Enter The Dragon
Posted by: chandrashekhara on: January 31, 2010
I had never before heard of Trishuli river in Nepal. Apparently, it is a very popular river for white water rafting with foreign tourists visiting that country. The river has patches of extremely fast flowing water or rapids and I believe that it is a great fun to ride the river in rubber boats or rafts. Trishuli river flows in North-South direction, just to north of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, and later joins the Kali or Budhi Gandki river.
Like many rivers flowing into North India, Trishuli river also originates from Tibet. In Tibet, this river is called Gyirong or Kyirong River. It crosses into Nepal near a small hamlet called ‘Resuo’ There is a small check-post erected by Chinese military at the border on a small existing trading track along the river. One can enter into Nepal from Tibet by crossing a small steel wire suspension bridge. After entering Nepal, nearest road-head is at Syabrubesi village, at a distance of about seventeen kilometers from the border.
Historically, Tibet and Nepal have fought many wars. The trading track along narrow Trishuli river gorge, always had provided an easy access to Nepal for Tibetan invaders . This border outpost has been therefore always well protected. The ruins of an old fort called ‘Rasua Garhi’ still exist not very far from ‘Resuo’ Check-post. No one except Nepali citizens inhabiting in this area, are allowed to go near the border or cross it. Nearest town from this border in Tibet is also named after the river and is also called as Gyirong. The inhabitants of this area have been traditionally going to Gyirong town in Tibet for buying all their provisions.
The days of popularity of Trishuli river, as a well known white water rafting center, seem to be coming to an end. Construction of a highway between border check-post at ‘Resuo’ to Road-head at Syabrubesi village is fast nearing completion. As per agreement between Governments of Nepal and China, this 17 kilometer long stretch of highway in Nepal Territory, is being built by Chinese construction workers. The cost of this work is being borne by China. The terrain here is so jagged and inaccessible that major blasting and rock removing work is needed. One can see such blasting and excavating work going on this patch of road. It is expected that the Chinese would have to spend about US$ 20 million to complete just this 17 kilometer long patch of road.
In Tibet, this highway would extend up to Gyirong town. A major road artery has been already built between Lhasa and Gyirong. On the Nepalese side a road already exists between Syabrubesi and Kathmandu. It is clear that as soon as highway between Gyirong and Syabrubesi is ready, a direct motor-way would open between Lhasa and Kathmandu.
Expectations run high in this region as it is expected that the road would provide big boost to trade and tourism between Nepal and Tibet. Local people are expecting employment , work and easy access to vast range of consumer goods from China, better Chinese built schools on other side of border and in general, benefits from Chinese wealth.
However the real importance of this Gyirong-Syabrubesi highway is neither about Nepal connectivity nor Lhasa- Kathmandu connectivity. Lhasa is now connected to Xinghai province in China by an excellent Highway. Real beneficiary from this road is likely to be the China- India trade, which has already reached astronomical proportions.
There are obvious apprehensions about this road in India, as a motor-way that can carry heavy trucks loaded with traded goods can also carry soldiers and armoured vehicles if required. Chinese frontier is no longer at some far off place in Ladakh or Arunachal Pradesh. It has suddenly moved very near, just North of Delhi. For a millennium the Himalayan ranges have always provided a security and protection to people of India from invaders coming from central Asia or steppe. This protecting barrier seems have been now pierced by this latest Chinese action. India needs to take necessary and suitable counter steps to safeguard the country from any misadventures.
Chinese also seem to have worries and apprehensions about this road. There is a sizable Tibetan community in Nepal which basically consists of disgruntled people who have run away from Tibet because of their opposition to Chinese occupation of Tibet. These people, when provided with such an easy access to Tibet, are expected to create trouble for the Chinese regime.
The Chinese Dragon has now suddenly appeared on the door-steps of India. Whether it would bring trade and prosperity to the region or would create head aches and problems is yet to be seen.
31 January 2010
New game in the east
Posted by: chandrashekhara on: January 25, 2010
A news item has appeared in today’s newspapers about successful negotiations between India and Myanmar regarding joint coordinated military operations in North-East and Myanmar, to flush out Indian extremist fugitives hiding in the dense jungles of Myanmar. The news item says further that the Security forces of India and Myanmar will conduct coordinated operations in their respective territories in the next two-three months. The objective of the operation is that no militant can escape to the other side after facing heat in one side. The security forces of both India and Myanmar will also intensify their vigil along the border to check smuggling of arms, narcotic drugs and other goods.
