 2015. Eleven new line projects, three gauge conversion projects and one doubling project are in progress. These projects will be taken up as per schedule and funding will not be a problem. Other issues will be taken up by the ministries and the State governments concerned at the earliest,” he said.

4) The former Chief Secretary of Assam writes on the Look-East Policy and Burma: Linky

Considerable progress has been recorded in trade between India and the ASEAN countries in the past few years. The volume has risen from US $40 billion in 2007-08 to US $44 billion in 2009-10. A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed between India and the ASEAN countries in Bangkok on August 13, 2009. It is proposed to increase the trade volume to US $60 billion in seven years and to reduce the tariff rates drastically.
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It is appropriate that the LEP first touched Myanmar. Myanmar has a common border of 1643 km with four of India’s States, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. For trade with China and the Southeast Asian countries by the land route, all movement has to be through Myanmar. It is true that Myanmar itself is poor. It does not have as much manufactured goods to offer as the other Southeast Asian countries. But it has vast natural resources which are yet to be tapped. In recent years the volume of trade between India and Myanmar has gone up to US $1.2 billions. At present India’s imports include pulses, wood and wood products, fruits and nuts, natural rubber and paper and paper pulp. India exports drugs and pharmaceutical products, machinery and instruments, steel and transport equipments. Moreover, Myanmar’s geo-strategic location cannot be ignored. That is why India is building the trans-Asian railway network through Myanmar to Singapore. The Asian road highway is also under construction through Myanmar. The ultimate idea is to link up the Indian ocean with south China sea. Besides, India has taken up several infrastructure projects in Myanmar. The Tatas are setting up a truck-manufacturing plant at Magway, the ESSAR group is joining in the attempt to build the multi-model Kaladan transport project, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation will build the Tamanthi power project, and GOI will help Myanmar to build a new port at Sittwe.

All this effort to achieve closer Indo-Myanmarese relations reflected India’s present pragmatism in matters relating to foreign policy. It may be recalled that writing about India’s foreign policy in the Asian context, the former Indian Foreign Secretary, JN Dixit, had suggested that our trade relations with Myanmar should be normalized irrespective of the government that might be in power there because that country is geo-strategically important to India. Such close cooperation with Myanmar is also necessary in order that India may curb smuggling, border crimes, drug movement and insurgency. Dixit, however, never envisaged the LEP although he had devoted three chapters of his book to India’s relations with the countries of Asia.

India is now following a different policy towards the autocratic junta which controls Myanmar while at the same time supporting the world community’s effort towards assisting the Nobel Laureate Aung San Su Ki’s fight for democracy in her country. This is realpolitik. It is in pursuance of this realpolitik that India and Myanmar have exchanged high-level visits in recent times. The most important visit perhaps is that of the Myanmarese senior General Than Shwe, who as the “Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar” heads the autocratic government of that country. During his discussion with the Indian Prime Minister on July 27, 2010 India and Myanmar agreed on “close co-operation between the security forces of the two countries in tackling the pernicious problem of terrorism”. Arrangements were also finalized for Indian participation in critical areas like medical science, education, telecom services and in major projects and manufacturing industries.

5) NSCN-K and NSCN-IM peace moves: Linky

The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) has backed out of the ongoing Naga reconciliation meet at Chiang Mai, Thailand, providing yet another hiccup to the peace process. The meeting, under the aegis of Forum for Naga Reconciliation and Quakers from the UK, began at Chiang Mai yesterday. Representatives of the Government of the People’s Republic of Nagaland/National Socialist Council of Nagaland (GPRN/NSCN), formerly known as NSCN (Khaplang), and Federal Government of Nagaland (Singnyu faction) are attending in the absence of representatives from NSCN (Isak-Muivah).

