Monday, July 29, 2013

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Ethnic Groups Meet to Discuss Political Demands in Peace Process

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 06:29 AM PDT

Gen Gun Maw, deputy chief of the Kachin Independence Army, on the way to a meeting room in May ahead of peace talks with the government. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Gen Gun Maw, deputy chief of the Kachin Independence Army, on the way to a meeting room in May ahead of peace talks with the government. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

About 150 representatives from various Burma's ethnic armed groups, NGOs and opposition members gathered in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, on Monday to discuss a joint strategy to promote their political demands during peace talks with the government in Naypyidaw.

The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance of Burma's 11 most important ethnic armed groups, including Kachin, Karen and Shan rebels, organized the conference, which will end on Thursday.

Nai Kwe Hong Mon, a leading UNFC member, said some 150 participants would attend the meeting, including non-UNFC members such as opposition politicians, non-governmental organizations and pro-democracy activists. "We invited our ethnic alliance and pro-democracy forces. We also invited the Democratic Alliance of Burma [an opposition umbrella group]," he said.

Burma government officials from Minister Aung Min's peace negotiation team and the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) were not invited, however.

Rebel group representatives said the meeting would discuss a joint strategy aimed at reaching a political solution with Naypyidaw in order to end Burma's long-running ethnic conflicts.

The UNFC has set out a roadmap towards a six point political framework, which it wants the government to accept before any national peace conference is held.

President Thein Sein's nominally civilian government has signed ceasefire agreements with 10 of the 11 main ethnic rebel groups in the past year. His government received much international praise for these steps and has promised to soon hold a conference with all armed groups in order to reach a "nationwide ceasefire agreement." No date for this event has been set, however.

The UNFC’s technical team met with MPC officials in July in Chiang Mai to discuss the government's proposal for "a nationwide ceasefire agreement."

Mahn Mahn, the head of UNFC’s technical team, told The Irrawaddy recently that the groups would not agree to hold a national peace conference until the government accepts its demand for a time-bound schedule to achieve political progress.

Burma's ethnic groups have been fighting decades-long rebellions against the central government in order to gain greater political autonomy for their regions and better protection of their rights. They also want to amend the military-drafted 2008 Constitution.

"We signed the ceasefires because we want to solve the problems politically. Before we sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement, we also have to reach an agreement on political frameworks," said Mahn Mahn.

"We want to talk about our peace roadmap — we want them [government negotiators] to agree to implement our peace process roadmap."

The UNFC members said they want to consult all ethnic armed groups, opposition parties and NGOs about their political demands, before engaging Naypyidaw on these matters.

Then the UNFC wants to agree with the government on a political framework. After this framework is presented to Burma's public, are the ethnic groups willing to hold a national peace conference in the spirit of the 1947 Panglong agreement, ethnic representatives have said.

Burma's independence hero General Aung San reached an agreement with the country's ethnic groups in 1947 that would allow them a degree of political autonomy. His assassination that same year prevented the implementation of the agreement and the country was subsequently plagued by decades of ethnic conflict.

Thein Sein Wants Ex-governor Back to Head Central Bank

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 06:25 AM PDT

People exchange Burmese kyat banknotes at a local bank in Rangoon. (Photo: Reuters)

People exchange Burmese kyat banknotes at a local bank in Rangoon. (Photo: Reuters)

RANGOON — President Thein Sein has proposed that a former head of the central bank of Burma be brought back as governor as part of reforms that will make it independent from the Ministry of Finance, a source at the president’s office said on Monday.

"In his message sent to the Union Parliament, the president last week proposed appointing Kyaw Kyaw Maung, retired central bank governor, as the governor" the senior official said, asking not to be identified.

Kyaw Kyaw Maung, a career banker in his early 70s, was governor of the central bank from 1997 to 2007. He graduated from Mandalay University and briefly worked there as a tutor before joining the Ministry of Finance.

Thein Sein signed a new central bank act into law on July 11, adding to the economic and political reforms he has pushed through since taking office in March 2011 after nearly half a century of military rule.

Than Lwin, vice-chairman of KBZ Bank, the biggest private bank in the country and a former vice-governor of the central bank, applauded the mooted appointment and those of other senior officials.

"I think the president has made the right choices to take care of nurturing the newly reformed central bank. Parliament should approve it very soon," he said.