What is noteworthy is the comment of Indian union home secretary that Myanmar assured India to address all of India’s security concerns and promised to carry forward the cordial relations between the two countries. By itself, the news item has no great significance except for friendly action between two neighbouring countries.
However this agreement should be seen against the backdrop of a news item which appeared in August 2009 mentioning successful action of Myanmar’s military. According to this report, Myanmar military had overwhelmed and disarmed the Kokang rebel group, triggering an exodus of more than 37,000 refugees into China, prompting an unusual outburst of anger from Beijing. To realize the significance of this, we may have to look at the ground realities in North-West Myanmar.
On a map, Northern Myanmar looks like a wedge inserted between India’s Northeastern states and Yunnan province of China. Just across the Chinese border,Myanmar’s autonomous state of Kokang is located. The population of this state, with an area of about 10000 square kilometers, is mostly of Chinese origin with a large percentage of Chinese Migrants. Kokang has its own regional army. Kokang army in alliance with four other ethnic armed groups, had signed a truce with Myanmar military in 1989.
Historically, diplomatic relations between Myanmar and china were never exactly friendly. However with Military takeover of Myanmar in 1962, things began to change. China backed Myanmar following the bloody suppression of pro-democracy protests in 1988, and has continued to stand by the generals and sell them arms in the face of sweeping international sanctions. Relationship between China and Myanmar basically is a marriage of convenience. The Burmese rely on China for money and armaments, and China uses its position at the U.N. Security Council to protect Burma to some extent, in return for which China gets access to the country’s natural resources and gets a voice in ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member since 1997.
The Kokang autonomous region with 90% people of Chinese origin naturally flourished as relationship between these two countries blossomed. It became a major trade route between these two countries with highway from Laogai on the Yunnan border to Lashlo, which is the capital of Shan state in Myanmar, seen overloaded with Chinese trucks bringing in a range of consumer and other goods. This trade however is controlled entirely by traders of Chinese origin or by Chinese who have migrated to Myanmar. The bilateral trade has grown in 2008 to about $2.63 billion. In late October, China’s CNPC started building a crude oil port in Myanmar, part of a pipeline project. Logically it was expected that Myanmar would give unquestioning support to China in all international matters.
All this bonhomie between China and Myanmar obviously has been a great concern for India. In fact fear was expressed in India that China is trying to encircle India. It appeared that another strategic game was developing on the eastern border of India and China had already gained an upper hand.
This region also happens to be the hotbed of opium trade. In fact, drugs flow easily from Myanmar into China, fueling an AIDS epidemic in Yunnan, driven by the sharing of dirty needles, as well as prostitution. In last August, a visit of a police party of 30 officers, gone to investigate drugs trafficking from a local arms factory in Kokang region, developed into a major fight between Myanmar’s armed forces and the pro Chinese Kokang army. This resulted into a huge outflow of Chinese migrants and people of Chinese origin to Nansen district in Yunnan. About 37000 Chinese fled Kokang.
Chinese Government responded with outbursts of anger against Myanmar. This brought up again profound suspicion of China in Myanmar, which dates back to before independence from the British in 1948, in spite of Beijing’s overt support to it in the past 20 years or so.
Myanmar Generals are vehemently anti communist and are suspicious of banned Communist party of Burma. Most of them have fought in the anti-communist/anti-Beijing operations in the 1950s and 1960s. In these operations, Chinese soldiers wore Burmese Communist military uniform and had participated in actual battles against the Burmese armed forces. It’s difficult to conceive a change of heart on behalf of the Burmese generals toward Beijing.
The agreement between India and Myanmar must be seen in this light. After a while, India seems to have a winning hand. Yet it is obvious that Myanmar’s wily Generals are aware of this New Game in the east and see that being friendly to India is an important counterweight to China. Myanmar’s foreign relations always reflect that the Generals are constantly playing one off the other. It must be agreed that it is a very simple but effective strategy, to keep everyone coming after you.
With Myanmar Generals being willful partners in this game, India has really no choice but to play the game.