Meanwhile, Linky

All medical, paramedical as well as fourth grade staff of Haflong Civil Hospital staged a sit-in in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Saturday demanding immediate arrangement of security in the backdrop of extortion threat, allegedly by the NSCN, asking all the staff to pay 24 per cent of their salary per month to the outfit. Dr Pradip Kumar Baruah, Superintendent of the Civil Hospital, told The Sentinel over telephone from Haflong on Saturday that panic-stricken staff had no alternative but to seek intervention of the administration. Already two doctors had left Haflong and others were trying to manage transfer, added Dr Baruah, who himself had received an extortion note on November 19. Dr Baruah said, the administration had provided police security in the hospital campus, but about 200 staff were under constant mental pressure. The medical service in the 100-bed hospital has been badly been affected. It is to be noted that Dr Nityananda Naiding of the Civil Hospital had been abducted by local miscreants from his official quarters on October 30, and he was released on the same day allegedly after making a hefty ransom. Babul Haflongbar, who was the kingpin in the abduction, was picked up by Haflong police from Dimapur, and he admitted that he had kidnapped Dr Naiding with the help of Naga miscreants.

And, Linky

A Naga separatist group has started a parallel census of non-Nagas in Dimapur district since the first week of November even as the state government is gearing up for the second phase of Census 2011. Sources said the NSCN (K) which is now known as “GPRN/NSCN” (Government of the People’s Republic of Nagaland/National Socialist Council of Nagaland) had taken this unauthorised and illegal headcount to identify and record the number of non-Naga households. A similar exercise had been conducted by the Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN for the past couple of years in Naga-inhabited areas. State government officials said they did not know anything about the parallel census.

6) Hindu Bengalis in Assam: Linky

Altogether 12 organisations representing the Hindu Bengalis in Assam have moved President Pratibha Patil seeking her intervention to stop the alleged harassment of genuine Indian citizens by the state government in the name of detection and deportation of illegal foreigners. The co-ordination committee of the Hindu Bengali Organisations of Assam today said it had submitted a memorandum to the President appealing that the Hindu Bengalis of Assam should be identified as “political sufferers of and victims of Partition of the two-nation theory” and should be protected from harassment According to them, there are nearly 65 lakh Hindu Bengalis in the state who were separated during Partition.

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The committee said the Centre had provided protection to the Hindu migrants from West Pakistan to the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan by making appropriate legal provisions in 2004 and the state governments in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, Tripura and West Bengal were patronising the Hindu migrants but the Assam government was penalising the Hindu Bengali migrants by labelling them “D-voters”. Foreigners’ notice was served on a Hindu Bengali freedom fighter, Prafulla Chandra Saha, a few years back and chief minister Tarun Gogoi had to apologise for that.

Sentinel op-ed: Linky

Many of the names on the lists of ‘D’ voters are Hindu Bengalis. The largest number of cases filed on the ground of being suspected Bangladeshis are Hindu Bengalis. Reports of several being harassed and even pushed back to the other side of the border and being subjected to untold mental and physical harassment are not rare. This only brings out the total indifference and apathy of the Centre and the State towards Hindu migrants, the victims of atrocities in Bangladesh, taking shelter in Assam.

According to the latest information, 80% of the 1.5 lakh persons on the lists of ‘D’ voters are Hindu Bengalis. The police is active to hunt them down, but dare not touch the infiltrators, fearing backlash. NRC update has been held up due to violent protests by the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU). Why are Hindu Bengalis the prime target? Reason is not far to seek. It is more on political consideration that the Centre and the state work in cohort known for their brazenly minority appeasement policy, feel circles concerned here. The present UPA government led by Dr Manmohan Singh has been totally indifferent to complete fencing of border, allowing aliens to sneak into from Bangladesh, the circles feel.

