UN, Indian Officials Agree India Worse Than Pakistan, Bangladesh in Food, Hygiene

[karan.1970]

Under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), all American companies are required to provide details of illegal payments made in foreign countries.

Paxar Corporation, a New York listed company recently acquired by Avery, acknowledged paying $30,000 to bribe Pakistani customs officials in 2008 through its local customs broker. Avery, a California-based company, manufactures and markets various office products in several dozen countries around the world.

In a settlement with the SEC, Avery has agreed to pay over $300,000 in fines, and accepted SEC's cease-and-desist order to stop its corrupt practices.

Here is a list of FCPA violations involving Indian entities reported to the Indian Prime Minister by India's US Ambassador Meera Shanker in Washington:

* On January 9, 2009, Mario Covino of Control Companies allegedly pleaded guilty to making illegal payments of over $ 1 million to employees of state-owned entities, including the Maharashtra State Electricity Board.

* On Feb 14, 2008, Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation’s Indian subsidiary, Pioneer Friction Ltd, settled civil charges in connection with improper payments to employees of Indian Railways. The $137,400-payment was made between 2001 and 2005.

* Subsidiaries of York International Corporation allegedly made improper payments of over $ 7.5 million to secure orders in various countries, including India. Payments were made from 2001 to 2006.

* C Srinivasan, a former president of A T Kearney India Ltd, allegedly made improper payments of $720,000 to senior employees of two partially state owned enterprises in India between 2001 and 2003.

* Textron’s subsidiaries allegedly made improper payments to secure contracts in various countries including India in the 2001-2005 period.

* Dow Chemicals subsidiary, DE-Nocil Crop Protection Ltd, allegedly made improper payments to various officials, including to an official in Central Insecticides Board. Pride International too, may have made third-party payments.

In spite of the well-publicized actions of the US government under FCPA, there appears to have been no government investigations ordered or actions taken against the corrupt officials on the receiving end of the reported bribes from the US companies in India and Pakistan.

Haq's Musings: Inaction Against Corruption in South Asia

Pl allow me to complete the article. Strangely the part left out gives some view of corrution on the Pakistani side of the border

FCPA | EMOIZ.COM

It is because of the total impunity for the corrupt politicians and officials in Pakistan that corruption has surged by whopping 400 percent in the last three years, according to the National Corruption Perception Survey 2009 carried out by Transparency International. The return of democracy under a US-sponsored amnesty for the current leadership has not helped in holding the corrupt accountable. On Transparency International survey for 2008, Pakistan fares badly, ranking at 134 on a list of 180 nations surveyed. By comparison, India ranks higher at 85 while Bangladesh ranks lower at 147.

The National Corruption Perception Survey 2009 (NCPS 2009) indicates that the overall Corruption (in Pakistan) in 2002 has increased from Rs.45 Billion to Rs.195 Billion in 2009. Police and Power maintained their ranking as the top two most corrupt sectors.

There has been remarkable improvement in Judiciary. As compared to 2006 when it was ranked 3rd most corrupt sector, in 2009 Judiciary is ranked 7th, The News reports.

 

[RollingStones]

Under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), all American companies are required to provide details of illegal payments made in foreign countries.

Paxar Corporation, a New York listed company recently acquired by Avery, acknowledged paying $30,000 to bribe Pakistani customs officials in 2008 through its local customs broker. Avery, a California-based company, manufactures and markets various office products in several dozen countries around the world.

In a settlement with the SEC, Avery has agreed to pay over $300,000 in fines, and accepted SEC's cease-and-desist order to stop its corrupt practices.

Here is a list of FCPA violations involving Indian entities reported to the Indian Prime Minister by India's US Ambassador Meera Shanker in Washington:

* On January 9, 2009, Mario Covino of Control Companies allegedly pleaded guilty to making illegal payments of over $ 1 million to employees of state-owned entities, including the Maharashtra State Electricity Board.

* On Feb 14, 2008, Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation’s Indian subsidiary, Pioneer Friction Ltd, settled civil charges in connection with improper payments to employees of Indian Railways. The $137,400-payment was made between 2001 and 2005.