25 January 2010
Genie in a bottle (or in a Can)
Posted by: chandrashekhara on: January 17, 2010
A standard feature of any school going kid today is the plastic water bottle, either hung from his shoulder or popping out from a pocket of his already over bulging school bag. This water bottle in reality, indicates the ardent desire of parents that the kids shouldn’t drink water, which is not purified either by boiling over a stove or filtered through a membrane filter or passed through an ultra violet light ray. This water bottle always reminds me of my school days when to quench our thirst, all that the school had done was to provide a brick and cement tank with seven or eight faucets jutting out from all sides. We were supposed to put our mouths to the faucets and gulp down the water. Tiles made from stone, were fixed below these faucets and due to continuous presence of water, had turned blackish green, because of the growth of moss and mold. Even though, I do not recollect having contacted any communicable diseases in spite of this not very health promoting school arrangement for drinking water. I would still prefer any day, the present water bottles which are far more conducive to good health. These plastic water bottles are also available in a range of such fascinating colours, shapes and designs. It is no wonder that the kids find them irresistible. Many water bottles have a straw built in them and stickers of pet cartoon characters such as Micky, Donald, Tom or Dora stuck on the outside. The attractive looks of these bottles makes it sure that the basic objective of making the kids drink water from these bottles instead of some other source is fulfilled.
Another product which has become extremely popular is the aluminum can used for packing of soda’s or fruit juices. Another variation is the tetra-pack where the container is made from paper with layers of metal foil and plastic embedded. It has become so convenient and stylish to have a drink from these containers. Whenever you feel like have a drink, just pop open the can and the drink is available to you. After you finish, just throw away the can in garbage.
Unfortunately, new research findings carried out in England and United States indicate that in fact a Genie is hiding in these beautiful plastic bottles and cans from where, we and our kids drink water or fruit juices. This Genie is known as Bisphenol A. or in short, BPA. This is a chemical, which is spread on inside surfaces of all these plastic bottles and cans to give a certain stiffness to the container so that it would not be crumpled while handling. What is worst is that this Genie is not at all of a benevolent character but actually harms us badly. A US government national nutrition survey carried out in the year 2006 has found that high traces of Bisphenol A. are found in the urine samples of people suffering from cardiac diseases. Recently, A team led by Dr. David Melzer, the professor of epidemiology and public health in the Peninsula Medical School located in Exeter, England, have carried out a study about effects of this chemical. They studied the data from 1493 persons in the age group of 18 to 74. Their study clearly shows a relationship between Bisphenol A. and cardiac diseases. What is alarming is that this study also found that this chemical plays a role also in Diabetes and some liver diseases. According to new study, 60 year old males with high amount of Bisphenol A. in their urine, have at least 45 per cent greater chance of getting cardiovascular diseases than men of same age with lower exposure to this chemical.
Bisphenol A. is a man made chemical and is not found anywhere in nature. The effects of this chemical on the reproductive systems have been extensively studied before. However, the effects of this chemical on heart and liver have been studied for the first time. Canadian Public Health Department has already declared this chemical as poisonous and dangerous to human health. Use of Bisphenil A. has been stopped in the sippers and milk bottles made for the infants and the babies. Urine samples from majority of Americans show traces of BPA to some extent. Even in cord blood samples of new born babies, traces of BPA have been found. American FDA has not been able to ban this chemical so far due to intense lobbying by the manufacturers of this chemical. However this may happen in 2010.
In some health conscious countries such as Singapore, BPA free plastic bottles are already available. About use on BPA in Aluminum cans, no manufacturer has yet come out with BPA free cans as yet. In India, there appears to be total ignorance about use of BPA. No one really knows whether products such as plastic bottles used by kids or infants or even Aluminum cans or Tetra-Pack packages are free from BPA. This is most alarming.
17 January 2010
Water Scarcity in Cherrapunji?
Posted by: chandrashekhara on: January 1, 2010
Meghalaya is one of the seven states, known as seven sisters, located in North-East India. With its green foliage cover, it is one of the most beautiful and picturesque states in theUnion of India. The famous Cherrapunji town is located in West Khasi hills in this state. Cherrapunji’s name is so famous that any school going lad would surely know about it. The reason for its being so well known is simple. It is recognized as the town with highest rainfall in the world. This state came into being in 1972 and was named as ‘Meghalaya’ (The house of the Clouds) because of the weather in the state. The town of Cherrapunji however deserves this name more aptly as the average rainfall in Cherrapunji exceeds 1100 c.m. every year. In the year 1861, Cherrapunji had received 2891 c.m. of rain in just one month, which also happens to be the all time record here.