The BJP, while welcoming the NRC update of 1951 with the cutoff date of 1971 voters lists, has reminded the Centre of the assurances of national leaders and the relevant laws enacted after the partition of the country in respect of enrolment of Hindu Bengalis. It was on the basis of the assurances of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and Sardar Vallavbhai Patel that The Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950 had been enacted and became effective from the same year. The Act has clearly spelt out that any person displaced from his place of residence due to civil disturbances in any area now forming part of Pakistan and subsequently living in Assam shall need special protection. The Act thus makes clear distinction between refugees and infiltrators. It needs no repetition why Hindus have to leave East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and seek shelter in India. The worst thing to happen in Assam was the enactment of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act of 1983 replacing the 1950 Act. It helped to protect the infiltrators more than the victims of atrocities in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. It was, however, annulled in 2005 by an order of the Supreme Court. With the revival of the Act of 1950, it is natural that the Hindus among the ‘D’ voters should be restored their right to vote and given refugee status.

It is to be recalled that the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Bajpayee amended the Citizenship Act of 1956 in order to treat the Hindu migrants from Pakistan in the wake of 1965 and 1971 wars seeking shelter in Gujarat and Rajasthan as refugees. UPA government of Dr Manmohan Singh ratified the amendment. There is no reason why the Hindus, the victims of partition, Indo-Pak war of 1971 and the continuous chain of torture and atrocity in Bangladesh should be treated differently.

7) Border fencing: Linky

The construction of a 9.3km barbed wire fencing along the Indo-Bangla international riverine border in Moslabari Char of Dhubri district has made little progress since it was started in 2006. The fencing, being done under the pilot project, if proved to be feasible and successful, would be extended to the remaining 35km of the riverine border. However, only 60 per cent of the work has been completed in the past four years.
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Officials from the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) said they had understood it was going to be an uphill task for them to implement the project as everything, from material to machinery, had to be transported to the char by boat. South Salmara-Mancachar sub-divisional officer Swami Biswanathan said 60 per cent of the total work had been completed since 2006 and the rest of the construction would be completed by January next year. “I shall, however, have to visit the site to assess the progress of the project and within a couple of days, I shall be able to speak about the present status of this project,” Biswanathan said.

An intelligence source said since the beginning of the fencing work in 2007, clashes between BSF jawans and cattle smugglers have been on the rise. Six separate clashes took place last year. “On many occasions, the BSF had to fire to stop the cattle smugglers from transporting cattle to Bangladesh or to disperse village mobs which often came out to defend the smugglers,” the source said. “Besides Moslabari, Mantrir Char, Bhogdohar and Mahamaya Char border fronts also have been identified as very sensitive for the same reasons. Hundreds of Bangladeshis often gather at night on the other side of the border with public announcement systems and abuse the BSF personnel for hours together and attempt to instigate BSF,” the source added.

8) Sana Yaima and UNLF: Linky

The Manipur unit of the CPI today said it would continue to mount pressure on New Delhi to know the whereabouts of the UNLF chairman. The announcement came a day after CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan passed on to the state CPI unit the information provided by Bangladesh Communist Party that Sana Yaima was arrested from Dhaka and taken to India. The party reported the matter after Bardhan contacted Manjur Hassan Khan, the chairman of the Bangladesh Communist Party, about the case.
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He said the CPI MPs were preparing to raise the Sana Yaima issue in both Houses of Parliament. “Instructions were given to the MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to take up the matter,” Iboyaima said.

9) Indian counter-moves in SL: Linky

Pushing for national reconciliation in Sri Lanka, India on Saturday opened its consulate in Jaffna, the Tamil heartland, and inaugurated the Northern Railway lines for which New Delhi has pledged a $800-million credit that will spur the reconstruction of the war-ravaged northern region. Besides its high commission in Colombo, India has a consulate in Kandy, in the tea-growing region populated by “Indian Tamils”. Now, besides Jaffna, another consulate has opened in Hambantota, in the Sinhalese-populated south which is the political hub of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In an ambitious move that can transform the region, Krishna also formally inaugurated works for the reconstruction of the Northern Railway lines with the launch of the Medawachchiya-Madhu line in presence of Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa, Peiris and Transport Minister Kumar Welgama. India has pledged a line of credit of $800 million at concessional rates for various aspects of the Northern Railway project, including reconstruction of railway lines, installation of signalling and telecom systems and the procurement of rolling stock. “Work will also begin simultaneously on the Madhu-Talaimannar and Omanthai-Pallai railway lines,” Krishna said. Krishna and Peiris on Friday held wide-ranging talks by unveiling projects worth over $1 billion and expanded cooperation in areas ranging from transport and energy to defence and security as New Delhi pressed for a lasting political settlement.