Aye Maung, an upper house lawmaker, said the proposals would be tabled for the current session of parliament this week.

The source from the president’s office said the present governor of the central bank, Than Nyein, had been proposed for a post of vice-governor. Than Nyein, 60, a former army officer, took over from Kyaw Kyaw Maung in 2007.

Set Aung, deputy minister of national planning and economic development, and Khin Saw Oo, a senior official at the central bank, had also been put forward as vice-governors.

Set Aung is a Western-educated economist in his early 40s. He has been deputy minister as well as a presidential economic adviser for about a year.

Khin Saw Oo, a career banker in her early 60s, is currently in charge of the regulation of financial institutions and the anti-money-laundering department.

Thousands Enjoy Burma’s First Peace Festival

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 06:16 AM PDT

Iron Cross singer Lay Phyu during a performance at the Myanmar Peace Festival on Sunday night. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy)

Iron Cross singer Lay Phyu during a performance at the Myanmar Peace Festival on Sunday night. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Burma held its first ever peace festival this weekend and several thousand people enjoyed two nights of dance and songs at Rangoon's Thuwana National Stadium, while performers called for an end to the country's ethnic conflicts.

Popular rock bands such as Iron Cross and Burmese comedian group Thee Lay Thee entertained large crowds at the event, which was organized by political activist and comedian Zarganar and the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace Center (MPC). The government's chief peace negotiator Minister Aung Min also attended the festival's opening on Saturday night.

"Let's sing for peace because our country needs peace, we all need peace," Iron Cross singer Lay Phyu shouted during his performance, while asking the crowd to sing along with his message. "Thank you, the audience, who came to support this performance despite the heavy rain," he added.

"All of us should follow the guidelines of the general in order to build peace in the country," said Godzilla, a comedian with Thee Lay Thee. "Who do you mean, General Than Shwe?" asked his fellow entertainer Then Zee Thee. Godzilla replied: "No, I mean General Aung San."

Independence hero Gen Aung San signed the 1947 Panlong Agreement with ethnic groups. It could have brought peace to Burma if he had not been killed the same year. Than Shwe was Burma's leader under the previous military government.

Hundreds of people among the crowd displayed peace messages on t-shirts, on banners or had peace slogans painted on their faces. The foods and traditional clothing of Burma's various ethnic minorities were on display and a video message by President Thein Sein was shown to the audience.

"Without peace, there cannot be democracy. This is why in order to develop democracy, there needs to be peace. All citizens, including ethnic peoples, belong to this country. We all need to protect our country for the sake of democracy," said the president.

The international community has praised Thein Sein's nominally civilian government after it signed ceasefire agreements with 10 out of 11 main ethnic armed groups in Burma in the past year. His government has repeatedly announced that it would host a nationwide peace conference soon, although no date has been set.

Rebel groups in Kachin, Shan, Karen states and other regions have been fighting Burma's central government for decades in order to gain greater political autonomy and better protection of their rights.

MPC official Aung Naing Oo told The Irrawaddy that the festival would promote public participation in the peace process and provide a boost to the efforts.

"It is important to gain momentum in working for the peace process. For peace, it is important to have participation of all people in the country. This is why we wanted musicians to campaign for this and hold this performance," he said.Proceeds of the ticket sales will go towards helping those affected by Burma's internal conflicts, while about US$85,000 was raised through private donations.

China Begins Receiving Natural Gas from Shwe Pipeline

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 04:23 AM PDT

Nyan Tun, vice president of the Southeast Asia Gas Pipeline Company Limited (SEAGP) consortium, speaks at a commissioning ceremony for the Shwe gas pipeline in Mandalay on Sunday. (Photo: Zarni Mann / The Irrawaddy)

MANDALAY — Despite long-held objections to the project by activists and locals, the Shwe pipeline connecting Burma's Arakan State to Kunming in southern China began piping natural gas across the Sino-Burmese border on Sunday.

At a commissioning ceremony held at the headquarters of the Southeast Asia Gas Pipeline Company Limited (SEAGP) consortium in Mandalay, Vice President Nyan Tun praised the completion of the controversial pipeline while assuring a "good, collaborative" relationship with the Burmese government and affected communities in future.