* Subsidiaries of York International Corporation allegedly made improper payments of over $ 7.5 million to secure orders in various countries, including India. Payments were made from 2001 to 2006.

* C Srinivasan, a former president of A T Kearney India Ltd, allegedly made improper payments of $720,000 to senior employees of two partially state owned enterprises in India between 2001 and 2003.

* Textron’s subsidiaries allegedly made improper payments to secure contracts in various countries including India in the 2001-2005 period.

* Dow Chemicals subsidiary, DE-Nocil Crop Protection Ltd, allegedly made improper payments to various officials, including to an official in Central Insecticides Board. Pride International too, may have made third-party payments.

In spite of the well-publicized actions of the US government under FCPA, there appears to have been no government investigations ordered or actions taken against the corrupt officials on the receiving end of the reported bribes from the US companies in India and Pakistan.

Haq's Musings: Inaction Against Corruption in South Asia

I am talking about offshore tax havens such as stashing away in swiss banks, cayman islands, and not the FCPA. FCPA is a US law and Indians or Pakistanis are not under that jurisdiction. The US Government recently entered into a deal with a Swiss bank, UBS, to gain access to all US tax evaders who stashed money away in Swiss banks. I was pointing out that the Indian Government needs to use this as a legal precedent, if necessary, and get details of Indian tax evaders and get the evaded money back.

India has an open court system and a concept of public interest litigation (PIL). Even if the government's attorney general is not moving to prosecute, it seems that Indian citizens can file a PIL in Indian courts to compel the government to move in this direction. Since the US FCPA has identified these companies as complicit, why are Indian citizens not moving the government to get these companies punished? That is something only Indians can answer. It is impossible to read and know everything about a country. But some Indians can explore along this route and let us know how Indian violators of foreign laws are handled in India.

 

[RollingStones]

I think there are some serious steps the top Indian leadership is taking to improve the situation. Unfortunately , the results are lacking for a variety of reasons, including widespread corruption and incompetence in government.

Here is UNICEF's assessment of the situation:

India has failed to use a period of high economic growth to lift tens of millions of people out of poverty, falling far short of China's record in protecting its population from the ravages of chronic hunger, United Nations officials said on Tuesday.

Unicef, the UN's child development agency, said India, Asia's third largest economy, had not followed the example of other regional economies such as China, South Korea and Singapore in investing in its people during an economic boom. It said this failure spelled trouble as the global economy deteriorated, while volatile fuel and food prices had already deepened deprivation over the past two years.

The stinging criticism of India's performance comes only two weeks after the Congress party-led alliance was overwhelmingly voted back into office. Its leaders had campaigned strongly on their achievement of raising India's economic growth to 9 per cent and boosting rural welfare.

An unfavourable comparison with Beijing's development record will rile New Delhi. Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, has argued that the country's economic development is more durable than that of China because it is forged in a democracy rather than by a one-party state.

Unicef attacks India's record on poverty

It took the US 250 years to get where it is today and we still have corruption and mishandled justice, though it is a fraction of what happens in India. I am not interested in what UN or the UNICEF have to say about all this. I am interested in knowing how Indian citizens through grassroots democracy are trying to eliminate corruption. I am interested in knowing more about how Indians are trying to make the democratic politics more fair and accessible to poorer sections of society, issues that we face here in the US as well. Use of electronic voting machines and an independent election commission are two good things that India has. What they need to do is make it mandatory that only political parties that elect their leaders through a democratic process and not through family connections will be allowed to contest national, state and local elections. I am surprised that India's independence leaders did not enshrine this very important clause in their constitution at the time it was written. Family and caste based politics have the capability of destroying India's development. A constitutional amendment must be passed asap forbidding family and caste based politicking. India needs at least 20 to 30 more years to reduce corruption, make the correct constitutional amendments, reform their judiciary, reform their governance process etc. I am more interested in seeing if they are moving toward that. They seem to be. That is all that matters. I am not interested in reading stand still reports from the UNICEF and UN. I need to see solutions and not read outs of problems, which anyone with half a brain can do.

 

[RollingStones]

I think there are some serious steps the top Indian leadership is taking to improve the situation. Unfortunately , the results are lacking for a variety of reasons, including widespread corruption and incompetence in government.