10) Arup Mochi: Linky

Maoists lost toehold in Dalma — their second stronghold after Saranda forests — three months ago following uprising by village vigilantes, and sub-zonal commander Arup Mochi was on a desperate mission to revive his squad when he was killed in an encounter on November 22. This important piece of information, which is likely to buoy anti-insurgency operations, was provided by three Mochi aides — Manoj, Maheswar and Dara — arrested during Monday night’s encounter at Bardih village in the Karadoba panchayat area of Ghatshila.

11) Keynote talk on history matters: Linky

Delivering the keynote address, former ASI Director-General Prof. B. B. Lal spoke about “postulates [that] have been distorting our vision of India's past”. Among these is the belief that the Vedas are no older than 1200 B.C. and that Vedic people were nomads. Recent excavations at sites in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat and a fresh study of Vedic texts, he said, have proved that most of these postulates are “ill- founded.” According to Prof. Lal, these excavations proved that the Rigveda is older than 2,000 BC and people of this civilisation were not nomads. Quashing the “Aryan invasion theory” he said that the Harappan civilisation did not become extinct, and C-14 dating procedures proved that Harappan and Vedic people were indigenous, not invaders or migrants.

12) Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in India: Expert Linky

"More than 75 percent of heart attack patients are either diabetic or undiagnosed. A vast majority of patients undergoing renal dialysis and transplants have diabetes as the underlying cause," said Prof. Jamal Ahmad, director, Centre of Diabetes and Endocrinology, J.N. Medical College, AMU. He said the country had 50 million diabetes patients, and more than 95 percent of the population suffers from some form of the disease. "Early diagnoses and optimal management can significantly decrease the mortality associated with this dreaded disease," he said.

Three reports

1) Caste bias in the maoist apparatus Linky
Two points on the report: a) This very important report has NOT drawn the attention it deserves, which is amazing given that many had "predicted" such a division in not-so-crystal-clear terms because of the political incorrectness involved.

Over the years, a caste system has taken root within the Maoist organisation that is now on the verge of a revolt against alleged exploitation of tribals and scheduled castes who are being confined to the armed wing, while dominant castes are grabbing all senior posts in the rebel network across states. Interrogation of Andhra Pradesh’s top Maoist leader N. Narsimha Reddy, alias Gaganna, who was arrested from Nawadih in Bokaro last week, has revealed that more than four dozen women were part of the rebels’ army in Jharkhand, but not a single one of them was from the Mahto community. All the girls, he alleged, were either tribals or belonged to scheduled castes, a trend being followed by the Maoists in all the other states.

Reddy said if it was the Mahtos in Jharkhand, it was the Yadavs in Bihar and the Reddys and Raos in Andhra Pradesh who were members of local area committees that had exclusive rights to collect levy. “If this is the way the rebels continue to function where tribals and those belonging to lower castes like Manjhi, Bhuiyan, Ganju and Kharwar would work for the armed wing to fight security forces, while the upper castes collected levy, the Maoists will have to pay a heavy price in the coming days,” Reddy said during interrogation by senior police officers including IG (operations) R.K. Mallick, CRPF DIG Alok Raj and Bokaro SP Saket Singh. “A revolt is now a distinct possibility,” added Reddy.

Reddy claimed local villagers, along with disillusioned young Maoists, were getting close to the police. That was the reason behind his own arrest and that of cadres like Anuradha Sharma, Ravi Sharma and Mohammad Hussain, alias Anna, that had left a vacuum within the Maoists leadership in Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand. In fact, Reddy claimed he was made in-charge of the Jharkhand sub-committee in 2007 and sent to the Palamau and Latehar areas to try and stem the tide of villagers turning against them.