"Shwe gas is fueling neighboring China's hunger for energy so that we can say today, our performance is a major achievement for the mutual benefit of both countries," Nyan Tun said at the ceremony.

According to the SEAGP executive, natural gas from the Kyaukphyu oil and gas terminal in Arakan State has been supplied to the pipeline since July 15, but Sunday marked the first time that fuel flowed into China, at the border town of Nam Khan in Shan State. Along with the South East Asia Crude Oil Pipeline Co, Ltd (SEACOP) consortium, SEAGP is responsible for the pipeline project as a joint venture between China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and the former junta-linked Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise (MOGE).

Nyan Tun also expressed confidence that the US$14.2 million gas pipeline would improve Burma's economy by boosting energy supplies and fueling industrialization.

"While placing a special focus on production and the delivery of natural gas, I really appreciate [efforts] to take care of our citizens and preserve our natural environment at all their work sites and along the pipeline corridor," he said.

"I would like to assure you that the Ministry of Energy will maintain a good, collaborative relationship with the SEAGP consortium and will continue our support in future to SEAGP as well as the Shwe consortium in their future operations in Myanmar," he added.

The 793-km long gas pipelines runs from Kyaukpyu Township on the coast of Arakan State and passes through Magwe Division, Mandalay Division and Shan State, terminating in Kunming, southern China, where it will provide the region with an important link to Burma's offshore Shwe gas field. A second pipe for oil runs alongside the natural gas conduit, though it is still under construction.

Construction on the pipeline began in October 2010, with Daewoo International, ONGC Videsh Ltd., GAIL, KOGAS and five other contractors from India, China and South Korea involved in the project.

The pipeline has been widely criticized by opponents who claim widespread human rights abuses were perpetrated in the course of its construction. Critics also say the project has lacked transparency and is detrimental to the environment.

Environmentalists and activists have urged pipeline authorities to increase transparency and address local complaints that many whose lands were confiscated or otherwise affected by the project have not received adequate compensation from the companies involved in the undertaking.

"There are many farmers along the pipeline who have not received compensation yet. Some compensation has been withheld by the township or district officials but the farmers do not know how to—or dare not—complain about this," said Ko Gyi from Pyin Oo Lwin, whose land was confiscated due to the pipeline.

"We are worried for our safety because when they tested the pipeline by transmitting water earlier this year in Shan State, the pipeline was damaged. What will happen when gas and oil are transmitted?" Ko Gyi added.

The Myanmar-China Pipeline Watch Committee has launched a signature campaign to urge pipeline authorities to act transparently and review concerns about the project's safety and whether an equitable benefits-sharing arrangement is in place.

"We just want transparency for the project," said Hnin Yu Shwe from the Myanmar-China Pipeline Watch Committee. "As far as we studied, the project has no transparency and will provide no benefits to locals who live along the pipeline, nor to citizens of the country who have had to suffer the consequences of the project, such as deforestation and environmental degradation. If the project is not transparent and doesn't provide benefits to the country, just stop it."

The committee issued a report earlier this year detailing environmental degradation wrought by the project, emphasizing deforestation along the pipeline corridor in Arakan State as well as central Burma's Mahn, Minbu and Yaynanchaung forestry areas, and Shan State's Naungcho, Goke Hteik and Moe Tae forestry areas.

The vice president of CNPC, Wang Dongjin, also insisted on Sunday that the gas pipeline will benefit both countries' energy sectors.

"The successful commissioning of the gas pipeline will not only put gas fields into development and reward Myanmar with export revenue; more importantly, it will provide access to clean energy to the Myanmar people along this pipeline. Meanwhile, natural gas will play a major role in optimizing the energy mix in Southwest China," Wang Dongjin said.

A separate commissioning ceremony was also held on Sunday in Kyaukpyu, where the pipeline begins on the coast of the Bay of Bengal.

In Burma, Internal Spy Network Lives On

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 02:08 AM PDT

Former Military Intelligence chief Khin Nyunt talks to reporters after voting in the by-elections on April 1 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

MANDALAY — It’s been two years since Burma’s new government promised its people a more open way of life, but still they come, plainclothes state intelligence officers asking where former student activist Mya Aye is and when he’ll back.

Politicians, journalists, writers, diplomats, too, find themselves being watched: Men on motorcycles tailing closely. The occasional phone call. The same, familiar faces at crowded street cafes.