However due to some unknown reasons, the rainfall in Cherrapunji seems to be dwindling every year. Within last 5 years, the average rainfall has reduced by as much as 20 %. According to the weather office, the rainfall this year has been in the range of 800 to 900 c.m. only. As a result, Cherrapunji seems to have lost its title of ‘The Town with Highest Rainfall in the World’ to a nearby village known as ‘ Mawsynram”. This village, about 50 to 60 kilometers away from Cherrapunji, received about 1200 c.m. rain this year.
Most of the tourists visit Cherrapunji, when they visit Shillong, the capital of this state. This tourism business as thrived in Cherrapunji and has drawn in large number of people as tourism creates many more jobs. As a result, the population of this town has multiplied by 15 times from the original figure of just 7000 people. There is no water reservoir or any water storage tanks in this town. In the winter months, enough water is not available for the population of the town. One can see every morning, water tankers arriving in Cherrapunji. Since most of the tourists come here to see the rainfall, locals are afraid that with dwindling rainfall, there would be a proportionate decline in the number of tourist arrivals.
The regular tourists to Cherrapunji say that during the decade of 1990, a visit here, would turn out to be a memorable one. While motoring on the road, visibility would be extremely poor due to rain bearing clouds almost touching the road and the heavy rain and one would have to find his way through this. In the same Cherrapunji, water needs to be purchased now and the average daily temperature also has gone up by 2 to 3 degrees Celsus. The rainfall pattern also appears to have changed. When the rainfall is expected, it seldom rains and heavy rainfall occurs when least expected. The rainfall also seems to have become more localized.
What could be the reason of this paucity of rain fall in Cherrapunji? There has been no deforestation here. There were never any dense tropical rainforests in the surrounding areas. Whatever forests are there nearby, they are considered very sacred and auspicious by the locals and no one would dare to cut these. No new Industries have been set up in this area. In fact, except for one cement plant, there is hardly any industrialization here
According to the locals, Global warming is the only reason that could be given for this change in weather pattern. Whatever may be reason, the reduced rain fall, increased average temperatures and disappearance of the fabled water falls in surrounding areas, is bringing tourist numbers down for sure.
1 January 2010
A Very Different University
Posted by: chandrashekhara on: December 25, 2009
In the year 2007, The Noble award for Peace was awarded to United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. On behalf of this committee, the award was accepted by former US Vice president, Mr. Al Gore and an eminent Indian Scientist, Mr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, who is a well known persona working in the areas of Global Warming, Environment, Pollution and Energy Conservation.
It was no surprise that when Mr. Pachauri announced the creation of a new university,offering courses and research facilities in the field of sustainable development some ten years back, attention of scientists from the world over was drawn to it. This new university named as TERI is taking shape today. Many industry executives and education experts praise this university for the way it has started training people and carrying out research in finding solutions to problems such as environmental degradation, pollution and poverty elimination.
Rajendra Pachauri’s TERI university is now housed in a brand new, eco- friendly building in the Vasant-Kunj area of New Delhi, India. With the help of modern Architectural practices, the university building has been designed to consume minimal energy while providing adequate comfort and requisite level of resources necessary for training and research. Great care has been taken while designing this building to create an environment consummate for education and research. Besides passive energy saving architectural designs, the building boasts of the use of solar energy and an earth-air tunnel to meet part of the air-conditioning requirements. This technology uses the heat sink property of earth to maintain comfortable temperatures inside the building. Supplementary systems have been used for extreme conditions (monsoon). The special design would result in 40% energy savings in comparison to a conventionally design building. Water saving measures make it possible to have 25% reduction in the potable water use only by use of efficient fixtures. In addition, reuse of waste-water for irrigation purpose through resource and energy efficient biological processes and rainwater harvesting for aquifer recharge would also contribute to efficient water management. Thermal mass storage is used in the classrooms. It involves storing energy when available and using it when required. In this arrangement, cooling of the thermal mass is done during night (when ambient temperatures are lower). During daytime, when ambient temperatures are high, the thermal storage is used as sink for the fresh air required.