Reddy admitted there were serious differences between the Maoists’ central leadership and its sub-area committees and said that on several occasions junior cadres had openly refused to toe the line. Reddy, who was lodged in Tenughat jail, was brought to Bokaro yesterday for interrogation after he was remanded to the custody of the district police. He will be questioned for the next two days by the senior police officers. Bokaro SP Saket Singh said Reddy also revealed several names. Those entrusted with collecting levy were Rajesh Mahto, alias Saranda Tiger, Ramchandra Mahto, Santosh Mahto, Ajai Mahto, Udai Mahto, Dharmendra Mahto, Nago Mahto and Bhuvneshwar Mahto. And those who were part of the armed squad that was forbidden from collecting levy, were Navin Manjhi, Kundan Pahan, Ravi Manjhi, Pravir Manjhi, Pratiram Manjhi, Misir Besra, Pandu Manjhi (arrested) and Varun Manjhi.

b) The alias Gangana is used by Nambala Keshav Rao (see my post at Linky for the maoists op-chart). This guy, Narsimha Reddy, seems like a different chap using the same alias. If Nambala keshav Rao had been caught, that would have been a major major coup that would have resulted in some splashes in the maoist outlets, that I dont see.
2) Meanwhile, Linky
It took close to a bloody year, eh?! Wheels turn surely, but slowly in India.

The IAF has got the government's permission to fire back at Naxals in extremist-hit areas in self-defence, highly-placed Indian Air Force sources said today. The government's nod to the IAF's request made in September last year comes at a time when a debate is raging on whether India should use its armed forces against left-wing extremists, whom prime minister Manmohan Singh has described as the gravest internal security threat. The IAF currently deploys two of its Mi-17s and two Dhruv helicopters in anti-Naxal operations. It had lost one of its personnel when a helicopter ferrying election officials and material during the Chattisgarh assembly polls was fired at by suspected Naxals a couple of years ago.

The government had given permission to the IAF to defend itself from the extremists' fire and had laid out conditions on the use of small arms in self-defence sometime in October-November last year. Consequently, the IAF has fitted sideward-mounted machine guns on its helicopters flying in Naxal-affected areas basically for logistics, personnel transport and casualty evacuation of paramilitary forces engaged in fighting the Maoists, the sources said. These guns would be operated by IAF commandos belonging to Garud units, who would be on board the helicopters every time they go out on sorties, the sources said.

Defence minister AK Antony had told Parliament in November last year that though no offensive military action had been envisaged while using the IAF helicopters in anti-Naxal operations, there was no specific approval required for action in self-defence. However, the IAF has proposed a draft 'rules of engagement' to regulate such action, in order to avoid any ambiguity and damage to the helicopters or injury to their occupants, he had said replying to members' questions. Among the conditions laid out were that no indiscriminate firing should be carried out and that the Garuds should be sure of the source of the attack on the helicopters before retaliatory fire was unleashed. These guidelines were issued to ensure there were no civilian causalities in case the IAF used its guns in self-defence, the defence ministry had explained then.

"The IAF helicopter crew will not use the conventional heavy fire power weapons such as rockets and other guns on board, but only the sideward-mounted machine guns. They will use the weapons only if fired upon," the sources said. "Fortunately, in these months that we have been allowed to defend our assets, there has been no occasion when we had to use the sideward-mounted guns," they said. The IAF, the sources said, had obtained the government's approval recently to withdraw 17 of its Mi-17 helicopters that are currently in operation with various UN missions. Once the number of its helicopters increased, it could think of sparing more choppers for the paramilitary forces that were combating the Maoists after assessing the situation, the sources said.

They said for the use of its helicopters in Maoist-hit areas, the IAF had asked the state police and the paramilitary to take a number of precautions such as sanitising the helipad areas. "If the Naxals have rockets, as it is being suggested, the security forces would sanitise the area up to the range of these rockets, be it 600m or more, from the helipads," the sources said. Admitting that the IAF had imposed an 80-hour per month per helicopter limit for flying, they said it had, in fact, done more hour-sorties in the last four months than the prescribed limit. The helicopters had done an average of 169 hours in April, 91 hours in May, 118 hours in June and 89 hours in July this year, they said, denying media reports that the IAF had refused to fly in the Naxal-affected regions during certain operations recently.

