As India's kids starve, $1.5 billion worth of grain rots

'This is a case of criminal neglect by the government,' opposition leader says  watchman sits next to stacked sacks of rotten wheat at Dera Mir Miran village in the northern Indian state of Punjab on June 27.

By Mayank Bhardwaj

NEW DELHI  — Every day some 3,000 Indian children die from illnesses related to malnutrition, and yet countless heaps of rodent-infested wheat and rice are rotting in fields across the north of their own country.

It is an extraordinary paradox created by a rigid regime of subsidies for grain farmers, a woeful lack of storage facilities and an inefficient, corruption-plagued public distribution system that fails millions of impoverished people.

And it is an embarrassment for the government led by the Congress party, which returned to power in 2009 thanks in large part to pledges of welfare for the poor, who make up about 40 percent of the 1.2 billion population.

Quite why the authorities could not simply offload the mountains of grain for free to fill empty stomachs is puzzling, but the explanation lies in the complex regulations that govern procurement and distribution.

"This is a case of criminal neglect by the government," said D. Raja, national secretary of the Communist Party of India, an opposition group. "The ruling party has been the worst manager of the demand-supply of food grains."

Officials say that, in all, about 6 million tons of grain worth at least $1.5 billion could perish. Analysts say the losses could be far higher because more than 19 million tons are now lying in the open, exposed to searing summer heat and monsoon rains.

for the record stockpile of wheat that has accumulated after half a decade of bumper harvests in the world's second-largest producer of the grain.

Here there are thousands of sacks of decomposing wheat, occupying an area the size of a football field and towering in some places to the height of a house. Tarpaulins cover most of the mounds, but many of the bags are torn, spilling blackened grain blighted by fungus and insects.

"The wheat has been lying there for the past five years. It smells very bad," said Hakkam Singh, who works as a watchman at the open field. "Nobody steals it, but people use it to feed fish and poultry farms."

At another dump, on the outskirts of Punjab's Amritsar city, locals told Reuters that officials sometimes dip into the sacks of rotting grain to mix it with fresh wheat for distribution to the poor who hold ration cards.

In India the government buys rice and wheat from farmers at a guaranteed price, a support system akin to the subsidies that led to Europe's notorious butter mountains and milk lakes.

The government has raised the price it pays to buy wheat by more than 70 percent since 2007, which only encourages more production. As a result, stocks are now at an all-time high of about 50 million tons, 12 times more than the official target.

"It's related to pure economic security for the farmers," said Purnima Menon, a research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in New Delhi. "They make a safe choice of crops."

Rajiv Tandon, a senior adviser for health and nutrition at aid organization Save the Children in India, said that to diversify the country's food basket farmers should be offered incentives to grow vegetables and other cash crops.

'Dumped by a graveyard' However, he said root-and-branch modernization is needed. The farm sector was transformed by the introduction of high-yielding seeds, fertilizers and irrigation during the Green Revolution nearly half a century ago, ending a dependence on imports, but it has seen only incremental reform ever since.

Storage is one of the biggest problems of all.

"For the last 25 years the storage capacity has not been upgraded at all," Tandon said. "Part of the grain is officially stored outside store houses, where the chance of rotting is high. There are often not enough sacks and tarpaulins, and sometimes it is dumped by a graveyard or cremation centre."

Grain stocks officially deemed as stored in government warehouses now stand at a record 82.4 million tons. However, that is about 20 million tons more than actual capacity, which means grain lying in the open is being passed off as "stored".

State-run Food Corp. of India (FCI), the main grain procurement agency, buys about one-third of total wheat output to run welfare programs and keep stocks for emergency needs.

What to do with the rest is a conundrum for the government, which is reluctant to sell wheat for less than the inflated support price it paid to farmers because it would put further strain on an already hefty fiscal deficit.

Recently it offered 6 million tons of rice and wheat to state administrations for the poor at cheaper rates, in addition to 55 million already earmarked for financial year 2012/13. But there were not many takers because state governments are grappling with budget overruns themselves.

Exporting wheat is not an attractive alternative.

