CUTS IN MEDIA-2005

 

Who has the medicines?
December 22, 2005, The Statesman
Night watchman carries the bat at Hong Kong
December 28, 2005, The Hindu Business Line
"India fared well at Hong Kong"
December 23, 2005, The Hindu Business Line
India's liberalisation policy may weaken position at WTO: Sinha
December 22, 2005, ZEE News, New Delhi
Pascal Lamy's Letter to Editor
December 21, 2005,The Hindu Business Line
WTO: Consumers are prisoners of this war
December 13-19, 2005, The Monitor
NGOs flay WTO Ministerial agreement
December 18, 2005, PTI, Hong Kong
Plight of farmers discussed
December 15, 2005, The Himachal Times
New forum on economic policy
December 10, 2005, The Hindu, New Delhi, India
Par-Fore in Media Coverage
December 09, 2005, Dainik Bhaskar, New Delhi
Par-Fore in Media Coverage
December 09, 2005, Rajasthan Patrika, New Delhi
Zambia can benefit from NEPAD if she implements agricultural projects
December 05, 2005, THE POST, Lusaka, Zambia

Some leaders are having wrong expectations of NEPAD – Deyell
November 30, 2005, THE POST, Lusaka, Zambia
Trade liberalisation holds the key to development
November 29, 2005, HT Live, New Delhi
Consultation on regional economic cooperation starts
November 22, 2005, Star Business
SAARC countries can gain through mutually beneficial plans: Altaf
November 22, 2005, United News of Bangladesh
Time for resolving contentious issues ahead of SAFTA implementation may be extended
November 22, 2005, The Financial Express
Time for a National Competition Policy for India
November 14, 2005, Western Times, Ahmedabad

CUTS bags WTO project
October 31, 2005, The Hindu Business Line
Mix pasta and pain killer at own risk
October 25, 2005, DNA
WTO offers opportunities
October 07, 2005, Dainik Bhaskar
UPA Government performance satisfactory
October 07, 2005, The Western Times, Ahmedabad
Medicine stocks abysmal at Bengal public hospitals
October 05, 2005, New Kerala & Webindia123.com
‘Oil shock hinders LDC growth’
October 05, 2005, NEW AGE Business, Dhaka
Medical cuts
October 03, 2005, Asian Age, Kolkata
Medicine shortage
October 02, 2005, Hindustan Times, Kolkata
Rational Use of Drugs
October 01, 2005, Ajkal

Good Economics is Good Politics-
Parliamentarians Unite to Build Consensus on Economic Reforms

September 28, 2005, Western Times, Ahmedabad
US, EU must eliminate subsidies to move forward in WTO: India
September 22, 2005, DAILY NEWS, Sri Lanka
Humayun for greater regional economic cooperation
September 25, 2005, The News
‘Development’ is the key for the success of the WTO Doha Round
September 19, 2005, Western Times
‘Development issues should grab more attention at WTO’
September 17, 2005, The Financial Express
CUTS to set up institute for inter-disciplinary studies
September 13, 2005, HT Jaipur Live
Specify the direction of Common Minimum Programme: Dixit
September 10, 2005, Rashtriya Sahara
Beefing up regulators

The Hindu Business Line

Private sector’s failed to use COMESA
August 31, 2005, Zambia Daily Mail, Zambia
Meet discusses key economic challenges
August 25, 2005, HT Jaipur Live
Seminar on common minimum programme
August 24, 2005, HT Jaipur Live
Regional Seminar on National Common Minimum Programme(NCMP)
and Its Prospects on Economic Reforms

August 24, 2005, Rajasthan Patrika
Regional Seminar on National Common Minimum Programme(NCMP)
and Its Prospects on Economic Reforms
August 24, 2005, Nafa-Nuksan
Harmonise labour, immigration laws, State urged
August 24, 2005, Zambia Daily, Zambia
Privatisation has de-industrialised Zambia – Patel
August 23, 2005, The Post, Lusaka
Scrutinise ZPA, ZIC, EBZ, State urged
August 23, 2005, Zambia Daily Mail, Lusaka
Seminar aims to build competitiveness
August 18, 2005, Vietnam News, Vietnam
Monopoly hampers growth: Lagadapati
August 07, 2005, The Hindu
Lively debate on reforms
August 07, 2005, The New Sunday Express
For ethics, you can bet on ancient wisdom
August 04, 2005, The Hindu Business Line
Meet on reducing child domestic help
August 01, 2005, HT Jaipur Live

Rehabilitation of Domestic Child Workers
July 28, 2005, Rajasthan Patrika
Urge to Change Behaviour towards Domestic Child Workers
July 28, 2005, Rajasthan Patrika
Call for Changing Attitude towards Children
July 28, 2005, Dainik Navjyoti
Seminar to be held on economic reforms
July 27, 2005, The Hindu
Developed nations calling the shots at WTO
July 27, 2005, The Hindu
Novel child-to-child action plan
July 27, 2005, The Hindu
Project for child workers to be launched in city
July 25, 2005, The Hindustan Times
Economic Forum by the Parliamentarians
July 22, 2005, Amar Ujala
MPs get together to float economic forum

July 22, 2005, Business Standard
Forum on economic issues formed
July 22, 2005, The Hindu
CUTS holds farmers' rights
June 15, 2005, Business Standard

Archives

Who has the medicines?

December 22, 2005, The Statesman
Kolkata

A World Health Organisation (WHO)-funded study on the availability of essential medicines at state government hospitals across seven districts of West Bengal including Kolkata has found that only one-third of the core list of essential medicines of WHO are available at public hospitals.

Funded by WHO and Health Action International (HAI) and authored by Dr Santanu Tripathi, medical superintendent of SSKM Hospital, Dr Avijit Hazra, department of pharmacology, SSKM and Mr Dalia Dey of Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) among others, the survey found that only seven of the 21 drugs identified by WHO as essentials were available at the public hospitals of the state. Thirty two medicines (of which 21 are from the core list of the WHO/HAI methodology), were surveyed in 26 public organisations including rural hospitals and 35 private retail outlets spread over Kolkata and six other districts of West Bengal. Out of the 32 medicines surveyed, only 13 were available at the public hospitals surveyed that included four city-based hospitals — SSKM, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, NRS Medical College and Hospital and Sambhunath Pandit Hospital.

Of the 13 (of the 32) essential medicines available, only amoxicillin 250 mg tablets/capsules showed over 90 per cent availability. Only four of the seven anti-bacterials were available. Isosorbide dinitrate, a very cheap emergency medicine for acute anginal attacks, was not available. The treatment of epilepsy would not be possible at public hospitals as neither phenytoin nor carbamazepine (or for that matter, other antiepileptics) were available. Diazepam tablets too were missing. There were no inhalers for asthmatics and also no drugs to calm acutely agitated psychiatric patients.

“The WHO/HAI manual provides a core list of 30 medicines. However, nine core medicines were removed from the survey because of known limited availability in West Bengal. As WHO/HAI methodology provides for inclusion of supplementary medicines reflecting local morbidity patterns, we included 11 medicines, which meant that 32 medicines in all were surveyed,” Mr Dalia Dey, one of the members of the survey team, told The Statesman.

The survey also found that medicines were readily available from private retail counters, but this comes at a price higher than international reference prices. Standard treatments are mostly affordable, provided that the earning member of a family draws minimum daily wages at rates specified by the government, the survey ruled.
The survey report, which was forwarded to WHO and the state health minister, principal secretary of the state health department and other senior health officials also made certain recommendations. The survey called for urgent steps to assess the functioning of the public distribution system for medicines in the state.

The news can be read at:
URL: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=22&id=128209&usrsess=1

Night watchman carries the bat at Hong Kong

December 28, 2005, The Hindu
New Delhi, India
By Sharad Joshi

The Minister for Commerce, Mr Kamal Nath and his team fielded a good show at the Hong Kong Ministerial.