"It’s not as bad as it used to be," said Mya Aye, who devotes much of his time today campaigning for citizen’s rights, "but it’s really annoying. They act like we’re criminals, harassing us, our families. It’s disrespectful and intimidating. It shouldn’t be this way anymore."

Mya Aye was one of the student leaders of a failed uprising in 1988 against the repressive military junta that ruled for nearly five decades and employed a colossal network of intelligence agents to crack down on dissent.

In years past, he and thousands of other dissidents were hauled off to jail, instilling widespread fear in the hearts of a downtrodden population to ensure that nobody spoke out.

The level of oppression has eased markedly since President Thein Sein, a former army general, took office in 2011 after an opposition-boycotted election. But while many political prisoners have been released, newspapers are no longer censored and freedom of speech has largely become a reality, the government has not ceased spying on its own people.

"Old habits die hard," said lawmaker Win Htein of the opposition National League for Democracy party, who spent nearly 20 years in prison during the military reign. He spoke to The Associated Press by telephone in a conversation he feared was being tapped by police.

Every day, six to eight officers from various security departments can be seen at a tea shop across the street from the opposition party headquarters, jotting down who comes and goes and snapping the occasional picture.

It is unknown how many intelligence agents are active nationwide, but at least two major information gathering services are still operating: the Office of Military Affairs Security and the notorious Special Branch police, which reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

A well-connected, middle-ranking officer, speaking on condition he not be named because he didn’t have authorization to talk to the media, said there are no top-down orders these days to follow a particular individual. Young, often-inexperienced agents instead are told to keep tabs on new faces or unusual movement in their "patch," and then inform their bosses.

And so they do, often in crude or comic fashion, with little or no effort to be discreet.

When Associated Press journalists went to the city of Meikhtila to inspect a neighborhood destroyed by sectarian violence earlier this year, the watchers were everywhere, two men trailing close behind on motorcycles.

Yet more waited outside the hotel in Mandalay as the reporting team tried to find ways to lose them – finally entering a crowded temple and then slipping out the back – so they could interview massacre survivors so worried of being harassed by authorities that they would not even speak in their own homes.

Presidential spokesman Ye Htut insisted those days are over: "Special Branch is no longer monitoring on journalists." Asked to comment further, he said the story is "based on false assumptions," so he could not.

Human Rights Watch says intelligence gathering services tortured prisoners and detainees during military rule by using sleep deprivation or kicking and beating some of them until they lost consciousness. During another failed uprising, the 2007 monk-led Saffron Revolution, Special Branch officers videotaped and photographed protests, and then used the images to identify and detain thousands of people.

There are still reports of arrest, detention and sometimes torture, said David Mathieson, an expert on Burma for New York-based Human Rights Watch, but the number of incidents has fallen sharply, in part because activist groups and media report them when they happen.

State intelligence is still tracking targets out of "habit and continued paranoia," he said. "The secret police are often the last people to embrace a transition, especially when so many of their past victims and opponents, such as former political prisoners and activists, are a central component of the transition and reform process."

"The challenges for them now are that there are far more people to monitor, Burmese and foreigners, and a much less certain mission and confused political program," he said. "Before 2011, the police, courts and military could use the rule of law to intimidate their opponents, cow journalists and throw critics in prison. They don’t have a green-light to do this anymore, so they have to be careful."

Land rights activist Win Cho has his own way of dealing with the problem: He informs on himself.

"I just tell them everything I’m going to do," he said. He often travels outside the city of Rangoon to advocate for farmers who are fighting against land grabs by the rich and powerful. "If we’re having a protest, I call the Special Branch and tell them where, when and how. Then they don’t bother following me. They know everything already."

Local police also employ their own intelligence agents. One who followed the AP journalists in Meikhtila acknowledged following Win Htein in the same city in recent months, though he declined to say why. The opposition lawmaker had been critical of the failure of police and authorities to rein in sectarian violence there.

When an AP team visited a Muslim neighborhood in the western city of Sittwe, half a dozen police carrying assault rifles followed every step of the way, writing down everything they heard in notebooks. Police officers also appeared during interviews at camps for those displaced by sectarian violence – and sometimes afterward, asking whom the journalists had spoken to and what they asked.