After buying wheat from farmers and adding freight, storage and transport costs, the free on board (FOB) price is around $346 a ton. However, Indian wheat would only be competitive in the export market at around $260, which implies a loss - effectively a further subsidy, and this time to consumers in other countries - of $85-90 per ton for the government.

The brimming granaries forced India to lift a four-year-old ban on private exports last September, but lower global prices have scuppered those plans.

Traders say that even if India went all-out to export wheat it could at best sell 6-7 million tons a year because of transport bottlenecks and doubts about the quality of the grain.

Tainted? New Delhi is considering the export of up to 3 million tons of wheat to sanctions-hit Iran, but traders say Tehran will not be falling over itself to buy because of concern that Indian grain may be tainted by fungal disease.

Last month the government decided to offer 3 million tons of wheat to local biscuit makers and flour millers at $205 a ton against the $225 it paid to farmers in 2012.

A worker displays rotten grain on the outskirts of Amritsar in the northern Indian state of Punjab on June 28.

"Subsidizing our bread and biscuit makers is easier than subsidizing consumers of other countries," said a senior government official, who did not wish to be identified due to political criticism of a solution to the surplus that benefits private companies rather than the poor.

In China, a large portion of wheat stocks are channeled into the country's rapidly expanding animal feed sector, replacing more expensive corn. However, India has an exportable surplus of corn and its meat consumption is far lower, so there is little demand for wheat as a replacement for other grains.

government-supported survey published earlier this year found that 42 percent of India's children under 5 are underweight, almost double that of sub-Saharan Africa. The finding led Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to admit that malnutrition was "a national shame".

The cause of this widespread malnutrition cannot be tied mechanically to a lack of staples like rice and wheat.

Indeed, many families living on less than $2 a day are fuelled and filled by subsidized carbohydrate-rich food like wheat chapatis. These lack the much-needed protein and other nutrients that come in more expensive food. Poor hygiene and contaminated water are also to blame because they cause illnesses like diarrhoea, which prevents nutrient absorption.

Still, there are real grain shortages in the poorest states.

Here the problem is an inefficient and corruption-prone distribution system. Eighteen months ago investigators said millions of dollars worth of grain meant for poor families had been siphoned off and sold locally and abroad in a scam involving hundreds of government officials.

In 2010 the Supreme Court urged the government to distribute grain free to the hungry rather than let it go to waste in warehouses and open fields, but that hasn't happened.

This is because state governments are reluctant to buy extra grain for distribution under the food welfare program and, even if they were, only people with under-the-poverty-line ration cards would be entitled to buy it in subsidized shops.

"The problem of rotting grains and the poor going hungry lies in the system itself," said Biraj Patnaik, principal adviser on food issues to the court.

The government is now planning a food security scheme that will guarantee cheap grain to 63.5 percent of the population.

However, critics see this as political gimmickry. They doubt that the new scheme will be less corrupt, more efficient or better targeted than current programs, and they suspect that the government will not be able to afford a plan that may cost as much as $12 billion in additional subsidies a year.

Peer Dastageer Sahib Shrine catches fire

I visited this Shrine recently. (at least, I saw the outside since only men are allowed inside...).  It had beautiful architecture and this is a sad loss. 













Apparently there were large protests because of what was viewed as a slow response from firefighters.

Afghanistan wants its cultural heroes back

Interred a quarter century ago in Pakistan, the remains of Afghan poet Ustad Khalilullah Khalili now lie in a forlorn corner of Kabul University, brought here to be reburied so that no one else can lay claim to the revered poet-philosopher.
He has no epitaph; only a few wilted bouquets lie at the grave of Afghanistan's most prominent 20th century poet. Three policemen guard the site.
But if President Hamid Karzai - who ordered the remains be disinterred from a grave in the Pakistani city of Peshawar last month - has his way, the reburial will become an assertion of Afghan culture over encroachment by Pakistan and Iran.
"We brought him back from Pakistan because he was our poet and scholar," said Mohammad Hussain Yamin, head of the Persian and Dari department at Kabul University.
"We don't want someone in future to say that he belonged to Pakistan just because he lived the final years of his life there."
The assertion of cultural sovereignty is part of an effort to unite Afghanistan and prove it can stand on its own after most foreign troops leave at the end of 2014.
The government says it wants an end to "foreign interference", usually a reference to Pakistan, but also Iran with which it is locked in a fierce debate over ownership of some of the greatest poets and philosophers in the region.
Poetry is big in Afghanistan, from the time of the kings of the 10th century to the present day, permeating every level of society from children in school to warlords and even the austere Taliban who study long works of classical Persian poetry as part of their education in religious schools.
It's the thread that runs between Afghanistan's often warring ethnic groups whether Tajik, Hazara, Pashtun, Uzbek, Turkmen, Nuristani, Baluch, or any of the many other sub-groups and clans.