The much-awaited World Trade Organisation's Hong Kong Ministerial, as part of the Doha Development Round, has come and gone. And what has been the outcome? Did the developing countries get anything out of it? There is much debate on what the Commerce Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, brought back from Hong Kong.

Left leaders Prakash Karat and Anil Biswas were quoted by a daily rating Mr Kamal Nath's performance as `Good', and India's role as positive. "It is true that all our demands are not met. But, given the present situation of the trade talks, it would not have been possible for the Government of India to do much better than what it did at Hong Kong," according to the leaders. That was indeed generous, given that the Left has been attacking both the WTO and the Congress for its globalisation policies. This, in all probability, indicates that when the matter is debated in Parliament the Left has no intentions of attacking the UPA Government.

"Laddoos and jalebis for Kamal Nath" wrote Dr Pradeep Mehta of CUTS, who was part of the official Indian delegation to the Hong Kong ministerial, in a business daily. "We need to encourage Nath and his team of bureaucrats, rather than run them down. They are fully conscious of the bigger goal of protecting our farmers and achieving the goal of development not only for India but also for the whole South," he went on.

Not much of a difference between the perception of the Left and that of the NGOs.

The performance of Mr Kamal Nath and his team can be judged by what was brought back for India at the end of six days of strenuous and acrimonious negotiations.

The ministerial negotiations had several aspects. But the key was, of course, agriculture. Team Kamal Nath had a very limited representation of the Agriculture Ministry. But, then, with agriculture's contribution to GDP down to 21 per cent, it no more presents the same interest as it did during the Uruguay Round, even though it sustains 70 per cent of the country's population.

The limited advance in the negotiations on the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) should not weigh disproportionately on one's judgment about what India, as a whole, really gained. The country has much larger interests in the industry and services sectors and inter-sector trade-offs are the reality of the day.

As to what India gained from Hong Kong Ministerial, the answer will obviously depend on one's perception of the interests of India as also the expectations one had about the outcome.

If one expected that because of the emphasis on the development aspects in this Round, the richer countries would make all the concessions, obviously that did not happen. True, the Hong Kong Declaration assures that the Green Box would be passed in review; that there would be a safe box for the food-aid receiving countries, and that the developing countries would have greater latitude in listing the special products. But the fact remains that the rich countries have not made any concessions on the domestic support in agriculture. Even the export subsidies are to be abolished according to a calendar that suits the European Union.

Those who thought that they would get all the concessions from the United States and would not have to make any to Bangladesh in the matter of trade in garments would also be disappointed. Nationalist protectionism invariably has double standards. Its expectations are bound to be frustrated in any trade talks.

But no one really expected any significant advance at Hong Kong. In fact, most knowledgeable people knew that there would be a further round of talks, in the near future. That has happened. The new modalities are to be negotiated in another four months. That is rather an ambitious time schedule. But it at least shows the sincerity of the negotiators.

There is reason to be happy that Hong Kong was an improvement over the Cancun ministerial. In that there is a common ministerial declaration. The WTO has survived in spite of the verbal tirades and violent protests on the streets of Hong Kong. The ministers have succeeded in moving towards enunciating certain principles and the work programme for future action.

The dominant factor at Hong Kong was the consciousness of "the cost of failure". If the ministerial had collapsed as in Cancun, that would have been an irretrievable setback for the WTO. Both the OECD and the developing countries were well aware of this reality. Similarly, everyone was aware of the fact that no agreement could be arrived at Hong Kong and that they were to use the occasion for voicing their concerns.

India had played a major role in organising the Group of 20 at Cancun. At Hong Kong, a strong bridge was built between the G-20 and the G-110 that represents the developing and the least developed countries. After the joint meeting of the G-110 and the European Union, it was clear to all that the poorer countries were in no mood to give any thing way without a stiff resistance. Mr Kamal Nath played a major role by becoming a prominent interlocutor for the group. It is the consolidation of the G-110 and the G-20 that forced the European Union to make a major concession on export subsidies on the very last day.

The Hong Kong Ministerial has kept the hope alive. If it took 60 years for the GATT (General Agreement of Trade and Tariffs) to blossom into the WTO, the WTO agreements will take a much shorter period to bring in a world, if not sans frontiers, at least with minimal barricades.

Nothing palpably concrete came out of the Hong Kong Ministerial. So, it would be wrong to deride or play up Mr Kamal Nath's role.

After the Doha conference there was a stalemate. The Cancun ministerial failed. Mr Kamal Nath was sent as the night watchman to keep the innings going until the real stroke-play starts. The Minister (and his Team of 80) has done quite well at the crease. He should be feeling quietly confident of giving a good account of himself in four month's time.

URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/12/28/stories/2005122800281000.htm

"India fared well at Hong Kong"

December 23, 2005, The Hindu
New Delhi, India

The Indian delegation at the just-concluded Hong Kong World Trade Organisation Ministerial conference was better prepared than in the previous rounds, parliamentarians, cutting across political parties, said on Wednesday.

The fact that the conference did not break down was "a success in itself," they said at a meeting held here under the banner of the Parliamentarians Forum on Economic Policy Issues.

The former Maharashtra Governor and independent member of the Rajya Sabha, P. C. Alexander, said duty and quota-free market access to the least developed countries was cause for concern in India.

This news can also be viewed at:
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/23/stories/2005122306181400.htm

India's liberalisation policy may weaken position at WTO: Sinha

December 22, 2005, ZEE News
New Delhi, India

India's policy of opening up the economy on its own and without any pressure from other countries may weaken its negotiating position at the WTO, former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha has said.

"India through its liberalization is moving forward. Our average tariffs came down to 20 per cent. However, it is feared that this autonomous liberalization will weaken our negotiating position in the WTO," he said, at a discussion under the banner of the Parliamentarians Forum on Economic Policy Issues (PAR-FORE).

Other MPs who took part in the discussions of PAR-FORE, constituted at the initiative of cuts international, were of the opinion that there has been a major change in the negotiating skills of India and other developing countries in comparison to the Uruguay round of GATT.

Sinha said, India was now better organised than the previous rounds.

"As the negotiations are getting complex we are increasingly improving our preparedness towards negotiations. Now, there is a greater interest both inside and outside the Parliament on trade related matters," he said.

This news can also be viewed at:
URL:http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=264244&sid=BUS&ssid=50

Pascal Lamy's Letter to Editor

December 21, 2005, The Hindu Business Line
New Delhi, India

WTO draft
I read with interest the piece “WTO draft ministerial text: One step forward, two steps back” (Business Line, December 7). The article has rightly spotted that I stuck to the “bottom-up” approach, which Members feel so strongly about in drafting texts for consideration of ministers.

It has the advantage of mirroring faithfully the situation of the negotiation, not introducing through the back door convergence, which did not appear by the front door.

It has the inconvenience of mirroring faithfully the situation of the negotiation… which is 5 per cent above the July framework… 50 per cent of the road, as can be seen by the final text. This text was adopted by the General Council, which has not happened since 10 years.

On balance, I believe that, given the very short time remaining for the negotiation in 2006, a clean mirror should be the best incentive to move forward.

Pascal Lamy
Director-General of the WTO

NGOs flay WTO Ministerial agreement

December 18, 2005, PTI
Hong Kong

Expressing dissappointment over the WTO deal, leading civil society organisations today flayed the sixth WTO Ministerial declaration saying developed countries must do much more for a fair outcome.

The World Development Movement said the gains from the 2013 as the end date for elimination of export subsidies had been blown out of proportion.

"Setting the date of 2013 to end export subsidies is a symbolic gesture of marginal benefit, made ten years late," Peter Hardstaff, Head of Policy at the World Development Movement said.

Action Aid said, "poor countries cannot wait for eight years to see an end to EU's export subsidies. The offer means that yet again, minority interests are put before the needs of the majority of the world's population".

Another leading NGO Green Peace also said the agreement on 2013 as the date of elimination of export subsidies was only a symbolic gesture.

"This text is only a symbolic gesture, creating the delusion that the developed countries have given something in return for the concessions they have extracted from developing countries, " the organisation said.