Earlier this year, an obligatory three-man escort from the police anti-drug division, the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, tagged along when an AP team traveled with the UN drug agency through the rugged mountains of eastern Shan state.

They said they were there for the journalists’ safety in a region where an ethnic insurgency has thrived for decades. But they also filmed the journalists extensively during interviews with villagers. Every night, the police faxed a multipage handwritten report to their headquarters in the capital, Naypyidaw.

Asked why, the chief minder, police Maj. Zaw Min Oo, said: "We like to keep a record of what you do, who you talk to, what you eat … you are our guests."

Aceh Fishermen Rescue 68 Rohingya Asylum Seekers from Indian Ocean

Posted: 28 Jul 2013 11:34 PM PDT

Rohingya people perennially leave their homes and families in Burma and Bangladesh, where they face extreme discrimination and are denied citizenship. (Photo: Reuters)

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Fishermen rescued more than 60 Rohingya asylum seekers stranded in a boat off the coast of Aceh Jaya on Sunday—the third disabled Rohingya boat found floating in the Indian Ocean this year.

The 68 Rohingya—including a pregnant woman and two babies—told Aceh officials they boarded the boat after being threatened with deportation in Malaysia.

"The asylum seekers who could speak Malay said they departed from Malaysia four days ago and were heading to Australia to apply for asylum," Rizal Dinata, the head of Aceh Jaya branch Indonesian Inter-Citizen Radio (RAPI), said.

Shortly after leaving Malaysia, the asylum seekers' compass and global positioning system (GPS) were damaged, Rizal reported. The wind and currents pushed the boat toward Aceh, where it became stranded off the coast of Aceh Jaya.

The Rohingya told Rizal they fled their home villages in Burma's coastal Arakan region amid a recent surge in anti-Muslim violence. They spent several days in Malaysia before deciding to chance the perilous journey to Australia's Christmas Island.

The asylum seekers were in good health and fasting for the holy month of Ramadan, Rizal said. Some had Bangladesh citizenship, one was Vietnamese, Rizal said.

"There are two people who were sick and they were taken to Teuku Umar Calang General Hospital [and admitted to] intensive care," he said.

The others were transported to an orphanage in Calang, Aceh Jaya, overseen by the local Social Affairs Office. Immigration officials from Meulaboh, West Aceh, interviewed the asylum seekers and collected data.

Asylum seeker boats continue to arrive in Indonesia despite Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's implementation of a hard-line immigration policy that shut the nation's doors to even "legitimate refugees."

Under the new policy, all asylum seekers, regardless of their circumstances, will be settled in neighboring Papua New Guinea—a controversial move that has garnered criticism from human rights groups.

In early April, 76 Rohingya asylum seekers were found in a disabled boat off Pulo Aceh. In February, 121 Rohingya were rescued off the coast of North Aceh.

The number of asylum seekers fleeing Burma has increased eight-fold in Indonesia's Aceh province since 2009 as hard-line Buddhists launched a violent campaign targeting Burma's Muslim minority.

Party of PM Hun Sen Wins Cambodian Election, Majority Slashed

Posted: 28 Jul 2013 11:27 PM PDT

A man raises his hands in front of a burning police vehicle following a brief clash at the end of election day in Phnom Penh on July 28, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Damir Sagolj)

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia's main opposition party on Monday rejected election results given by the government, which said long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen's party had won, and called for an inquiry into what it called massive manipulation of electoral rolls.

The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), whose campaign was given a boost by the return from exile of leader Sam Rainsy, said it wanted an investigation committee set up with representatives from the political parties, the United Nations, the election authority and non-governmental organizations.

"There were 1.2 million to 1.3 million people whose names were missing and could not vote. They deleted our rights to vote, how could we recognize this election?" Sam Rainsy told a news conference.

"There were ghost names, names only on paper, over a million people that may have been turned into votes. We cannot accept this result," he said.

The CNRP said the committee should report back by Aug. 31.

On Sunday, the government said Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) had won 68 seats in the 123-seat parliament to the CNRP's 55. Even that would have been a huge setback for the authoritarian leader, who has been prime minister for 28 years.

The CPP, backed by a compliant Cambodian media and with superior resources, had been confident of victory.