But along with the death and destruction of the past three decades, Afghans say they also lost a chunk of their rich cultural heritage with Iran, Pakistan and even Turkey claiming parts of it.
Many, like Khalili, left the country to escape the wars and died in faraway lands which slowly began to claim them as their own, Afghanistan says.
Now it aims to get its heritage back.
"Iran wants to show the world it had a glorious past. This has been going on for years, they have been claiming many of our literary figures as their own. We cannot remain silent," said Jalal Noorani, an adviser at the Information and Culture Ministry.
Debate has long raged over Rumi, arguably the greatest Persian poet, but now as Afghanistan begins to stand on its feet, the claims and counter-claims have intensified not only over him but also others.
Rumi, known as Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi in Afghanistan and Mevlevi in Iran, was born in the 13th century in Balkh which was at the time an eastern part of the Persian empire of Khorasan but is now a province in northern Afghanistan.
His family moved and they eventually settled in present-day Turkey where he wrote some of the greatest mystic Sufi poetry in Persian.
Today, all three countries regard him as their national poet even though his poetry itself transcends borders, religion and ethnic divides.
Rumi's poetry is displayed on the walls of Tehran, sung in Iranian music and read in Iranian school books. Iranians are known to live with his poetry.
But Yamin says what is indisputable is that his origins were in Afghanistan. Rumi's occupies pride of place on a billboard in Yamin's room that gives details of the birth dates and place of birth of poets that others have laid claim to.
"We have repeatedly given evidence that these figures belong to Afghanistan, not Iran. When we sit down with the Iranians and discuss these issues, they don't offer any evidence. They say in the past both countries were one, so they call all these poets, philosophers Iranian," said Yasmin.

Iranian embassy officials could not be reached for comment and did not respond to an email.
In the past, Iranians have challenged Afghanistan to a test of history, suggesting they were waking up a bit late to claim inheritance.
At a concert in Kabul a few years ago, an Iranian singer challenged any member of the audience to speak for two minutes on Rumi since they claimed he was their own. Afghan authorities took offence and the concert had to end hastily.
"Afghans are a bit late at this. Iran and Turkey have stolen their thunder," said Mohammad Taqi, a U.S.-based columnist for Pakistan's Daily Times newspaper who has written extensively on the Pashtun heartland straddling Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Iran, he said, had milked Rumi and the whirling dervishes that his poetry inspired by setting up cultural centers on the pattern of Germany's Goethe Institute.
Still, this new burst of cultural revivalism in Afghanistan can help bridge the distance between the Tajiks and the Hazaras, and to a certain extent the Pashtuns, he said.
"A supra-ethnic Afghan identity needs non-violent icons."

Reuters

Saudi women allowed to compete in Olympics

London 2012 Olympics: Saudis allow women to compete

By Frank Gardner BBC News

Showjumper Dalma Rushdi Malhas is currently the only Saudi female competitor at Olympic standard

Saudi Arabia is to allow its women athletes to compete in the Olympics for the first time.  Officials say the country's Olympic Committee will "oversee participation of women athletes who can qualify".  The decision will end recent speculation as to whether the entire Saudi team could have been disqualified on grounds of gender discrimination.

The public participation of women in sport is still fiercely opposed by many Saudi religious conservatives.  There is almost no public tradition of women participating in sport in the country.