TERI university gets full support and backing of an environmental think tank, Energy and Research Institute, founded by Rajendra Pachauri in 1974. This support makes it possible for the TERI university to undertake training and research in such fields as environmental upgradation, pollution and poverty reduction. TERI university can also bank upon the brainpower available with this think tank
TERI university offers post graduate courses and research programs in seven fields such as natural-resources management, water-resources management, public policy and sustainable development. It also offers doctorates in the broad areas of biotechnology, energy and environment, regulatory and policy studies, and natural-resources management. The curriculum is a mix of social sciences and hard sciences. Students enrolled in water-resources management will also study policy issues, and students enrolled in public policy and sustainable development will also study pure sciences. The student to faculty ratio is maintained at four to one. After one year of course work, students assist on projects in such fields as reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, building waste-water-treatment systems, and helping townships manage waste in an environmentally friendly manner. Since the students are well trained in the field in multidisciplinary curricula, the industry is ever eager to absorb the fresh graduates.
Impressed with the good work done by this University, Yale university decided to invite Rajendra Pachauri to head its new Climate and Energy Institute. Almost 100 Yale scientists, engineers, physicians, social scientists and policy experts have joined together to launch the enterprise For Yale, which shall provide seed grants, support graduate study, sponsor conferences and workshops, and foster interdisciplinary research in areas ranging from basic atmospheric science to public policy. TERI university would be surely benefited with this association. TERI has also signed co-operation agreements with international universities such as North Carolina State, Michigan State and Brandeis Universities; as well as with the Free University of Berlin, and with the University of New South Wales, in Australia. However association with Yale is likely to augment TERI resources as Yale, which last year announced a multimillion-dollar investment in academic partnerships in India, has a long-term commitment to the country.
There appears to be no doubt that TERI graduates would create a tremendous foot print in India as well as abroad.
25 December 2009
The Sahara Crocodiles
Posted by: chandrashekhara on: November 27, 2009
The heading for this article may be quite confusing to many of the readers. Some may even go to the extreme of thinking that I have joined the league of Nutty Writers. However there is not a shred of fiction in this. Crocodiles have been found in Sahara desert. There is just a small postscript. The crocs have been found in fossilized form and were living here some hundred millions years ago.
Two paleontologists, Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago and Hans Larsson of McGill University in Montreal and their team have been digging for fossils at Gadoufaoua in Niger, a remote site in the Sahara Desert where Tuareg nomads roam, since 1997. They were rather surprised to find fossilized remains of crocodiles which lived there in Cretaceous period, from about 145 to 65 million years ago. In this periods the continents were nearer to each other that at present, the climate was much wetter and warm. As a result there were super rivers flowing in the African continent. The region of Sahara desert in those days was a huge swamp, a heaven for reptiles like crocodiles.
Sereno and Larsson have discovered six new species of crocodiles with sizes ranging from couple of inches to forty feet. They have named these crocs as BoarCroc, RatCroc, DogCroc, DuckCroc, PancakeCroc and supercroc from the shape of their jaw. Sereno’s team has discovered fossilized eggs, skulls, bones, parts of spine and jaws in large numbers. With modern techniques like X-Ray and Ct scan, Sereno’s team was able to analyze the fossils extensively.
Each of these crocodiles preyed on completely different kind of animals and had a totally different life styles. It appears that they had divided the total ecosystem amongst themselves for mutual benefits The largest specie from the lot is the supercroc. This specimen was about 40 feet long and weighed about 8000 kilograms. The jaw itself was six feet long with hundred powerful teeth embedded in it. This animal not only ate fish but also small dinosaurs. It probably spent most of its time underwater, “living an ambush lifestyle. The ancient croc had eye sockets that tilted upward, which helped it conceal its huge body underwater while scanning the river’s edge.
The Boarroc and and pancake croc were about 20 feet long. Rat croc was the smallest specimen with jaw length of only few inches. Some of the species could stand erect on their two feet and run upright. They would ram their prey with their massive jaws and kill it. These crocs do not seem to look like modern crocodiles but the shape of the jaw in some of them is similar to Gharial crocodile found in India.