CUTS International described the deal as a mixed bag and a forward movement over the July package of 2004.

URL: http://www.ptinews.com/pti/ptisite.nsf/$all/6FFE083B3A6E75C2652570DB005176CD

WTO: Consumers are prisoners of this war

December 13-19, 2005, The Monitor
Dehradun, India

What could a recovering HIV/Aids patient admitted at Kabale Hospital and a half-naked, emaciated woman standing with a loaded bowl at a relief distribution point in an Internally Displaced People's (IDP) camp in Gulu, have in common? One would say, both are overwhelmed by the predicament they are faced with and require help from outside.

Also, both are consumers: the latter is a consumer of aid (mainly from the USA) and the former is a healthcare consumer fighting for dear life with help of free life-sustaining anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy accessed through a state-funded (but donor supported!) distribution programme.

And well as the above observations are correct, we may be looking at symptoms. The root cause remains concealed from ordinary eyes. It is an apparent paradox: the two people could be pawns or accidental beneficiaries in a skewed global trading system under the aegis of the Word Trade Organisation (WTO).

The system continues to lock out poor countries from partaking benefits that their rich counterparts enjoy.

With the sixth meeting of the highest decision-making body in the WTO, the Ministerial Conference, starting today in Hong Kong, China, its time to take stock of where we stand in the global trading system.

Like the Cancun (Mexico) Ministerial meeting, the Hong Kong summit is already widely seen as a likely flop.

For a decade now, grim-faced developing countries have waited to smile. The emotional feeling has been motivated by expectations that efforts aimed at regulating world trade, under the WTO, would enable poor countries to reap from a rules-based trading system. Their dreams are yet to turn into reality.

According to the Draft Ministerial Text (DMT), the beef is mainly around trade liberalisation - agriculture and non-agricultural products. Other issues include; trade facilitation, special and differential treatment (a kind of affirmative action to poor countries), trade and environment, Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights (TRIPS) and public health.

However, in a pre-conference analysis, renowned consumer activists and WTO critics, Pradeep S. Mehta and Pranav Kumar, maintain that progress on all these issues is highly dependent upon substantial movement on the core issues of trade liberalisation, particularly agriculture.

The main additional issues at Hong Kong will include trade and aid for trade.

But let us see how the victims at Kabale and Gulu fit into the picture. First, availability of free ARVs came about after immense pressure from an increasingly powerful civil society lobby interspersed with a few feeble public sector voices from poor countries.

The picketing of civil society melted the hitherto strong resistance against relaxing the global intellectual property (IP) regime through lacing it with a humanitarian appeal. They discussed figures reflecting that every year, millions of poor people die of malaria, Aids, TB, diarrhoea among other ailments, for lack of basic drugs.
This state of affairs stood to get worse if the WTO TRIPS Agreement came into force around the world.

Universal compliance with TRIPS meant that cheap generic drugs would disappear from drugstore shelves and community health facilities like the one at Kabale. This appeared to pierce the hearts of the rich countries.

Accordingly, during the Doha Round of the WTO trade negotiations, poor countries were given a lifeline: compliance with TRIPS was pushed up to 2016 (in case of pharmaceuticals). But given a second look, it was a convenient trade-off; to contain noise and attention from the more contentious negotiations on agriculture trade, the broad area under which we shall later examine the woman from the IDP in Gulu.

International trade data suggests that the multi-billion dollar global pharmaceuticals industry can at most get a tiny scratch when the status quo prevailed for a while. Africa's share in the pharmaceuticals market is an insignificant 1 percent; even when the other developing countries are considered (minus India, china and Brazil), the figures remain in single digit.

And how does the IDP fit into the picture of global trade? International aid programmes, it is widely observed, are a conduit for off-loading surplus production from agricultural giants, the USA and the EU. Highly subsidised, yet employing a tiny fraction, the developed country agricultural steamroller continues to stifle poor countries' efforts to compete favourably and access markets. This costs jobs, threatens food security, sovereignty and upsets prudential fiscal planning.

Of course Pascal Lamy's WTO was not even established when the 20-year civil war in northern Uganda started. Neither is the organisation and the system it nourishes directly behind the high HIV/Aids infection rates in poor developing countries, including Uganda.

But let us peer a little further. If the global pharmaceutical industry was not motivated by the huge profits partly buttressed by the prevailing patent regime, perhaps several manufacturers could have been humane enough and dedicated a substantial part of their research and development budgets to finding a cure for malaria, HIV/Aids and the other 'diseases of the poor.'

Moved by pictures depicting malnutrition and despondency in Africa as is often relayed on network TV channels, the rich countries would, through their respective agricultural policies, protect the livelihood of over 70 percent of the wretched people in poor countries who entirely depend on agriculture. That has been the long held story.

Yet, against the above common wisdom, the World Food Programme last week threw a spanner in the works: the global food aid agency suggested that food aid consumers and poor farmers are simply being used as pawns by poor countries to drum up reforms that would win them badly needed concessions from their developed counterparts.

The agency said the global humanitarian food aid system and trade are two separate things and should not be fused during the negotiations.

With this ammunition, the developed world should step to the new battlefront with fresh blood. Like renowned Kenyan activist Oduor Ongwen said recently, international trade is like war; one has to fight to retain ground, while making efforts to capture some more.

I should add that in this perpetual war, the consumer could conveniently be taken as prisoner of war, or might suffer the fate of the grass (denoted in a common cliché), depending on what side he/she is found whenever fresh battles breakout.

This article can also be viewed at:
URL: http://www.monitor.co.ug/bizfin/bf12139.php

Plight of farmers discussed

December 15, 2005, The Himachal Times
Dehradun, India

Farmers must have their say on the question of sharing the natural resources preserved by them over hundreds of years. This was emphasized at a capacity building workshop organized in Dehradun by Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), Calcutta and the Rural Litigation & Entitlement Kendra (RLEK) Dehradun.

In the context of WTO, the question of prior informed consent of the farmers and the principals of benfit sharing by them with any external individual, institution or organization has become extremely important. Vijay Kumar Dhaundiyal, additional secretary, Minster of Agriculture, Government of Uttaranchal, inaugurated the workshop.

In his keynote address, SMA Kazmi described the plight of farmers in the mountain regions of the country, especially in the central Himalayas, inspite of the extremely rich natural resources of the region, and their profound traditional knowledge in this regard. He observed that the WTO regime has put intense pressure on our government to do away with all kind subsidies and determined by the developed countries regarding agriculture seeds, crops etc.

Among the other speaks and participants Shishir Prashant, Dr. Ghayur Alam, Director Centre for Sustainable Development, Dehradun, discussed briefly the basic issue concerning WTO and its pros and cons in respect of the farmers and their rights.

Kunwar Prasun of “Beej Bachao Andolan” from Tehri Garhwal shared elaborately the traditional knowledge and practices of the farmers of Garhwal Himalayas, which are now increasingly threatening by the tendencies of monoculture.

A large number of farmers and NGO functionaries from different parts of Garhwal participated in the day long discussion.

Many of them raised a number of relevant questions and gave their observations and perception about the external interventio0ns and the extremely inadequate role of the government. Prof Nabin Sen of the Calcutta University wrapped up the workshop.

New forum on economic policy

December 10, 2005, The Hindu
New Delhi, India

A "Parliamentarians' Forum on Economic Policy Issues", comprising 45 members of various parties, has been launched here.

Meant to be a bipartisan platform to address economic issues, it has been set up by CUTS International, a research, advocacy and networking group, working on policy issues.

The MPs, who were present at the launch, felt that India needed a stronger regulatory framework and that regulators should be made accountable to Parliament instead of to ministries.

Par-Fore in Media Coverage

December 09, 2005, Dainik Bhaskar
New Delhi, India

Par-Fore in Media Coverage

December 09, 2005, Rajasthan Patrika
New Delhi, India

Zambia can benefit from NEPAD if she implements agricultural projects

December 05, 2005, THE POST
Lusaka, Zambia

ZAMBIA needs to identify and implement national agricultural projects if she is to benefit from the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) it has been observed.