They said the time limit was set as per IAF's norms for all its helicopters, keeping in mind the maintenance and repairs required for these machines after they had flown for a specified number of hours. It was also to have a certain number of platforms available for operations at any given time. "In case of a crisis, like the Leh cloudburst, there is no question of IAF helicopters being denied, so let's not get into a blame game," the sources said. On the question of paramilitary forces wanting a separate air wing for themselves, the sources said the issue of operating an aircraft or a helicopter fleet was "complicated and not simplistic" as it sounded. They said an air fleet required a large supply chain for spares, support systems and other logistics, which was not an easy task. "Some state governments bought helicopters but found it difficult to operate them due to the lack of support systems," they said.

3) Cell phones and cancer: Having read some of the literature in this area 5-6 years back, I will just say this. There is NO proof as of now that cell phones have anything to do with cancer. The key operative word is "as of now." But it is not before long a link will be found. For one, the number of devices that use the EM spectrum is only increasing and will not do anything but proliferate exponentially. The second matter is that cancer is poorly understood and seems like will remain poorly understood for quite a while (unless there is a dramatic advance somewhere else). Short of that, take away cell phones from kids and adolescents. If I were a parent, I would ban cell phone usage for kids modulo emergencies.

In any case, Sandeep Joshi avers that "The Union government finally seems to have woken up to the health hazards related to radiation from mobile towers and handsets." Linky I am not that optimistic about the inevitable gap between the cup and the lip. Use hands-free, use cell phones sparingly, go back to land-lines if need be, etc. I have a more detailed pdf on this issue by one Neha Kumar and Prof. Girish Kumar of IIT Bombay. However, the pdf seems too dense for a non-electromagnetics audience. I wish blogspot would allow a pdf upload.
4) Nepal update: Former Indian diplomat posted in Nepal, Shri KV Rajan, has made a visit to consult with the political spectrum to bring a consensus government. Hard task, obviously. Rakesh Sood, the Indian ambassador, was in South Block for consultations right after Shyam Saran left. Prachanda dilly-dallying is boring, for later.

A flurry of miscellaneous posts

1) A close look at the telecom business and more the politics that goes with it Linky

Casino Royale: The Story Of Qualcomm
How Qualcomm learnt to love the Chinese, parked its tank in Intel’s backyard and its tollbooth at the centre of India’s telecom highway
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In India, however, CDMA phones — the essence of Qualcomm’s business — never took off, though CDMA’s entry into the Indian market in 2000 was one of the most disruptive events in Indian telecom history. That’s because Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications (RCOM) used CDMA technology as a Trojan horse into Indian mobile telephony, passing it off (wrongly) as a cross between a fixed and mobile service.
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The first star that heralded its new fortune was the successful completion of India’s 3G auctions. Because Qualcomm’s IP is embedded in all 3G technologies, it will make a 4-5 percent cut off every 3G phone that will now be sold in India. In one shot it stands to make money out of almost every new phone sold in India versus just CDMA phones earlier.
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The second omen was on March 11, at a press conference in New Delhi’s Oberoi hotel, when Kanwalinder Singh, its India head said, “Today I’m very proud to announce that Qualcomm has invested one billion US dollars into India.” Singh did not spend that money in building offices, hiring thousands of new employees or buying local businesses. He spent it to buy 20 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum in the cities of Mumbai and New Delhi and the states of Haryana and Kerala. Qualcomm was one of the six companies that won precious spectrum to offer high speed “4G” wireless broadband to Indians. The $1 billion spent in India was its single largest bet anywhere around the world. The funny thing though is that Qualcomm is betting on deploying a technology that it didn’t think much of to begin with, a commercially unproven technology called TD-LTE originally developed by the Chinese.
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The result: Operators around the world, even WiMAX ones like Clearwire in the US and Yota in Russia, decided to cast their lot with TD-LTE. Big equipment backers like Nokia and Cisco backed out too. And now with India, a market large enough to tilt the fortunes of a new standard, appearing to veer towards TD-LTE, WiMAX and Intel are in a spot of bother and Qualcomm with a fairly open field. “WiMAX is a proven technology,” says Jacobs, before mischievously adding, “Proven to be a failure!”
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2) Turmeric, a recipe for trouble too? Linky