Saudi officials say that with the Games now just a few weeks away, the only female competitor at Olympic standard is showjumper Dalma Rushdi Malhas. But they added that there may be scope for others to compete and that if successful they would be dressed "to preserve their dignity".  In practice this is likely to mean modest, loose-fitting garments and "a sports hijab", a scarf covering the hair but not the face.

For the desert kingdom, the decision to allow women to compete in the Olympics is a huge step, overturning deep-rooted opposition from those opposed to any public role for women.  As recently as April, the indications were that Saudi Arabia's rulers would accede to the sensitivities of the religious conservatives and maintain the ban on allowing women to take part.  But for the past six weeks there have been intense, behind-the-scenes discussions led by King Abdullah, who has long been pushing for women to play a more active role in Saudi society.

In secret meetings in Jeddah, officials say a consensus was reached in mid-June between the king, the crown prince, the foreign minister, the leading religious cleric, the grand mufti and others, to overturn the ban.  An announcement was ready to be made but then had to be delayed as the country marked the sudden death of Crown Prince Nayef.

"It's very sensitive," a senior Saudi official told the BBC. "King Abdullah is trying to initiate reform in a subtle way, by finding the right balance between going too fast or too slow.  "For example, he allowed the participation of women in the Shura council [an advisory body] so the Olympic decision is part of an ongoing process, it's not isolated."  The official acknowledged that to refuse to let women take part would have looked bad on the international stage.  "Partly because of the mounting criticism we woke up and realised we had to deal with this. We believe Saudi society will accept this," the official said.

It is not the first time a Saudi monarch has backed a controversial reform against domestic opposition.  King Faisal, who introduced television in the 1960s and was eventually assassinated, insisted on introducing education for girls.   Today, Saudi women graduates outnumber their male counterparts.

China thows temper tantrum. again.

 Really China?  Quit throwing temper tantrums when other countries don't do what you want.  Did it ever occur to you that the Dalai Lama has a right to talk with whomever he wants to, because he is NOT under your jurisdiction.  Are you really going to withdraw your Olympic athletes over this?  If you are - your loss.  Nobody elses loss.  Just yours.  Your strict controls on everything do not extend beyond your 'borders'.  Sorry.

China halts UK ministerial meetings over Dalai Lama row

 

David Cameron and Nick Clegg met the Dalai Lama at St Paul's Cathedral

 

China halted ministerial meetings with UK counterparts in May, when Prime Minister David Cameron met the Dalai Lama, British officials have confirmed.

China warned earlier that relations would not be restored until the UK "stops supporting anti-Chinese forces".

It has also reportedly threatened to withdraw its Olympic athletes over a scheduled Dalai Lama speech in Leeds.

The UK's Foreign Office has called the row disappointing and appealed for its sensible resolution.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader visited the UK to receive the £1.1m ($1.7m) Templeton Prize for his work affirming the spiritual dimension of life.

Downing Street said he was "an important religious figure" who had met previous British prime ministers.

But the encounter triggered an angry response from Chinese officials, who described it as an intrusion into its domestic affairs and warned of "serious consequences".

As a result, all high-level meetings with Britain have been suspended since May, including a visit to London by senior leader Wu Bangguo.

UK ministers Lord Green and Minister Jeremy Browne, both in Beijing to discuss trade and justice matters, saw their meetings either cancelled or downgraded.

"The responsibility lies on the British side," said the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Liu Weimin.

"We demand the British side take immediate measures to remove the Tibetan influence, so as to restore China-UK relations with concrete actions."

Returning to the UK this week, the Dalai Lama is expected to speak at an international business convention in Leeds, which will also be the training base for China's Olympic athletes.

It is thought Chinese officials asked Leeds City Council to put pressure on the organisers to cancel his visit.

The Dalai Lama's visit will go ahead but the council has removed any association between itself and the convention.

In a statement, Tom Riordan, chief executive of Leeds City Council, said the convention was a private event not organised by the council.

"Whilst we are aware of some sensitivities around this year's convention, as it is not a council event we do not feel it is appropriate for us to make any further comment," he said.

The Dalai Lama lives in exile in India, travelling the world to seek support for more rights for Tibetan people.