Stakeholders at a recent workshop on NEPAD agriculture programmes organized by PELUM Association Zambia, and Consumer Unity and Trust Society-Africa Resource Centre (CUTS-ARC) agreed that the country currently had scanty benefits from the continental initiative.

They identified projects deemed relevant under NEPAD, which they recommended Zambia to pursue.

These include capacity building for small-scale farmers on the use of land and water systems, construction and improvement of rural road network, fish farming and fish conservation, rice growing, sugar cane growing and processing, cassava project in all rainfall regions, constructing and renovation of existing dams and the development of agriculture market information systems.

The stakeholders noted the importance of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the need to streamline it into national policy in order to promote agriculture in Zambia.

The vision for agriculture is embedded under CAADP, which is sanctioned on four pillars. These are : extending the area under sustainable land management And reliable water control system, improving rural infrastructure and market access, including inputs and finance, increasing food supply and reducing hunger and agriculture research and technology.

The stakeholders observed that the dependence of most Zambian farmers on seasonal rainfall has contributed to food insecurity in the nation, in instances of late rains or droughts.

They recommended the encouragement of water harvesting technologies and the promote irrigation to encourage productiveness, throughout the year.

However, they noted that a major constraint to the use of modern irrigation techniques was electricity, of which is concentrated along the line of rail to the disadvantage of small scale farmers.

They recommended that electricity should also be taken to rural areas.

The stakeholders also identified the problems pertaining to market access, including inputs and finance.

They said there was inadequate transportation facilities to enable agriculture products access the domestic markets, which was worsened by the absence of market information.

They said this situation resulted in farmers selling produce at a price below the production costs.

They recommended that in order for farmers to realize profits from agriculture produce it is important that they are provided with a well net worked transportation system, which will provide efficiency and reduce the cost of production.

Acronyms Beyond Comprehension (ABCs)

By Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

December 03, 2005, Asia Times
New Delhi, India

Ask Sompal Chaudhuri, a farmer in western Uttar Pradesh, what he thinks of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and he will tell you that those three letters, in a language he does not understand, have something to do with dwindling demand for the mustard oil seed he grows.

Beyond that, WTO, or for that matter the whole alphabet soup of acronyms - TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights), TRIMS (trade-related investment measures), NAMA (non-agricultural market access), ROO (rules of origin), ATC (Agreement on Textiles and Clothing), GATS (general agreement on trade in services) and SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) - make no sense whatever.

"I just hope that our babus [bureaucrats] understand these things and get us a better deal, but it seems they know little about farming and have even less interest in trade," he said.

"The complexities of the WTO are not understood even by well-educated individuals," said Pradeep S Mehta, secretary general of the Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) International, a research and advocacy-oriented non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the Indian city of Jaipur and specializing in World Trade Organization issues.

Mehta recalled an instance when a senior civil servant from the government of India asked him what the word "acquis" meant. "I, too, was frankly stumped," said Mehta, explaining the word could not be located in a dictionary of legal terms. "Eventually we discovered that acquis is a French word referring to the total body of law in the European Union that has been cumulatively assembled so far."

It is on such shaky terminological grounds that the futures of large numbers of people - some 800 million farmers, artisans and industrial workers in India alone - are going to be decided, thanks to the regulations they seek for movement of their goods and services across international boundaries.

But the jargon is unavoidable, Mehta said. Each discipline demands expertise and deals with subjects that are inherently complex, even esoteric, and cannot be simplified beyond a point."
He noted that a word such as necessity" may draw its etymological roots from words such as "necessary" or "use" but in the context of the WTO, the same word has definite legal implications and its meaning has to be drawn from the realms of jurisprudence.

"Jargon is inevitable," said economist Bibek Debroy, who has authored and edited eight books on WTO-related subjects since 1992. "But there would be no contradiction if one simultaneously argues that there is a strong case for simplifying trade-related issues for a wider audience."

Take the noun "non-paper", which sounds like an oxymoron (a word or phrase that is apparently incongruous or contradictory), but is often used as a diplomatic technique.

In the WTO, when a country presents a non-paper it means its government has made a certain submission during negotiations or discussions to which it is not bound. In other words, a so-called non-paper contains a specific viewpoint of a government at a particular juncture that could change subsequently.

Biswajit Dhar, professor at the Centre for WTO Studies at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade in New Delhi, is of the view that excessive use of jargon at the WTO often mystifies the real issues and concerns of large numbers of people.

"Developed countries make attempts to have their way in trade negotiations by using words and phrases that cannot be easily comprehended by representatives of less-developed countries," Dhar said.

He pointed out that many of the 148 member countries of the WTO do not have the resources and experts to study and understand the complex factors that determine the direction and flow of world trade. Therefore, they cannot participate in negotiations as equals.

For example, developed countries have succeeded in imposing stringent intellectual property rights on pharmaceutical products and food safety standards on items exported by developing countries, Dhar said, adding that this effectively deprives these countries of easy access to the markets of wealthy nations.

Mehta is of the view that it is not easy to simplify the nitty-gritty of trade rules without making them overly simplistic. "Four years ago, we translated a book on GATT [General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the predecessor to the WTO] from English to Hindi and had found the going extremely difficult."

Even the title of the CUTS publication "Unpacking the GATT" had to be translated to "GATT ke rahasya", which literally means "Mysteries of the GATT".

Debroy thinks the Indian government is doing much more than it did in the past to make its position on WTO issues public by providing more information on its websites.

As executive head of a powerful Chamber of Commerce in New Delhi, he said industry associations needed to go beyond large cities and reach out to people in small towns, adding that the business media in India often did not explain issues - for example, what the "Swiss formula" on farm subsidies implied.

Civil society organizations are perhaps best placed to explain the implications of WTO regulations to ordinary people, Debroy feels. He added a caveat that NGOs should differentiate between facts and opinion, news and views - which, in his opinion, they sometimes do not.

All stakeholders must consciously start addressing the deficit in communications as far as the WTO is concerned, Dhar said. "Lack of clarity on trade-related issues leads to a lot of misunderstanding and even the spread of falsehoods."

The WTO is often unfairly portrayed as the villain or is held responsible for all kinds of ills of developing countries, including the fact thousands of farmers have committed suicide in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh - a state that has taken heartily to globalization - because of their inability to repay loans.

"Even if some of us are of the view that the WTO system has so far tended to benefit the developed world rather than developing countries, my opinion would be a bit more nuanced," Dhar said.

The Geneva-based international body still has the potential to uphold the interests of developing countries and play an important balancing role in rapidly expanding global trade, he said.

But if it is serious about that role, it could start ensuring that the representatives of less-developed countries are suitably empowered to negotiate with officials of developed countries who are better acquainted with the intricacies of WTO negotiations - as well as the jargon deployed by them, Dhar said.

Some leaders are having wrong expectations of NEPAD – Deyell

November 30, 2005, THE POST
Lusaka, Zambia

SOME African leaders have been having wrong expectations of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Canadian High Commissioner John Deyell has observed.

During a workshop on NEPAD agriculture activities at Chrismar Hotel yesterday, High Commissioner Deyell said many African presidents have been complaining that NEPAD is not delivering according to what they expected it to deliver.

They complain that many infrastructure development progammes are not financed under NEPAD. There has been disillusionment that huge government-funded infrastructure programmes are not funded from NEPAD funds. It is a wrong expectation. I am not sure that is what NEPAD promised to deliver.” He said.

High Commissioner Deyell said NEPAD’s emphasis was putting in place a good governance mechanism to attract private sector Investment.

He said some countries had already started benefiting from it.

“The emphasis was on regional cooperation and it is bearing fruit for Zambia,” he said.

Referring to the Zambia/Namibia Bridge, the proposed Zambia/Botswana Bridge and Zambia/Malawi railway line, High Commissioner Deyell said such infrastructure programmes were in the spirit of NEPAD.