Analysts, however, had predicted a reduction in its majority after the merger of two main opposition parties, as well as the return of Sam Rainsy.

The CPP had 90 seats in the outgoing parliament and the parties that united to form the CNRP had 29, with minor parties holding the remaining four.

Sam Rainsy called for calm after the government gave the results late on Sunday and thanked the Cambodian people for "their dignified participation in this election."

He appealed to his youthful supporters not to cause trouble. "We call for peace and reconciliation," he said.

Voting on Sunday, like the campaign itself, was for the most part peaceful, although a crowd angered by alleged irregularities set fire to two police cars outside a polling station in the capital, Phnom Penh.

The United Nations organized an election in 1993 that put Cambodia on a rocky path toward stability after decades of turmoil that included the 1975-79 "Killing Fields" rule of the communist Khmer Rouge.

Under Hun Sen, a former junior commander in the Khmer Rouge who broke away during their rule, Cambodia has been transformed into one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economies, helped by garment exports plus aid money and investment from China.

But economic growth has been accompanied by a rise in social tension over poor factory conditions and rural land rights in a country of 14 million people where a third of the people live on less than 65 US cents a day.

The Poison Pill in India’s Search for Cheap Food

Posted: 28 Jul 2013 11:20 PM PDT

A farmer sprays pesticide containing monocrotophos on a paddy field at Mohanpur village, about 45 km west of Agartala, capital of India's northeastern state of Tripura, on July 25, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Jayanta Dey)

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI — Nearly a decade ago, the Indian government ruled out a ban on the production and use of monocrotophos, the highly toxic pesticide that killed 23 children this month in a village school providing free lunches under a government-sponsored program.

Despite being labeled highly hazardous by the World Health Organization (WHO), a panel of government experts was persuaded by manufacturers that monocrotophos was cheaper than alternatives and more effective in controlling pests that decimate crop output.

India, which has more hungry mouths to feed than any other country in the world, continues to use monocrotophos and other highly toxic pesticides that rich and poor nations alike, including China, are banning on health grounds.

Although the government argues the benefits of strong pesticides outweigh the hazards if properly managed, the school food poisoning tragedy underlined criticism such controls are virtually ignored on the ground.

According to the minutes, the 2004 meeting conducted by the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee, the Indian government body that regulates pesticide use, concluded that: "The data submitted by the industry satisfies the concerns raised … Therefore, there is no need to recommend the ban of this product."

The minutes of the meeting can be read here: http://cibrc.nic.in/248rc.doc

Government scientists continue to defend the pesticide, and insist the decision to not ban it remains good.

Just weeks before the school tragedy in Bihar state, the Indian government advised farmers via text message to use monocrotophos to kill borer pests in mandarin fruits and rice, records on the agricultural meteorology division's website show.

"It is cost effective and it is known for its efficacy … some even call it a benevolent pesticide," said T. P. Rajendran, assistant director general for plant protection at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

"I can say that pesticides currently permitted in the country are safe provided they are used as per specifications and guidelines. We have exhaustive and detailed guidelines. They need to be followed."

A senior official directly involved in the decision-making on pesticide use said: "You have got to understand that all pesticides are toxic but they are essential for maintaining or increasing agricultural production.

"Can we afford to lose 15-25 percent of output? One cannot afford to lose such a large percentage of agricultural produce. The answer lies in judicious use."

The official declined to be identified.

The WHO has cited a 2007 study that about 76,000 people die each year in India from pesticide poisoning. Many of the deaths are suicides made easy by the wide availability of toxic pesticides.

15 Pages of Regulations

In the school tragedy, police suspect the children's lunch was cooked in oil that was stored in a used container of monocrotophos.

The Indian government has issued 15 pages of regulations that need to be followed when handling pesticides—including wearing protective clothing and using a respirator when spraying. Pesticide containers should be broken when empty and not left outside in order to prevent them being re-used.

But in a nation where a quarter of the 1.2 billion population is illiterate and vast numbers live in far-flung rural districts, implementation is almost impossible. For instance, monocrotophos is banned for use on vegetable crops, but there is no way to ensure the rule is followed.

According to the WHO, swallowing 1,200 milligrams—less than a teaspoon—of monocrotophos can be fatal to humans. In 2009, it called for India to ban the product because of its extreme toxicity.