Here is UNICEF's assessment of the situation:

India has failed to use a period of high economic growth to lift tens of millions of people out of poverty, falling far short of China's record in protecting its population from the ravages of chronic hunger, United Nations officials said on Tuesday.

Unicef, the UN's child development agency, said India, Asia's third largest economy, had not followed the example of other regional economies such as China, South Korea and Singapore in investing in its people during an economic boom. It said this failure spelled trouble as the global economy deteriorated, while volatile fuel and food prices had already deepened deprivation over the past two years.

The stinging criticism of India's performance comes only two weeks after the Congress party-led alliance was overwhelmingly voted back into office. Its leaders had campaigned strongly on their achievement of raising India's economic growth to 9 per cent and boosting rural welfare.

An unfavourable comparison with Beijing's development record will rile New Delhi. Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, has argued that the country's economic development is more durable than that of China because it is forged in a democracy rather than by a one-party state.

Unicef attacks India's record on poverty

Also, the author of this report seems pretty ignorant. He is citing one year of bad growth in a country's recessionary period to imply that the country is in dire straits. That is absurd, to say the least. The article is simply written badly with no details at all. The author needs to say what India has to do to get there and assess if they are doing it or not. The Acts that I cited seem to to move India in that direction. There are very generic things such as "poor investment in human capital". What exactly does this mean? If I were you, I would not use this article to explain your position. You need to cite more contemporary and detailed articles, talking about what India needs to exactly do to change things around and what prevents them from doing so. Anything else is a just a sheer waste of time, in my opinion.

 

[Agnostic_Indian]

The statistics are bitter but i think is true and there is no point in denying it.I gracefully accept the current facts and im sure in the next decade we will surely improve the situation because our economy is on right track.

 

[back_again_ban]

india is poor , india is dirty , india is slum... heck.... people just need a break.
india is still a developing country and a lot more is to be done.
fortunately , we are on the right path.
we have laid the base ,, building the sky scraper is not going to be too tough.
just wait for a decade.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

well if harinder kohli is to be believed, india will be an affluent society by 2039 where GDP per capita income will be 10 lakh.

But only if certain policies are undertaken politically. And we all know how hard it is to bring about immediate social changes; changes in the mentality of the people; and end to corruption

as for Pakistan, if we can go back to the growth (and era of social reforms) we were experiencing in early/mid 2000s, then we would be again on the correct path.....all we need is end to energy shortages, and sustainable security/political environment.

 

[Ras]

well if harinder kohli is to be believed, india will be an affluent society by 2039 where GDP per capita income will be 10 lakh.

But only if certain policies are undertaken politically. And we all know how hard it is to bring about immediate social changes; changes in the mentality of the people; and end to corruption

as for Pakistan, if we can go back to the growth (and era of social reforms) we were experiencing in early/mid 2000s, then we would be again on the correct path.....all we need is end to energy shortages, and sustainable security/political environment.

It is impossible..India will always have around 12% poverty.According to estimates India's population will stabilize around 1.5 billion before it starts declining.So that means at any time about 180 million people will still be poor in India.
The challenge is not to eliminate poverty but to reduce it to the 12% level.

 

[RiazHaq]

well if harinder kohli is to be believed, india will be an affluent society by 2039 where GDP per capita income will be 10 lakh.

But only if certain policies are undertaken politically. And we all know how hard it is to bring about immediate social changes; changes in the mentality of the people; and end to corruption

as for Pakistan, if we can go back to the growth (and era of social reforms) we were experiencing in early/mid 2000s, then we would be again on the correct path.....all we need is end to energy shortages, and sustainable security/political environment.

India has its own definition of poverty which leaves many desperately poor out of the poverty count.

Here's a recent Wall Street Journal story about it:


Alimunisha's home is a 150-square-foot mud floor with a roof of plastic tarp held up by bamboo sticks. The beds are burlap potato sacks. There's no running water, electricity or toilet. She can afford to feed her five children one meal a day on the income her husband earns selling traditional drums.
Redefining Poverty in India

But according to the Indian government, Ms. Alimunisha, who goes by only one name, isn't living in poverty.