We are scared today because of the minor changes in the Earth’s environment due to factors like global warming. There have been catastrophic environmental changes on earth in history. Such changes have many times have almost destroyed the entire ecosystem of the earth. Even then, few sturdy animals like crocodiles have survived and are still living on the surface of earth.
26 November 2009
Poisoning Bangladesh
Posted by: chandrashekhara on: November 20, 2009
Bangladesh is one of the richest countries of the world in Water resources. Per capita availability of water is perhaps highest in that country. It has a major river system of the world consisting of Brahmaputra river and many large subsidiary rivers like Padma. In addition the country gets bountiful rain fall for almost six to eight months of the year.
Bangladesh river systems literally pour billions of liters of water in the country. Yet all this water seems to be harming this poor country instead of being beneficial to its people and economy. Every year the rivers carry enormous amounts of flood waters to Bangladesh. The coastal regions face continuous dangers of Cyclones and Typhoons. These tend to flood the coastal areas damaging crops and potable water sources. With so much water everywhere, no one would believe, that the poor citizens of this country, face drinking water shortages round the year. To control river flood waters, man made water ponds are traditionally built everywhere in this country. Whenever rivers are flooded, these ponds absorb the extra water.
Since last few years, it has been found that the people who drink this pond water tend to get sick and suffer from strange diseases. Symptoms include violent stomach pains and vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions and cramps. A large dose can kill outright, Continuous long term use can lead to cancer of the bladder, kidney, lung or skin. In some cases symptoms appear, in the form of skin lesions. The symptoms clearly showed that the pond water was contaminated. An detailed chemical analysis was carried out and the results explained the wide spread diseases. The pond water had much higher percentage of element Arsenic than the safe level of 50 micrograms per liter. This analysis proved that the poor people of Bangladesh were slowly being poisoned.
This poisoning has become so wide spread now, that out of the population of 140 million, 25 millions are in direct danger zone. In the history of the world, this is the first time when such huge mass of humanity is in danger of getting poisoned.
Scientists trying to find out the reason of this presence of Arsenic in pond water, have found out the real reason only now. Up to year 1970, Bangladeshi farmers and villagers have been drinking this pond water. A survey by UNESCO and WHO found that these ponds were contaminated with microorganisms, which spread permanent epidemics of diarrhea and cholera. It was suggested that the people should not drink contaminated pond water and should drink sub soil water pumped out from bore wells. UNESCO and WHO again decided to dig millions of well throughout the country to provide safe drinking water to at least 80% of the people. Eight million such bore wells were dug. The sub soil water being pumped out, now appears to be the real culprit of Arsenic poisoning.
Earth’s crust always contains Arsenic metal up-to level of 2 milligrams per kilogram of crust. This Arsenic can combine with oxygen and other such reactive element to form water soluble Arsenic compounds. Waters of major rivers can carry these compounds in the water and ultimately deposit these along with mud on the river deltas. River systems of Bangladesh have been doing exactly this for millions of years making Bangladesh soil rich in these compounds. These compounds again dissolve in sub soil water and when its is pumped out, the the arsenic salts along with water, flow down to the flood control ponds and contaminate the water. High percentage of contamination in the pond water has been caused by years of sub soil water pumping.
Research is being carried out now to device filters which can filter out the Arsenic contaminations. Meanwhile poor folks from Bangladesh face the threat of getting poisoned as they have no other choice but to drink pond water on daily basis.
19 November 2009
Indian Pharmaceuticals Hit a jackpot with PEPFAR
Posted by: chandrashekhara on: November 16, 2009
In the year 2003, the then US president George Bush signed an authorization to launch an International program to combat HIV/AIDS world wide. The act was called ‘ United States Leadership Against Global HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003′ and initially US$ 15 billion were authorized. This act is popularly known with its short form, PEPFAR. This program has been reauthorized and relaunched on 30 July 2008 as ‘ Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008′. In its revised form, the act authorizes US Government to spend US$ 48 billion in next five years towards eradication of these dreaded diseases.
United States government has planned, in partnership with other host nations, to achieve following targets before year 2013.
* Treatment for at least 3 million people
* Prevention of 12 million new infections
* Care for 12 million people, including 5 million orphans and vulnerable children.