"It is imperative to consider banning the use of monocrotophos," it said in a 60-page report. "The perception that monocrotophos is cheap and necessary, have prevented the product from being taken off the market" in India.

WHO officials say the school tragedy reinforces the dangers of the pesticide.

"We would advocate that countries restrict, ban, or phase out … those chemicals for which they can't ensure that all aspects of use are safe," said Lesley Onyon, WHO's Southeast Asia regional adviser for chemical safety. "If they can't ensure safety, it's our policy to say that these chemical or pesticides shouldn't be used."

Indian government officials refuse to address the WHO's findings directly.

"We have to take decisions depending on our need, our priorities, and our requirements. No one knows these things better than us," said the government source.

National Priority

For India, providing more food to its people is a national priority. According to the World Bank, nearly 400 million people in the country live on less than $1.25 per day.

Nearly half its children under five are malnourished.

The Bihar school where the children died was participating in the government's midday meal program, aimed at giving 120 million school pupils a free lunch—both providing nutrition and encouraging education. India is also close to implementing an ambitious plan to provide cheap food to 800 million people.

Central to these efforts will be higher crop yields and managing costs.

According to government officials and manufacturers, monocrotophos is cheap and is also a broad spectrum pesticide that can only be replaced by four or five crop- or pest-specific pesticides. Even similar pesticides are much more expensive.

A 500 ml monocrotophos bottle sold by Godrej Agrovet, a subsidiary of Godrej Industries, is priced at 225 rupees ($3.75), while an alternative, Imidacloprid, in a bottle of 500 ml produced by Bayer, costs 1,271 rupees.

Monocrotophos is banned by many countries, including the United States, the European Union nations, China, and, among India's neighbors, Pakistan. Sri Lanka only allows monocrotophos use for coconut cultivation.

One of the two companies that argued against the ban on monocrotophos in 2004 halted production five years later under pressure from the public in its home country, Denmark.

Cheminova, a unit of Auriga Industries, said it stopped producing monocrotophos in India in 2009 and converted its plant to produce a low-toxic fungicide.

"We decided to phase out monocrotophos because with many alternative products, we could not see any reason to have such a toxic product in a country like India," Lars-Erik Pedersen, vice-president of Auriga Industries, told Reuters in Copenhagen.

"It was a big decision because it is one of the best-selling products in India," he added.

The other manufacturer that made a presentation at the 2004 meeting was United Phosphorus, currently the biggest producer of the pesticide in the country.

Managing Director Rajju D. Shroff told Reuters that monocrotophos was "very harmless," and hinted calls for a ban were aimed at helping multinationals sell more costly alternatives.

"Companies want to sell new pesticides. If they have monocrotophos, farmers will not change to new, expensive ones," said Shroff, who attended the meeting as the head of the Crop Care Federation of India, a position he still holds.

Not Most Toxic

Historically, India appears reluctant to ban pesticides. Monocrotophos isn't the most toxic pesticide used in the country, according to the WHO's classifications. Phorate, methyl parathion, bromadiolone and phosphamidon, all classified as extremely hazardous, are likewise registered for use.

And endosulfan—a substance so nasty the United Nations wants it eliminated worldwide—was banned only by a Supreme Court order in 2011. The decision came a few months after the chief minister of the southern state of Kerala, the top elected official, went on a day-long hunger fast to demand the ban.

According to media reports, over 1,000 people were killed and hundreds born deformed because of indiscriminate aerial spraying of endosulfan in Kasargod, a Kerala district.

Both production of monocrotophos and demand in India was higher in 2009-10 than in 2005-06, according to latest available government data. It accounted for about 4 percent of total pesticide use in 2009-10 and 7 percent of production.

Its share in total sales is about 2-3 percent now, according to the Pesticides Manufacturers & Formulators Association, which says it represents the industry on a national basis with over 250 members.

The Center for Science and Environment, a leading environmental NGO in India, says the state of pesticide control in the country is deplorable and companies have great influence.

"The story on the ground is abysmal, it's very disappointing," said Amit Khurana, program manager in the CSE's food safety and toxins unit.

"People still do not know how much of pesticide is to be used, which pesticide is to be used for which crop. The biggest influence for a farmer is the sales representative of the company … so there's this sense of gross mismanagement at that level."