“I don’t see why African leaders are complaining.” he said.

He said NEPAD provides one of those Pan-African frame-works, which is capturing world attention very effectively.

He, however, said NEPAD would mean nothing until Individual countries picked it up, people understood it and consequently put pressure on their governments to start living up to the principles of NEPAD.

The dialogue that happens between African leaders and the developed world started in 2001 in the context of GS and issues of Africa have been put forward at various fora. The principles that attracted world leaders were two: The admission that Africa was responsible for its own destiny and that Africans would hold each other accountable for good governance.” He said.

The workshop, organized by Participatory Ecological Land-Use Management (PELUM) association and Consumer Unity and Trust Society – Africa Resource Centre (CUTS-ARC), is being held as activity under the partnership project titled: Information-based Advocacy, Networking, and Capacity Building on NEPAD in Zambia, supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

The workshop, aims at integrating NEPAD agriculture programmes into the National Development Plan, and build capacity among development actors from both civil society and government to have a comprehensive understanding of the NEPAD agricultural programmes.

PELUM board chairperson Jonathan Chisaka said the workshop was another voice to enhance agriculture.

Chisaka said the agricultural sector was facing massive problems and that certain problems such as weather pattern changes are beyond human capacity.

“But there are things humans can put in place to ensure that they solve these problems. We can direct our energies to solve those problems. We hope we will tap what NEPAD has to offer in terms of agriculture, he said.

Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflections (JCTR) director Fr Peter Henriot said agriculture was essential to Zambia’s development considering its impact on feeding people, providing employment and exports.

Fr Henriot said it was relieving that agriculture featured so well, at least in words, in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme and the National Development Plan.

Trade liberalisation holds the key to development

November 29, 2005, HT Live
New Delhi

To make governance, institutional strengthening and infrastructural development key elements for development and poverty reduction in developing countries, experts felt that emphasis needs to be laid on trade liberalisation and other trade reforms.

Supporting the theme, Cuts international in cooperation with the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINBUZA) organised a Symposium titled ‘Exploring Linkages between Trade, Development and Poverty Reduction,’ in Geneva recently.

Participants included representatives from many European development ministries, developing country WTO missions, UNCTAD, UNDP, World Bank, and academic and civil society organisations from across Africa, Asia and Europe, where the project is being implemented.

Opening the conference, CUTS secretary general, Pradeep S Mehta gave an overview of the project’s objectives – gathering new insights into trade linkages, poverty reduction and communicating these to national and international policy-makers so that trade policy responds to the needs of the poor. Illustrating the project’s importance by quoting from a recent dialogue in China where a participant stated, “we understand the linkages between trade, development and poverty in our country better than they (global policy-makers) do.”

UNCTAD, Division on International Trade in Goods, Services and Commodities, director; Lakshmi Puri said initiatives like it were ‘vital to giving marginalised groups in developing countries a voice to advocate the type of reforms that will empower them to develop secure livelihoods”.

Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade, director general, Anders Ahnlid, spoke on the importance of ‘development’ in taking forward Doha round of trade talks.

In the first session, the discussions focussed on how the project can develop synergy with other relevant initiatives taking place in the project countries.

Margaret Chemengich from Kenyan Ministry of Trade said, “Although improvements were made in developing electricity and telecommunications infrastructure, access to this is still prohibitively expensive to many of the poor in Kenya”.

A Uganda-based consultant, Alexander Werth said, a recent study he undertook “found that a wide range of trade related technical assistance (TRTA) projects supported by global donors lack domestic ownership and are directed by a donor led-agenda that is often unresponsive to priorities of the developing countries receiving the support”.

He added “more needs to be done to engage civil society organisations in the debate surrounding the TRTA design interventions so that they respond to the people’s needs at the grassroots level.” World Bank, International Trade Department, senior advisor, Carlos Braga expressed concern that international donors are failing to co-ordinate their TRTA activities with each other and those being undertaken by developing countries. These reforms should be co-ordinated with national development strategies to ensure domestic ownership, he stressed. Sustainable Development policy Institute in Pakistan, assistant Executive president Dr. Abid Suleri, emphasised the need for nations supplying aid to support trade expansion, to respond coherently to these challenges.

Consultation on regional economic cooperation starts

November 22, 2005, Star Business
Dhaka, Bangladesh

A two-day national consultation on regional economic cooperation in South Asia began yesterday in Dhaka. The consultation was organised to engage stakeholders' participation in regional trade initiatives and promote policy response.

Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Choudhury formally inaugurated the consultation, jointly organised by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), NGOs Unnayan Shammannay, CUTS International and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.

Inaugurating the consultation, the commerce minister said, "I hope under the umbrella of Saarc all member countries can reap benefits from implementation of mutually beneficial action plans."

Replaying to a query, the minister said South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) should be implemented from January 1, 2006. However, he said, if the contentious issues are not resolved by December this year, the Committee of Experts may be given another three months to resolve the issues.

Chairman of Unnayan Samunnay Atiur Rahman said without a serious political will it is not possible to resolve the barriers in implementing SAFTA.

He also urged the SAARC member countries to allow South Korea to be an observer in the SAARC to expedite the regional trade.

Speaking at the function, FBCCI President Mir Nasir Hossain said South Asian countries should take measures for removing administrative and regulatory constraints to boost investment between themselves.

FBCCI Second Vice-president Dewan Sultan Ahmed and Policy Analyst of CUTS Pranav Kuman also spoke at the function.

SAARC countries can gain through mutually beneficial plans: Altaf

November 22, 2005, United News of Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Choudhury yesterday deplored that the SARRC could not achieve any remarkable work for development for its members in the last two decades.

"We humbly agree that though 20 years have passed since the launching of SAARC, not much remarkable work for the development of the SAARC member countries could be accomplished," the minister said at the inaugural session of 'National Consultation on Regional Economic Cooperation in South Asia' in Dhaka.

But the Commerce Minister highlighted the success of the 13th summit of the seven-member regional body held in Dhaka early this month. The summit, he said, was an opportune occasion to draw up a roadmap for regional cooperation in South Asia for the next decade.

"I firmly believed that the 13th SAARC Summit provided an important vision to find new avenue for meaningful cooperation as well as to face the common challenges of globalization and the disastrous impact of natural calamities," Altaf said.

Organised jointly by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Unnayan Shamannay and Consumer Unity and Trust Society-Centre for International Trade, Economic and Environment (CUTS-CITEE), the function at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel was chaired by Dr. Atiur Rahman of Unnayan Shamannay.

FBCCI president Mir Nasir Hossain also spoke in the occasion.

The commerce minister said that SAARC heads of State and Government have declared the Decade of 2006-2015 as SAARC decade of Poverty Alleviation. "I strongly feel that we need to work collectively for successful implementation of this decision," he said.

Altaf Hossain expressed that hope that under the umbrella of SAARC all member countries could reap the benefits equitably by implementing the mutually beneficial action plans. Later, the Commerce Minister told reporters that apart from revenue loss compensation the SAARC leaders had reached a consensus on the SAFTA.

Speaking on the occasion, Atiur Rahman said despite many uncertainties, there was no doubt that high hopes have been raised by the leaders of South Asia with regard to implementation of the promises they had been making for the last two decades.

"The realisation by the South Asian Leaders that the 'business as usual' will not work and that SAARC will have to rise up to the expectations of the one and a half billion people, 40 per cent of whom are, in fact, poor indeed commendable," he said.

He, however, said that the weak secretariat of SAARC has not been able to exploit the meetings of the South Asian leaders gainfully. "This has been reflected in the sad reality of the very precarious living conditions of at least 600 million poor living in South Asia," he said, adding South Asia is still the hot spot of poverty and hence terrorism.

FBCCI President Mir Nasir Hossain said that it was now the duty both at government and business level to devise appropriate tools that would bring about the desired economic development through trade and investment. He said called for immediate negotiation on SAFTA for its timely launching.