To meet these goals and build sustainable local capacity, PEPFAR will support training of at least 140,000 new health care workers in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care in. The program is being implemented in Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
So far the previous experience has been that when such International programs are launched, multinational drug companies make most of the dough. They manage to increase sale of their formulations to a huge extent through such International efforts. The cost of the drugs is paid by the Governments and these companies earn huge profits. However with PEPFAR, things have turned out to be different. In May 2007 President Bush increased the authorization amount for this program to US$ 30 Billion. He also announced that this program can use in future, Generic formulations along with Branded formulations manufactured by multinational drug giants. Generic drugs and formulations are made as per exact formula of the original drug but is sold without any brand name and since these are much much cheaper, it is possible to treat higher number of patients at the same cost. The only condition that was laid was that the prior approval of the FDA was necessary before these formulations could be procured.
In last 2 years, FDA has approved about 100 such generic formulations. Surprisingly , almost 95% of the approved formulations are submitted by Indian pharmaceuticals. Arbindo Pharma is leading with 34 approvals. CIPLA and US Subsidiary of MATRIX laboratories have got 15 approvals each. Companies such as Strides, Emcure and Hetero have won 5 to 15 approvals each.
Managing Director of Arbindo Pharma says that his company is selling these formulations at one third cost of the branded products. This allows the PEPFAR program to treat three times more number of patients. Another Pharma major CIPLA has accepted that they are earning 20 to 25 million US$ every year through this program.
With PEPFAR being able to treat more and more number of patients each year, the profits of Indian Pharmaceuticals are on the rise for sure. Even though this arrangement is beneficial to all concerned, it can be said without any doubt, that Indian Pharmaceuticals have hit a jackpot and are set to improve their balance sheets in years to come.
15 November 2009
Pirates of the traditional Indian knowledge
Posted by: chandrashekhara on: November 8, 2009
In the year 1995, some Indian scientists, doing research work on medicinal plants, prescribed in Ayurveda, the traditional medical science of India, made a shocking discovery. An American research outfit, University of Mississippi Medical Center, located in Jackson U.S.A. had successfully taken a patent on the medicinal properties of Turmeric. The antiseptic properties of Turmeric, are part of the traditional knowledge of India and has been passed on to the next generation for thousands of years. The persons applying for this patent had claimed that they had discovered these properties for the first time. US department of patents, without bothering to find out the truth, had granted them this patent and in a way had confirmed their ignorance, about traditional knowledge of India.
As a result of this patent, no one could have used Turmeric as an antiseptic without taking permission from this US outfit. Obviously, they would have gladly given it to anyone on payment of royalty, deriving monetary benefits illegally, from traditional Indian knowledge . Council of Scientific and Industrial Research from India, applied to US patent office in the year 1996 to cancel this patent. They submitted not less than 32 different references, about antiseptic properties of Turmeric. Some of the references were more than 100 years old. After much debate, US patent office canceled the patent.
Traditional Medical Sciences from India, such as Ayurveda or Unani medical systems, know about medicinal properties of thousands of plants, fruits, flowers and roots traditionally grown in India. Taking undue advantage of the ignorance of the US department of Patents, of the traditional Indian knowledge, was truly speaking, an act of Intellectual Piracy if nothing else.
In the year 1990, ‘W.R.Grace’, a multinational agricultural production company from New York, in association with US department of agricultural production, applied for a patent for medicinal uses of the oil extracted from the Neem tree. In 1995 when this fact became known in India, Doctor Vandana Shiva and others filed a petition with the US patents office for rejecting this application as this was again traditional Indian knowledge. After much legal wrangling, this application was finally rejected in 1999.
Ayurveda prescribes use of Bitter Gourd and Aubergine in the diet of Diabetic patients. An attempt was made some time back to take a patent based on this information. In the past, patents have been wrongly granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) on the use of over 285 Indian medicinal plants such as papaya, Indian long pepper, kali tulsi, pudina, ginger, aloe, isabgol, aaonla, jira, soybean, tomato, almond, walnut and methi. These attempts to highjack traditional Indian knowledge, brought forth an awareness in the minds of the Indian scientific community and Government of India to take up some valid action.