The government has tried to introduce legislation for "more effective regulation of import, manufacture, export, sale, transport, distribution and use of pesticides" but the bill has languished in parliament since 2008.

India is no stranger to the dangers of pesticides. Besides the thousands killed each year, the country suffered the world's worst industrial disaster when lethal methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal in 1984, killing nearly 4,500 people.

But in the fields of rural India, pesticides like monocrotophos continue to be widely used.

"I have been using it for the last 10 years, I have a very good experience," said Gaiyabhu Patil, a 56-year-old farmer who had just finished spraying monocrotophos on his 15-acre cotton crop in the western state of Maharashtra. "It is cheap and effective."

Anil Dhole, a pesticide vendor in Koregaon, a district town southeast of Mumbai at the center of a sugarcane and cotton growing region, said few of his customers took health warnings seriously.

"Many farmers don't take the necessary precautions while applying the pesticide. We do inform them about its toxic nature, but they take it casually," he said "Farmers don't even bother to cover their noses."

Additional reporting by Annie Bannerji and Mayank Bhardwaj in NEW DELHI, Kate Kelland in LONDON, Ole Mikkelsen in COPENHAGEN, Catherine Hornby in ROME and Rujun Shen in SINGAPORE.

Manila to Move Air Force, Navy near Disputed Sea

Posted: 28 Jul 2013 11:14 PM PDT

A Filipino father and son watch the guided-missile frigate USS Crommelin in Subic Bay. (Photo: US Navy)

MANILA — The Philippines plans to relocate major air force and navy camps to a former US naval base northwest of Manila to gain faster access to waters being contested by China in the South China Sea, according to the country's defense chief and a confidential government report.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said Sunday that as soon as relocation funds are available, the government plans to transfer air force and naval forces and their fleets of aircraft and warships to Subic Bay, which has become a busy free port since the 1992 departure of the US Navy.

"It's for the protection of our West Philippine Sea," Gazmin said from South Korea, where he was on a visit, using the name adopted by the Philippine government for the disputed South China Sea.

"We're looking now for the funding," he said.

Subic Bay is a natural deep harbor that can accommodate two large warships acquired recently by the Philippines from the United States, a defense treaty ally, he said, especially compared to shallower harbor at the naval fleet base at Sangley Point in Cavite province, south of Manila.

The first US Coast Guard cutter was relaunched as the Philippines' largest warship in 2011. President Benigno Aquino III will lead ceremonies on Aug. 6 to welcome the second ship at Subic, the Philippine navy said.

A confidential defense department document obtained by The Associated Press says Subic's location will cut reaction time by fighter aircraft to contested South China Sea areas by more than three minutes compared with flying from Clark airfield, also north of Manila, where some air force planes are based.

"It will provide the armed forces of the Philippines strategic location, direct and shorter access to support West Philippine Sea theater of operations," the document said.

The report said the cost of repairs and improvements for an air force base in Subic would be at least 5.1 billion pesos ($119 million). It said that compares with an estimated 11 billion pesos ($256 million) that it would cost to build a new air force base, because the vast Subic complex about 80 kilometers west of Manila already has a world-class runway and aviation facilities.

Relocating about 250 air force officers and men to Subic, along with "increased rotational presence of foreign visiting forces" would bolster business and trade at the port, the military document said.

Subic's international airport has been underutilized since US courier giant FedEx transferred its lucrative regional hub from Subic to China in 2009, officials said.

The Philippines plans to grant visiting US forces, ships and aircraft temporary access to more of its military camps to allow for a larger number of joint military exercises than are currently staged each year.

A larger US presence could be used for disaster response and serve as a deterrent to what Philippine officials say have been recent aggressive intrusions by China into its territorials waters.

The Philippines has backed Washington's efforts to reassert its military presence in Asia as a counterweight to China's rise. While it has taken diplomatic steps to deal with China's sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea, the Philippines has struggled to upgrade its military, one of Asia's weakest.

Philippine vessels backed off from the disputed Scarborough Shoal last year after weeks of a tense standoff with Chinese surveillance ship, a move that gave China effective control over the vast fishing ground off the country's northwest.

Many fear the territorial conflicts in the South China Sea, which also involve Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan, could set off a serious conflict that could threaten Asia's growing economies.
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