That means her family doesn't qualify for aid aimed at the poorest Indians, including a program that provides free housing and subsidies that would cut her food costs by two-thirds.

India, one of the world's fastest growing economies, is now embarking on a major reassessment of poverty levels. The review will determine how many struggling people across the world's second-most populous nation, from urban slum dwellers like Ms. Alimunisha to landless farm laborers, will be counted among the ranks of the official poor and get government handouts. At a stroke, tens of millions of people could flood onto the welfare rolls.

Millions of destitute Indian families don't qualify for food subsidies or housing assistance because they are not officially considered poor. Now the government is reassessing its poverty levels.

Generating a reliable list of poor households has become a top priority for the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which has pledged to spread the benefits of India's rapid growth to the aam aadmi, or common man. The government launched its review of poverty as it drafts legislation to give the poorest Indians a right to subsidized food-grains.

Defining poverty is tough in any country. But deciding who is poor, and how much the government can afford to help them, is especially complex in a nation of 1.2 billion where average annual per capita income is $953 and roughly one in two children is malnourished.

Expanding the definition of poverty without ballooning social spending will be doubly difficult. India already spends $12 billion a year on food subsidies alone. The review could add 100 million people to the welfare rolls and $1.3 billion a year to the nation's food-subsidy bill, a burden on a country that is striving to trim public deficits.
------------------
But the most pressing question is how many people the program should cover. Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, who has made the "right to food" bill her pet project, was unhappy with early drafts based on the previous poverty count, because she thought too many people would be left behind, people familiar with her thinking say. Through a spokesman, Mrs. Gandhi declined to comment.

It isn't hard to see why politicians find it so tempting to expand the welfare rolls. In urban areas like Ismail Ganj, the Lucknow slum where Ms. Alimunisha lives, residents beg for water from nearby government buildings, often without success. They bath and defecate in the open.

Last September, the city bulldozed the slum prior to the planned inauguration by the state governor of a building across the street—the state's Human Rights Commission. The ceremony was canceled amid a backlash over the incident. Residents re-erected their mud and bamboo homes.

Ms. Alimunisha's husband earns about $40 per month—less than the official poverty line for a household of seven—by selling "dholaks," folk drums made of mango wood and goat skin.

"I feel so bad being poor," Ms. Alimunisha says. "Are we going to have to live like this all our lives?"

India's Welfare Gamble: Add 100 Million to the Rolls - WSJ.com

 

[RollingStones]

India has its own definition of poverty which leaves many desperately poor out of the poverty count.

Here's a recent Wall Street Journal story about it:


Alimunisha's home is a 150-square-foot mud floor with a roof of plastic tarp held up by bamboo sticks. The beds are burlap potato sacks. There's no running water, electricity or toilet. She can afford to feed her five children one meal a day on the income her husband earns selling traditional drums.
Redefining Poverty in India

But according to the Indian government, Ms. Alimunisha, who goes by only one name, isn't living in poverty.

That means her family doesn't qualify for aid aimed at the poorest Indians, including a program that provides free housing and subsidies that would cut her food costs by two-thirds.

India, one of the world's fastest growing economies, is now embarking on a major reassessment of poverty levels. The review will determine how many struggling people across the world's second-most populous nation, from urban slum dwellers like Ms. Alimunisha to landless farm laborers, will be counted among the ranks of the official poor and get government handouts. At a stroke, tens of millions of people could flood onto the welfare rolls.

Millions of destitute Indian families don't qualify for food subsidies or housing assistance because they are not officially considered poor. Now the government is reassessing its poverty levels.

Generating a reliable list of poor households has become a top priority for the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which has pledged to spread the benefits of India's rapid growth to the aam aadmi, or common man. The government launched its review of poverty as it drafts legislation to give the poorest Indians a right to subsidized food-grains.

Defining poverty is tough in any country. But deciding who is poor, and how much the government can afford to help them, is especially complex in a nation of 1.2 billion where average annual per capita income is $953 and roughly one in two children is malnourished.