In this context the FBCCI leader referred to outstanding issues of Rules of Origin (RoO), trade facilitation measurers, mechanisms including trade promotion measurers for compensation of revenue loses, harmonisation of standards and customs regulations, finalisation of sensitive list and technical assistance for capacity building.

Time for resolving contentious issues ahead of SAFTA implementation may be extended

November 22, 2005, The Financial Express
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Choudhury said that the time for resolving contentious issues ahead of the implementation of South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) could be extended beyond December, the deadline set for launching of body.

“The Committee of Experts (CoE) will be given three more months after December if they fail to complete negotiations towards launching of SAFTA by December, he said.

The minister was speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural session of a two-day national consultation on “Regional economic Cooperation in South Asia”

The consultation was jointly organised by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Unnayan Shamannay and Consumer Unity and Trust Society-Centre for International Trade, Economic and Environment (CUTS-CITEE) India. The preliminary session was also addressed by FBCCI president Mir Nasir Hossain, noted economist and Unnayan Shamannay chief Dr. Atiur Rahman, and Pranav Kumar, a policy analyst of CUTS.

SAFTA must be implemented through removing the existing tariff, non-tariff and para-tariff barriers, the commerce minister said.

He said dumping and antidumping issues, revenue losses, compensation package, negative lists; rules of origin and other related matters should also be addressed.

He said, “ The main focal point of the 13th SAARC summit was to settle some unsettled issues SAFTA implementation. The seven leaders have made a remarkable headway in this regard. Now we need a declaration before the World Trade Organisation’s next round of talks in Hong Kong about the access of our goods to developed and developing countries’ market including India.”

Identifying SAFTA implementation as a probable remedy for reducing the yawning trade gap among the SAARC countries he said: There should not be any further delay in reaching consensus on implementation of SAFTA.

Atiur Rahman said: “The volume of intra-regional trade is still less than five percent of the global trade compared with 29 percent among ASEAN countries and 63 percent in the EU. To enhance trade volume among the SAARC countries a strong political will is necessary as most of contentious issues can be resolved if the political leaders come to a consensus.”

In an era of growing economic integration across the world the SAFTA implementation can open up windows of opportunity for the poverty-stricken and disaster-prone people of this region, Atiur said.

He said the harsh reality is that 600 million poor are living in South Asia having no access to sufficient food, nutrition, safe and pure drinking water and quality primary education.

FBCCI president Mir Nasir Hossain said: “Flexible rules of origin with lower value addition criteria may pave the way for expanding the local export basket and reducing the existing trade imbalance.”

UNB adds: Commerce Minister regretted that the SARRC could not achieve any remarkable work for development for its members in the last two decades.

"…although 20 years have passed since the launching of SAARC, not much remarkable work for the development of the SAARC member countries could be accomplished," he said.

But the Commerce Minister highlighted the success of the 13th summit of the seven-member regional body held in Dhaka early this month. The summit, he said, was an opportune occasion to draw up a roadmap for regional cooperation in South Asia for the next decade.

"I firmly believed that the 13th SAARC Summit provided an important vision to find new avenue for meaningful cooperation as well as to face the common challenges of globalization and the disastrous impact of natural calamities," Altaf said.

Time for a National Competition Policy for India

November 14, 2005, Western Times
Ahmedabad

The idea to have a National Competition Policy for India is good, and the Planning Commission will take up this policy issue in its approach paper for the 11th Five-Year Plan, observed Anwarul Hoda, Member, Planning Commission. Hoda was commenting on a presentation on National Competition Policy for India made by Pradeep S. Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International at the Yojana Bhavan on Friday 11 November.

The suggestion to do a competition audit (assessment) of all government policies and practices on the touchstone of competition principles is worthwhile, observed Hoda.

Mehta, in his presentation, outlined the need for a National Competition Policy to provide a declared intent to the government’s resolve of promoting competition in the market. India has been following market-oriented economic reforms for over a decade, but government policies continue to be framed and implemented without acknowledging the market process. Mehta gave several examples of government policies and practices that thwart the market process.

The guiding principles to formulate policies and practices in a liberalised regime are missing, observed Mehta. He outlined nine principles of Competition Policy to fill the policy vacuum, and rationalise the role of the government (Centre as well as States).

Officers from the Ministry of Company Affairs, Department of Economic Affairs, Planning Commission, and the Competition Commission of India (CCI), attended the presentation.

Welcoming the need for a National Competition Policy for India, V.K. Dhall, Member, CCI, observed that besides ensuring efficiency and thereby sustained economic growth, a well articulated competition policy would also serve to enhance consumer welfare.

The process of liberalisation and deregulation are incomplete without a competition policy, and there is a need for a larger policy framework to guide the formulation and implementation of government policy, observed Dr Suman Bery, Director-General, NCAER.

Prof TCA Anant from the Delhi School of Economics observed that the nine principles would serve as a good touchstone for framing and harmonizing the various government policies. Anant added that competition is not the ultimate goal, and there may be justified deviations from the competition policy principles. However, it is important to notify and publicly justify such deviations. Hoda concurred with this view.

CUTS bags WTO project

October 31, 2005, The Hindu Business Line
New Delhi

CUTS International, a non-governmental organization (NGO), has been awarded the project to conduct a strategic review of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) trade-related technical assistance programme, according to a release.

CUTS would conduct this review in partnership with the Argentina-based Latin American School of Social Science (FLASCO) and the Canada based North-South Institute over the next six months, the release added.

Mix pasta and pain killer at own risk
Not all food goes well with all medicine. Diabetes pills, for instance, aren’t compatible with bitter gourd

October 25, 2005, DNA
Mumbai
By Sumit Ghoshal

This must be a bitter pill to swallow, but there is a connection between your food habits and the drugs you take. Did you know that the bitter gourd which you relish so much can heighten the effect of diabetes medicine and lower your blood sugar to dangerous levels? Or that soyabeans and cabbage can worsen goitre (an iodine-deficiency disorder)? Or you should avoid tea or coffee while taking a course of ciprofloxacin (an antibiotic).

Particularly vulnerable are elderly and children, and those who suffer from diseases of the liver, kidney, gastro-intestinal tract, cancer. It is also applicable for individuals whose normal diet is not healthy and balanced.

These and much more are highlights of the Food-Drug Interaction chapter of a Patient Information Manual (PIM), which the Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) released in Mumbai recently.

The 40-page manual was prepared by a team of Kolkata-based doctors including Dr Krishnangshu Roy, Dr Himangshu Roy, Dr P K Sarkar and Dr T K Chattaraj with the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO) India office and that of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).

“We have noticed a few instances but they are not very common. Mostly the reaction is detected before it becomes a crisis,” said Dr Jyoti Taskar, a family physician practising in South Mumbai.

“One instance that comes to mind is the adverse effect of eating cheese or milk products while taking anti-depressant drugs. We always warn such patients,” said Dr Vijay Panjabi, a senior family physician practising on Napean Sea Road.

The new volume also advises consumers to avoid allopathic and herbal medicines simultaneously.
It says “one should be cautious while resorting to such medications and a qualified doctor should always be consulted”.

The same chapter also points to the fact that Isabgol husk, which is often recommended for constipation, could retard the efficacy of iron and calcium and result in a deficiency of these minerals.

Similarly, liquorice which people use frequently for treating cough does not go well with cardiovascular drugs and this may even result in some form of chronic heart failure.

WTO offers opportunities

October 07, 2005, Dainik Bhaskar
Jaipur

UPA Government performance satisfactory

October 07, 2005, The Western Times, Ahmedabad

Most of the people has viewed that Central United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is working satisfactorily but government has not completely succeeded in implementing the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). For this, non-cooperation among various parties in the alliance is the major factor.

These results have emerged out of the survey conducted by the Jaipur based consumer advocacy group ‘Consumer Unity and Trust Society’ (CUTS) in order to evaluate the overall performance of the UPA government and efforts made for solving various burning problems related to the common man. The results are based on the views expressed by the residents located in different parts of Rajasthan State. The study was conducted in all the 32 districts of Rajasthan.