In an experiment conducted on mice, scientists found that the Salmonella bacteria (that cause typhoid and other food-borne diseases) grew three times faster when exposed to curcumin. Salmonella proliferated especially in the spleen, liver and mesenteric lymph node, said the paper authored by Sandhya Marathe, PhD student, and Dipshikha Chakravortty, Associate Professor at the Centre for Infectious Diseases Research, Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology at the IISc.

“This data urges us to rethink the indiscriminate use of curcumin especially during Salmonella outbreaks,” the author cautions. Although curcumin is known for its action against several diseases including cancer and Alzheimer's, and is even sold as tablets over the counter, it “is not a panacea” and that during Salmonella infections “the consumption of curcumin should be avoided,” says the paper.

3) Another case of corporate greed and power politics that will be the woe for any strategically interested Government Linky

Mr. Megrahi, charged with the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight to the United States, which crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people, was transferred from jail to his native Tripoli, Libya, in August 2009. He had served a little more than eight years of a 20-year minimum jail sentence, but was released after being diagnosed with terminal cancer and told he had three months to live. Nearly one year on from his release he is still alive.
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What prompted this rare admission of guilt by the U.K. government was the revelation that a major prisoner transfer agreement with Libya was signed by the former Labour government in 2007 in the very same year that BP inked a $900 million oil exploration agreement with Libya. Further, BP admitted to lobbying the erstwhile U.K. government to get the prisoner deal signed.
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Outlining some of the key concerns on the U.S. side prior to U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to Washington next week, Mr. Crowley said in a press briefing that there were questions regarding the medical advice — “who gave it, how was it considered, how did the Scottish authorities reach a judgment that on humanitarian grounds, based on an understanding that Mr. Megrahi had a relatively short time to live?” Mr. Crowley added, “And clearly, some questions have been raised about the fidelity of the medical information that entered into the Scottish authorities’ thinking… On the other hand, there are questions about BP and its contacts with the U.K. government… in an earlier timeframe regarding the negotiation of a prisoner transfer agreement between the U.K. and Libya.”

The impending Indian health crisis

Three posts:
[quote]
Replacing White Rice with Brown Rice or Other Whole Grains May Reduce Diabetes Risk
For immediate release: Monday, June 14, 2010

Boston, MA‹In a new study, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that eating five or more servings of white rice per week was associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. In contrast, eating two or more servings of brown rice per week was associated with a lower risk of the disease. The researchers estimated that replacing 50 grams of white rice (just one third of a typical daily serving) with the same amount of brown rice would lower risk of type 2 diabetes by 16%. The same replacement with other whole grains, such as whole wheat and barley, was associated with a 36% reduced risk.

The study is the first to specifically examine white rice and brown rice in relation to diabetes risk among Americans, said Qi Sun, who did the research while at HSPH and is now an instructor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. ³Rice consumption in the U.S. has dramatically increased in recent decades. We believe replacing white rice and other refined grains with whole grains, including brown rice, would help lower the risk of type 2 diabetes,² said Sun.

The study appears online June 14, 2010, on the website of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

Brown rice is superior to white rice when it comes to fiber content, minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals, and it often does not generate as large an increase in blood sugar levels after a meal. Milling and polishing brown rice removes most vitamins and minerals. In addition, milling strips away most of its fiber, which helps deter diabetes by slowing the rush of sugar (glucose) into the bloodstream.