Expanding the definition of poverty without ballooning social spending will be doubly difficult. India already spends $12 billion a year on food subsidies alone. The review could add 100 million people to the welfare rolls and $1.3 billion a year to the nation's food-subsidy bill, a burden on a country that is striving to trim public deficits.
------------------
But the most pressing question is how many people the program should cover. Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, who has made the "right to food" bill her pet project, was unhappy with early drafts based on the previous poverty count, because she thought too many people would be left behind, people familiar with her thinking say. Through a spokesman, Mrs. Gandhi declined to comment.

It isn't hard to see why politicians find it so tempting to expand the welfare rolls. In urban areas like Ismail Ganj, the Lucknow slum where Ms. Alimunisha lives, residents beg for water from nearby government buildings, often without success. They bath and defecate in the open.

Last September, the city bulldozed the slum prior to the planned inauguration by the state governor of a building across the street—the state's Human Rights Commission. The ceremony was canceled amid a backlash over the incident. Residents re-erected their mud and bamboo homes.

Ms. Alimunisha's husband earns about $40 per month—less than the official poverty line for a household of seven—by selling "dholaks," folk drums made of mango wood and goat skin.

"I feel so bad being poor," Ms. Alimunisha says. "Are we going to have to live like this all our lives?"

India's Welfare Gamble: Add 100 Million to the Rolls - WSJ.com

We cant get systems and solution right in a country of 300 million people and healthy amount of resources. Try implementing it in a country of 1 Billion + people with a lot less resources. Alimunisha needs to get a job guaranteed under the Employment guarantee scheme and then if she does not get paid, use the RTI Act to get paid. Alimunisha cannot expect a government bail out. Once the Government passes the Right to Food Bill, then she can claim under that as well. Until then, she has to work.

 

[Ras]

India has its own definition of poverty which leaves many desperately poor out of the poverty count.

Here's a recent Wall Street Journal story about it:


Alimunisha's home is a 150-square-foot mud floor with a roof of plastic tarp held up by bamboo sticks. The beds are burlap potato sacks. There's no running water, electricity or toilet. She can afford to feed her five children one meal a day on the income her husband earns selling traditional drums.
Redefining Poverty in India

But according to the Indian government, Ms. Alimunisha, who goes by only one name, isn't living in poverty.

That means her family doesn't qualify for aid aimed at the poorest Indians, including a program that provides free housing and subsidies that would cut her food costs by two-thirds.

India, one of the world's fastest growing economies, is now embarking on a major reassessment of poverty levels. The review will determine how many struggling people across the world's second-most populous nation, from urban slum dwellers like Ms. Alimunisha to landless farm laborers, will be counted among the ranks of the official poor and get government handouts. At a stroke, tens of millions of people could flood onto the welfare rolls.

Millions of destitute Indian families don't qualify for food subsidies or housing assistance because they are not officially considered poor. Now the government is reassessing its poverty levels.

Generating a reliable list of poor households has become a top priority for the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which has pledged to spread the benefits of India's rapid growth to the aam aadmi, or common man. The government launched its review of poverty as it drafts legislation to give the poorest Indians a right to subsidized food-grains.

Defining poverty is tough in any country. But deciding who is poor, and how much the government can afford to help them, is especially complex in a nation of 1.2 billion where average annual per capita income is $953 and roughly one in two children is malnourished.

Expanding the definition of poverty without ballooning social spending will be doubly difficult. India already spends $12 billion a year on food subsidies alone. The review could add 100 million people to the welfare rolls and $1.3 billion a year to the nation's food-subsidy bill, a burden on a country that is striving to trim public deficits.
------------------
But the most pressing question is how many people the program should cover. Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, who has made the "right to food" bill her pet project, was unhappy with early drafts based on the previous poverty count, because she thought too many people would be left behind, people familiar with her thinking say. Through a spokesman, Mrs. Gandhi declined to comment.

It isn't hard to see why politicians find it so tempting to expand the welfare rolls. In urban areas like Ismail Ganj, the Lucknow slum where Ms. Alimunisha lives, residents beg for water from nearby government buildings, often without success. They bath and defecate in the open.