As per the results of the survey, 29.20 percent people have the feeling that the UPA government is working in the right direction, whereas 41.26 percent people say it is partly on the right path. However, rest of the people do not agree with this view. On the other hand 32.52 percent people are of the view that non-performance of the government in the right direction is mainly due to non-cooperation among various parties of the alliance. 25.52 percent people says that the government is working on the lines of the Common Minimum Programme and 46.33 percent says, government is partly performing, whereas rest do not agree with this view.

Expressing their views on the central budget for the year 2005-06, 22.20 percent says that it is as per the expectations of the common people, on the contrary 32.69 percent partly agrees with this view, whereas 36.19 percent are against this. Majority of the people have appreciated the VAT system implemented in most of the states and said that this is fruitful for the consumers but 32.52 percent of the people are against this system.

Regarding steps taken by the government for control over the prices, 45.45 percent of people were of the view that government has failed in controlling the dearness. On the other hand 28.32 percent are partly hopeful on this issue, where as only 18.36 percent are confident about the steps taken. Commenting on the foreign policy of the government 27.27 percent of the people says that the present policy is in right direction and will bring positive results. On the contrary 34.09 are partly hopeful on this issue whereas 27.28 percent are not in favour of the policy adopted by the government. With a positive view 44.41 percent of the people says Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh is successful one, 26.75 percent partly agree with this view whereas 22.73 percent do not agree to it. A question regarding completing the term of the government was asked from people. 44.93 percent are hopeful that the government will complete its term but 17.66 percent are partly hopeful, whereas 19.58 percent are not sure.

People were asked about priorities of their burning problems. In analyses, it has revealed that 100 percent of the people have given top-priority to unemployment, 99.30 percent to corruption, 98.25 percent to water, 98.08 to terrorism and the rest priorities were: hunger, law and order, increase in population, health, dearness, illiteracy and electricity.

For combating corruption people suggested for hard punishment; removal from the posts; removal of corruption from politics, judiciary and administration; strengthening the corruption controlling agencies, etc.

About achievements and deficiencies of the UPA government people have appreciated steps taken for passing employment guarantee act, control over inflation, right to women in the parental property, reducing financial deficit. On the other hand people have criticised for non-cooperation among various parties of the alliance, decreasing GDP rate, failure in combating corruption, increase in prices like petrol-diesel, electricity and other essential commodities.

Medicine stocks abysmal at Bengal public hospitals

October 05, 2005, New Kerala & Webindia123.com
Kolkata

The availability of medicines at West Bengal government hospitals is abysmal, even for drugs that are easily available at private retail counters, says a survey by a prominent consumer rights body.

The survey by the Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) revealed that medicines obtained from public hospitals free of cost by poor patients are economical but the overall unavailability in this sector nullifies the advantage of free drugs.

The survey found that medicines are readily available from private retail counters but this comes at a price higher than international reference prices, with brand premium for many items.

According to the CUTS survey released in October, the availability of medicines at public facilities during the period of the survey, September to December 2004, was poor with surveyors encountering only 13 of the 32 medicines (40.6 percent) they looked for.

Only amoxicillin 250 mg tablets/capsules showed over 90 percent availability in public hospitals.

The survey found that only four of seven anti-bacterials were available. These were dismal trends for the treatment of bacterial and other infections at public hospitals, the survey said.

Isosorbide dinitrate, which is a very emergency medicine for acute anginal attacks, was not available.

The treatment of epilepsy would not be possible at public hospitals as neither phenytoin nor carbamazepine (or for that matter other antiepileptics) were available.

Diazepam tablets were missing while there were no inhalers for asthmatics and also no drugs to calm acutely agitated psychiatric patients.

The availability was adequate in the private sector, with median availability of 40 percent for IB (innovator brand or patented drugs) medicines, 70 percent for MSGs (most sold generic) and 77 percent for LPGs (lowest price generic equivalent).

Medicines for all therapeutic categories in the survey were available in the private sector, although the innovator brands may be unavailable. On the other hand there was widespread availability of generic equivalents.

"Urgent steps are needed to assess the functioning of the public procurement system for medicines in West Bengal to rectify the situation," said Dalia Dey, survey manager and one of the authors of the report, along with doctors Santanu Tripathy and Abhijit Hazra.

"Enhancing the efficiency of central medical stores public procurement mechanisms is required," said Dey.

Tripathy, author of the report and vice-principal cum superintendent of the state-run SSKM Hospital (PG) here, said: "This is a baseline survey in which we have identified the problem but not the reason. Further we need to concentrate on this specific issue only after studying the public distribution system."

"We don't have a state-level essential medicine list. We must prepare that to make our procurement more focused," he said.

The survey followed the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI) methodology.

‘Oil shock hinders LDC growth’
Day-long brainstorming in the pre-Hong Kong civil society forum

October 05, 2005, NEW AGE Business
Dhaka

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Former commerce minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Tuesday said the global oil price surge has become a hindrance to the growth prospects of the least developed countries.

‘Bangladesh, an LDC itself, has to pay an additional $500 million in import bill for oil, creating tremendous pressure on the balance of payments,’ he said speaking at a plenary session of the civil society forum at the Sheraton hotel in Dhaka.

The Centre for Policy Dialogue is organising the three-day International Civil Society Forum, inaugurated Monday, for advancing the LDCs interests in the Hong Kong ministerial in December.

On Tuesday representatives of local and international civil society organisations, development activists and non-governmental organisations deliberated on the Doha Development Round and working sessions on agriculture, intellectual property rights, special and differential treatment, implementation issues, and WTO rules.

‘Oil price surge has become a big shock for the LDCs in the recent times and the World Trade Organisation should address the issues for LDC interests,’ said Khosru.

He also blasted the International Financial Institutions for imposing contradictory policy prescriptions against the WTO principles in poor countries.

‘When in WTO negotiation, LDCs are exempted from the any tariff reduction commitments, the World Bank asks [Bangladesh] to cut down import tariffs and tags it with aid disbursement,’ he added.

‘Again the International Monetary Fund frequently recommends changes of interest rates that hinder entrepreneurs from making long-term investment plans,’ said Khosru.

In the session, Zambian ambassador to the WTO, Love Metsa said trade-off is possible only between countries with the same level of economic strength, ‘Else it is unfair.’

He also said the LDCs are determined to make the ministerial conference at Hong Kong a success. ‘We do not want another Cancun because it is not in our interest to have it fail.’

He, however, cautioned if countries like the United States, European Union and Japan did not move substantially towards addressing issues of LDC concern as well as developing countries, another Cancun might be witnessed in Hong Kong.

The Cancun ministerial conference held in September 2003 collapsed amid deadlocked negotiations in agriculture and four issues known as the Singapore issues.

Mesta also said capacity building and technical assistance is very important for the poor countries.

Taking part in the discussion, Pradeep Mehta of India-based Consumer Unity Trust Society said Cancun was not a failure, rather a deferred success.

‘But Hong Kong is less ambitious as nobody will give up their rights and peoples’ opinion in the respective countries are stronger,’ he added.

Mehta termed the anti-dumping mechanism as a ‘political instrument’ used against poor countries.

In another working session on WTO rules, Prabhash Ranjan of Centad, an Oxfam initiative, said anti-dumping is an economic instrument and temporary trade remedial measure, but the way it is used by developed and developing countries, anti-dumping has turned into a more political weapon.

‘India, one of the largest anti-dumping initiator, employs it for the country’s benefit. But it also abuses the instrument,’ he said.

He also said anti-dumping is biased against consumers and it is to uphold the interest of the industries anti-dumping duties are imposed against imported products.

Former commerce minister Tofail Ahmed, Bangladesh permanent representative in WTO Toufiq Ali, Debapriya Bhattacharya and Mustafizur Rahman of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, were among others who spoke at the plenary sessions earlier in the day.