The researchers, led by Sun, and senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH, examined white and brown rice consumption in relation to type 2 diabetes risk in 157,463 women and 39,765 men participating in the Brigham and Women¹s Hospital-based Nurses¹ Health Study I and II and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. The researchers analyzed responses to questionnaires about diet, lifestyle, and health conditions which participants completed every four years. They documented 5,500 cases of type 2 diabetes during 22 years of follow-up in NHS 1 participants, 2,359 cases over 14 years in NHS II participants, and 2,648 cases over 20 years in HPFS participants.

Sun and his colleagues found that the biggest consumers of white rice were less likely to have European ancestry or to smoke and more likely to have a family history of diabetes. Eating brown rice was not associated with ethnicity but with a more health-conscious diet and lifestyle. In the analysis, researchers adjusted for a variety of factors that could influence the results, including age, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol intake, family history of diabetes, and other dietary habits, and found that the trend of increased risk associated with high white rice consumption remained. Because ethnicity was associated with both white rice consumption and diabetes risk, the researchers conducted a secondary analysis of white participants only and found similar results.

Because brown rice consumption was low in the study population, the researchers could not determine whether brown rice intake at much higher levels was associated with a further reduction in diabetes risk. Substitution of other whole grains for white rice was more strongly associated with lowering diabetes risk. This observation, said the researchers, may result from more reliable estimates based on participants¹ higher consumption of whole grains other than brown rice. The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released by the U.S. government, identifies grains, including rice, as one of the primary sources of carbohydrates and recommends that at least half come from whole grains.

Americans are eating more rice, but it¹s mostly white. ³From a public health point of view, whole grains, rather than refined carbohydrates, such as white rice, should be recommended as the primary source of carbohydrates for the U.S. population,² said Hu, ³These findings could have even greater implications for Asian and other populations in which rice is a staple food.²

Other HSPH authors included Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition, Donna Spiegelman, professor of epidemiologic methods, Rob van Dam, adjunct assistant professor of nutrition, Michelle Holmes, associate professor in the department of epidemiology, and Vasanti Malik, teaching fellow in the department of nutrition. This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Sun was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from Unilever Corporate Research. ³White Rice, Brown Rice, and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in US Men and Women,² Qi Sun, Donna Spiegelman, Rob M. van Dam, Michelle D. Holmes, Vasanti S. Malik, Walter C. Willett, Frank B. Hu, Archives of Internal Medicine, online
[/quote]

2) An old beeb report:
Genes 'up Indians' obesity risk'
Linky: Beeb
[quote]
The finding might provide a possible genetic explanation for the particularly high levels of obesity in Indian Asians, who make up 25% of the world's population, but who are expected to account for 40% of global cardiovascular disease by 2020.
[/quote]
[quote]
Studies show Indians carry certain genes that increase susceptibility to diabetes and lack genes that provide protection, said Dr V Mohan, director of the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation.
[/quote]
Beeb Linky
Sitting on a powder keg, never seemed a better metaphor.

3) Alzheimer's epidemic in India -- Quite scary numbers projected. 16m in India, despite eating turmeric aplenty. The incidence rate in the U.S. now is \approx 1 million, or 1 in 200. With 1.6b population in 2050, 16m translates to 1 in 100. That despite a predominantly vegetarian diet, I surely cannot not be surprised. Asia's numbers are expected to grow from 1 out of 3 (in the world) to more like in 1 in 2. More interestingly, China is projected to have 27m out of a population of 1.5b, that is 1 in 60. I can understand that with a pork-dominated diet. But it still beats the U.S. incidence rate now -- and the U.S. diet is beef and pork-dominated, so what gives. Either the report is bullshit and a global warming type scare tactic to make Asia focus on AD research, or I have no bloody clue on what AD is all about. The latter seems more likely, but knowing the west, I would nt be surprised if the former ends up being closer to the truth.
http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report_alzheimer-s-scourge-hangs-over-ill-prepared-asia_1402801