Last September, the city bulldozed the slum prior to the planned inauguration by the state governor of a building across the street—the state's Human Rights Commission. The ceremony was canceled amid a backlash over the incident. Residents re-erected their mud and bamboo homes.

Ms. Alimunisha's husband earns about $40 per month—less than the official poverty line for a household of seven—by selling "dholaks," folk drums made of mango wood and goat skin.

"I feel so bad being poor," Ms. Alimunisha says. "Are we going to have to live like this all our lives?"

India's Welfare Gamble: Add 100 Million to the Rolls - WSJ.com

She should go to work...if she can her husband produced 5 kids it is their responsibility to feed them also. Not take money from other taxpayers.

Same thing in the US...I am sick of people always taking money from people who actually work and pay taxes.

 

[Hutchroy]

Poisoning the people

In Lahore, 253 out of 392 tube-wells being run by WASA have been found to be producing water which contains arsenic, according to a survey carried out by the provincial Environmental Protection Department. Levels of the toxin in the water are stated to be five times higher than the WHO standards. Since similar testing has presumably not taken place in smaller towns, there is no way of knowing how things stand there. The thousands of people subjected to slow poisoning in the Punjab capital are unaware of the dangers they face. The question is: what has been done to protect them? The hazardous health effects of arsenic, a heavy metal which can damage organs and cause headaches, rashes and loss of appetite among other conditions, have been well documented. The problem of high arsenic levels in soil leaching into water has come up in Bangladesh, and other places. At home too, in villages close to Lahore and in other parts of Punjab we have seen children suffering severe deformities as a result of contaminated water. Stomach diseases are more common and represent a key reason for the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

The problem continues year after year. No remedies are offered up, nothing done to save lives. The provision of water that does not cause harm to people is a key responsibility of the government. WASA, with the assistance of experts, must review what it can do to make sure people are not poisoned by the water they drink. Measures must be taken immediately to, as a first step, warn people and advise them what they can do to stay safe. In the longer run, the duty of ensuring that people are not harmed by the water provided to them must be accepted and a strategy developed to make clean water available to every citizen of Pakistan.

 

[Treatment]

Useless thread from a useless blogger.

 

[RollingStones]

Poisoning the people

In Lahore, 253 out of 392 tube-wells being run by WASA have been found to be producing water which contains arsenic, according to a survey carried out by the provincial Environmental Protection Department. Levels of the toxin in the water are stated to be five times higher than the WHO standards. Since similar testing has presumably not taken place in smaller towns, there is no way of knowing how things stand there. The thousands of people subjected to slow poisoning in the Punjab capital are unaware of the dangers they face. The question is: what has been done to protect them? The hazardous health effects of arsenic, a heavy metal which can damage organs and cause headaches, rashes and loss of appetite among other conditions, have been well documented. The problem of high arsenic levels in soil leaching into water has come up in Bangladesh, and other places. At home too, in villages close to Lahore and in other parts of Punjab we have seen children suffering severe deformities as a result of contaminated water. Stomach diseases are more common and represent a key reason for the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

The problem continues year after year. No remedies are offered up, nothing done to save lives. The provision of water that does not cause harm to people is a key responsibility of the government. WASA, with the assistance of experts, must review what it can do to make sure people are not poisoned by the water they drink. Measures must be taken immediately to, as a first step, warn people and advise them what they can do to stay safe. In the longer run, the duty of ensuring that people are not harmed by the water provided to them must be accepted and a strategy developed to make clean water available to every citizen of Pakistan.

Pakistan needs a right to information act like the RTI Act in India or the FOIA Act in the US. That is the first step to fighting corruption. The second step is to institute measures such as plea bargain in both India and Pakistan so court verdicts are faster and more effective. The third is constitutional amendments that bar family-based politics by authorizing only candidates that democratically get elected within their own parties - sort of like primaries in the US. Get these done and you will have corruption go away and have more effective governance. These are proven solutions. Somebody get out there and lobby hard.

 

[Hutchroy]

Sorry Mr. Haq, India's Toilet to Mobile Telephones declines further :

Telecom Subscription Data as on 30th June 2010

Wireless subscription reaches 635.51 Million

17.98 Million new additions in wireless

Overall Tele-density reaches 56.83