The speakers of different working sessions include, FBCCI president Mir Nasir Hossain, former commerce secretary Sayed Alamgir Farrouk Chowdhury, Mouhamet Lamine Nadiaye of Senegal, Buba Khan of Gambia and Chandrakant Patel of SEATINI.

The forum will conclude on Wednesday adopting the Dhaka Declaration.

Medical cuts

October 03, 2005, Asian Age
Kolkata

According to recently published results of a survey conducted by Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) and Community Development Medical Unit (CMDU), some of the big and reputed government hospitals across the state are not equipped even with drugs to combat diseases as a bacterial infection..

The survey, financed by World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI), was carried out in 26 government hospitals and 35 private clinics in Kolkata as well as seven districts including Jalpaiguri, Malda, Burdwan, West Medinipur and South 24 Parganas from September to December in 2004.

A meager 40.6 per cent or 13 of 32 drugs, used to cure general ailments like bacterial and fungal infections, diarrhea, epilepsy, asthma and even heart attacks, was found to be available in the government hospitals. Reportedly, the availability ratio was better in the private clinics in the same period. Apart from district, sub-divisional and rural hospitals, some of the major city based government hospitals like SSKM Hospital, Shambhunath Pandit Hospital, NRS Hospital and RG Kar Hospi6tal featured in thelist of surveyed hospitals. Only four out of the seven antibacterial were available according to the reports. Medicines like Aciclovir, Fluconazole, Sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine, used to cure bacterial and other infections, were not available in government hospitals.

Medicine shortage

October 02, 2005, Hindustan Times
Kolkata

The availability of medicine at government hospitals in the city and districts is poor, says a survey conducted by Consumer Unity & Trust Society, Calcutta Resource Centre and Community Development Medicinal Unit, West Bengal. Funded by the World Health Organisation, the survey was carried out in Kolkata, Jalpaiguri, Malda, Burdwan, Purulia, West Midnapore and South-24 Parganas. Only four of seven listed antibiotics were available at he hospitals while inhalers for asthma patients and drugs for psychiatric patients were hard to find.

Rational Use of Drugs

October 01, 2005, Ajkal
Kolkata

Good Economics is Good Politics-
Parliamentarians Unite to Build Consensus on Economic Reforms

September 28, 2005, Western Times, Ahmedabad
New Delhi

NEW DELHI, The ‘Parliamentarians’ Forum on Economic Policy Issues’, formed at the behest of five MPs cutting across party lines is gaining popularity with every passing day with more and more MPs expressing their willingness to join the forum. Already about 30 MPs from different kparties have agreed to join. The forum will be an informal and non-partisan platform to facilitate discussions among MPs on a periodic basis on core economic policy issues to accelerate consensus on both the content and process of reforms, it is being hosted by the Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), a non-profit making and a leading civil society organization.

“….at this point of time when economic reforms are sweeping our country and globalisation has become all pervading, having a Parliamentarians Forum on economic policy issues on non-partisan lines is most appropriate and would be appreciated by one and all irrespective of what political party one belongs”, obseree M.V. Rajasekharan, Minister of State for Planning, Government of India, in a letter to join the Forum.

“….a great idea to provide Parliamentarians the forum to discussthe core economic policy issues and to arrive at consensus cutting across party line particularly in the present day economic scenario where India is on the path of emerging as an economic giant in the world”. Observed Santosh Bagrodia, M.P.and Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on industry.

Yashwant Sinha of the Bhartiya Janta Party, Suresh Prabhu of the Shiv Sena, N.N. Krishnadas of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Madhusudan Mistry of the Congress, and Dinesh Trivedi of the Trinamool Congress are the initiators of this Forum.

“The forum aims to discuss divergent opinions on core economic policy issues reflected in and out of the Parliament and the media and impart necessary information to MPs so that debate inside could be more informed” said Pradeep S. Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS.

Humayun for greater regional economic cooperation

September 25, 2005, The News
Karachi, Pakistan

KARACHI: Federal Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan on Saturday called upon the business community, media and civil society to influence and pressurise the politicians to take bold steps for achieving greater regional economic cooperation in South Asia.

He was speaking at a three-day national consultation on ‘Regional Economic Cooperation in South Asia’ jointly organised by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) India, Sustainable Development Policy Institute Pakistan, CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics and Environment, India and Pathfinder Group of Pakistan.

The country level consultation was part of a regional project that endeavours to assess the present status of South Asia regional bloc and analyse the future prospects of economic cooperation in South Asia. This regional project undertaken by CUTS is being supported by FES India.

The Commerce Minister lauded the consultation process saying this would help engage stakeholders in regional trade initiatives and give inputs to the regional governments to move forward on having more regional trade arrangements. He said Pakistan is having negotiations to finalise free trade agreements with a number of countries. Humayun said that the visa regimes within the region, particularly between India and Pakistan, should be flexible so that it could facilitate movement of people to engage themselves into multiple businesses.

He called for a great trade potential between Pakistan and India. He specifically called upon media in South Asia to encourage their respective governments and businessmen to take the initiatives that could expand trade volume. He mentioned that Pakistan has to still give the most favoured nation status to India.

He said that the WTO is going to be a global free trade arrangement in the coming years.

Earlier, Dr Abid Qayyum Suleri of SDPI, Ikram Sehgal of Pathfinder Group, Dr Prasad P Rande of CUTS India and Kabir of FES India spoke on the initiative of having regional and national level consultations by seeking opinions of the representatives from government, media, civil society, business community and intelligentsia.

M Sulaiman while speaking on South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) said that the agreement is going to be effective in January 2006, but it does not really address India-Pakistan trade in real sense. He said that until the visa regime between India and Pakistan remains tough and the immigration process humiliating, no real growth in trade would be possible. "We need to address this first before we open up free trade," he said.

Huma Fakhar was of the view that SAFTA does not provide full benefit in terms of regional economic cooperation as it lacks services and investment sectors. She questioned how SAFTA would move forward in such an environment. She rather proposed a bilateral investment treaty between India and Pakistan.

Intervening in the discussion, Shafqat Munir, Regional Coordinator South Asia Centre for Economic Journalists, said that for an effective trade and visa regime, both India and Pakistan have to change the mindset of their establishments urging them to remove the ‘enemy image’ of each other.

"Without removing enemy image from their dictionary, they cannot move towards trade, economic cooperation and peace," he said.

Kazi Abdul Muqtadir, Abdul Rauf Shaikh and Nasreen Ali during the session on Investment and Finance said there is an enabling environment in Pakistan for investment and the economy is moving in the right direction. They said Board of Investment promotes investor friendly atmosphere in the country. Dr Abid Suleri, Dr Sajajd Akhtar and Dr Qazi Masood and Shandana Gulzar touched upon different aspects of the Millennium Development Goals.

The speakers were of the opinion that South Asia is far behind in attaining the MDGs at the mid term and there is dire need to move further on fast track to achieve them. Dr Khalid Amin, Javaid Mansoor, Ahadullah Akmal and Irtiqa Ahmad Zaidi while speaking on the trade facilitating measures said that these measures could be a better solution towards achieving the goal of regional economic cooperation in South Asia.

US, EU must eliminate subsidies to move forward in WTO: India

September 22, 2005, DAILY NEWS, Sri Lanka
New Delhi, Asia Pulse

India said it cannot open up its agriculture market further for developed nations unlessl the US and EU eliminate their trade-distorting subsidies.

“We cannot open our agriculture markets till the billions of dollars of trade distorting subsidies are eliminated.” Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, G.K. Pillai said at a CUTS seminar on WTO Saturday.

Agriculture talks at the WTO headquarters in Geneva are stalled, he said, adding there can be no substantial progress on the contentious issue till India gets clear signals that the EU and US are willing to move forward.

Pillai said the G-20 group of developing countries in their recent meeting in Pakistan had clearly sought time bound phasing out of domestic support and elimination of export credits by the developed nations.

‘Development’ is the key for the success of the WTO Doha Round

September 19, 2005, Weste