A group of some 200 research scientists was formed under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research from India. These people toiled for more than 8 years to produce a comprehensive reference directory of more than 200,000 medical formulations based on Ayurvedic, Unani and Siddha medical systems. This reference document has been put on the Internet now, as Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL). This directory can be accessed by any patent office from the world, and is available in five international languages, namely English, Japanese, French, German and Spanish. This library presents scientifically converted information of traditional Indian medicine from Hindi, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Tamil language references in these five languages. India has now also signed a landmark agreement with the European Patent Office. Under the three-year agreement, which came into effect on February 3, TKDL’s database would be available to the patent examiners at EPO (34 member states) ‘for establishing prior art’, in case of any patent applications based on Indian systems of medicine (ISM). To avoid misuse, this web site can be accessed only by Government Patent Offices of the world.
Opposing any patent, already granted, is a prohibitively expensive proposition.. In the case of patent for Basmati rice, the challenge came only from India although the scented rice is also grown in Pakistan. This country firstly claimed that it too will join the battle against Basmati rice patenting. Pakistan chickened out, when the cost of the legal battle was worked out to something around US $ 3,00,000.
Considering just the legal costs, the importance of TKDL becomes absolutely clear. In fact, Dr. V.P..Gupta, one of the creators of TKDL, feels that every year, TKDL would help in rejecting about 2000 patents applications based on traditional Indian knowledge world-wide and effectively scare away these Pirates of Indian Traditional Knowledge. A job well done!
7 November 2009
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No Toilette? No Bride!
Posted by: chandrashekhara on: October 22, 2009
In India, out of the total population of 1.2 Billions, almost half live in rural areas. In spite of all the show casing of progress in the cities, fact remains that many rural areas still lack even the basic amenities like latrines and toilettes. To have a toilette in or adjoining the house is one of the basic necessities of modern times. Unfortunately, not many rural folks seem to have understood the importance of even this basic facility. Effectively, rural womenfolk suffer the most. To avoid prying eyes, they are forced to visit the open-air toilets under cover of darkness, which can be very inconvenient at times. It is humiliating, harrowing and extremely unhealthy. Further, it leads to spread of diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid and malaria. Many rural womenfolk suffer from urinary tract infections, kidney and liver problems, because they don’t have a safe place to go
Efforts to improve upon the situation of the lack of sanitation, in rural areas, have not met with much success so far. In the year 2001, a project to build latrines in rural areas was taken up with the help of World Bank. The latrines built under this scheme were used by rural folks for storage of grains or as verandahs for their houses. The reason for this failure can be very well traced to the fact that the womenfolk never participated or were not even consulted in this project. They need the sanitation facility most and should have been consulted about the project in the first place.
Women from the Indian state of Haryana , now seem to have taken a new lead. With rural womenfolk, giving their support to the cause, the movement appears to have caught the fascination of the village women everywhere and is spreading to other states too. If you ask any rural young girl today, about her expectations of her future bride groom, along with such usual expectations, such as being vegetarian, no vices, capable of getting a good job, a new expectation has come up. Most of the girls would say that the future groom must have a latrine in his house. Two years back, Government of Haryana with the help of few NGO’s, started a new movement under the slogan, “No Toilettes, No bride”. This movement has caught the fascination of rural womenfolk and is growing rapidly.
As things stand today, the widespread and illegal practice of the abortion of female fetuses in favor of sons has already reduced percentage of women population in state of Haryana. The girls with marriageable age and their parents are not willing to marry their daughters in a family, which does not have a latrine in the house. This social pressure has brought about a welcome change. Parents, who wish to get their boys married, have started building sanitation facilities in their houses on priority.
This change has not come about without a reason. There are many direct and indirect reasons. First of all, most of the girls of marriageable age are educated at least up to matriculation level. Many have taken technical courses in addition. This basic education has brought about certain change in their attitude towards life and their expectations from it. They keep watching serials and advertisements on TV. When they watch the heroines on TV, wearing silk dresses or Jeans and Tee shirts and going to work on their own vehicles, it makes a profound impact on these young girls and no wonder that they expect higher quality of life. Five or ten years back, one could always see girls riding pillion behinds their fathers or husbands. These days’ girls driving their own scooty are seen often.
Mr. Bindeshwar Pathak, founder director of an organization called ‘Sulabh International’, which specializes in building of low cost rural latrines, considers this ‘No Toilette?No Bride! Movement as a bloodless coup.
There seems to be no doubt that this movement would certainly bring more self-respect and confidence back in the minds of rural womenfolk of India.
21 October 2009
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