Volume 18 - Issue 22, Oct. 27 - Nov. 09, 2001 India's National Magazine from the publishers of THE HINDU

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Table of Contents

COVER STORY MANY FACES OF GENDER INEQUALITY An essay by Amartya Sen. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen's work on gender inequality is of seminal importance. His work on the theory of the household represents the household not as an undifferentiated unit, but as a unit of cooperation as well as of inequality and internal discrimination. He has worked on problems of discrimination against women in the development process, on survivorship differentials between men and women under conditions of social discrimination against women, and on women's agency in the process of social development. Along with his academic collaborator Jean Drze, Professor Sen proposed and popularised the concept of "missing women" - estimated to exceed 100 million round the world - which has given us a new way of understanding and mapping the problem. SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY In this Cover Story essay, which is based on the text of his inauguration lecture for the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, Professor Sen takes a comprehensive and deeply concerned look at the "many faces of gender inequality." Focussing on South Asia, he discovers in the data thrown up by the Census of 2001 an interesting phenomenon - a split India, "something of a social and cultural divide across India, splitting the country into two nearly contiguous halves, in the extent of anti-female bias in natality and post-natality mortality." He concludes by identifying the principal issues, emphasising the need to "take a plural view of gender inequality," and calling for a new agenda of action to combat and put an end to gender inequality. Frontline features this important essay by Amartya Sen as its Cover Story. I. Seven Types of Inequality IT was more than a century ago, in 1870, that Queen Victoria wrote to Sir Theodore Martin complaining about "this mad, wicked folly of 'Woman's Rights'." The formidable empress certainly did not herself need any protection that the acknowledgment of women's rights might offer. Even at the age of eighty, in 1899, she could write to A.J. Balfour, "We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist." That, however, is not the way most people's lives go - reduced and defeated as they frequently are by adversities. And within each community, nationality and class, the burden of hardship often falls disproportionately on women. The afflicted world in which we live is characterised by deeply unequal sharing of the burden of adversities between women and men. Gender inequality exists in most parts of the world, from Japan to Morocco, from Uzbekistan to the United States of America. However, inequality between women and men can take very many different forms. Indeed, gender inequality is not one homogeneous phenomenon, but a collection of disparate and interlinked problems. Let me illustrate with examples of different kinds of disparity. (1) Mortality inequality: In some regions in the world, inequality between women and men directly involves matters of life and death, and takes the brutal form of unusually high mortality rates of women and a consequent preponderance of men in the total population, as opposed to the preponderance of women found in societies with little or no gender bias in health care and nutrition. Mortality inequality has been observed extensively in North Africa and in Asia, including China and South Asia. (2) Natality inequality: Given a preference for boys over girls that many male-dominated societies have, gender inequality can manifest itself in the form of the parents wanting the newborn to be a boy rather than a girl. There was a time when this could be no more than a wish (a daydream or a nightmare, depending on one's perspective), but with the availability of modern techniques to determine the gender of the foetus, sex-selective abortion has become common in many countries. It is particularly prevalent in East Asia, in China and South Korea in particular, but also in Singapore and Taiwan, and it is beginning to emerge as a statistically significant phenomenon in India and South Asia as well. This is high-tech sexism. KAMAL KISHORE/REUTERS A woman worker in New Delhi. (3) Basic facility inequality: Even when demographic characteristics do not show much or any anti-female bias, there are other ways in which women can have less than a square deal. Afghanistan may be the only country in the world the government of which is keen on actively excluding girls from schooling (it combines this with other features of massive gender inequality), but there are many countries in Asia and Africa, and also in Latin America, where girls have far less opportunity of schooling than boys do. There are other deficiencies in basic facilities available to women, varying from encouragement to cultivate one's natural talents to fair participation in rewarding social functions of the community. (4) Special opportunity inequality: Even when there is relatively little difference in basic facilities including schooling, the opportunities of higher education may be far fewer for young women than for young men. Indeed, gender bias in higher education and professional training can be observed even in some of the richest countries in the world, in Europe and North America. Sometimes this type of division has been based on the superficially innocuous idea that the respective "provinces" of men and women are just different. This thesis has been championed in different forms over the centuries, and has had much implicit as well as explicit following. It was presented with particular directness more than a hundred years before Queen Victoria's complaint about "woman's rights" by the Revd James Fordyce in his Sermons to Young Women (1766), a book which, as Mary Wollstonecraft noted in her A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), had been "long made a part of woman's library." Fordyce warned the young women, to whom his sermons were addressed, against "those masculine women that would plead for your sharing any part of their province with us," identifying the province of men as including not only "war," but also "commerce, politics, exercises of strength and dexterity, abstract philosophy and all the abstruser sciences."1 Even though such clear-cut beliefs about the provinces of men and women are now rather rare, nevertheless the presence of extensive gender asymmetry can be seen in many areas of education, training and professional work even in Europe and North America. (5) Professional inequality: In terms of employment as well as promotion in work and occupation, women often face greater handicap than men. A country like Japan may be quite egalitarian in matters of demography or basic facilities, and even, to a great extent, in higher education, and yet progress to elevated levels of employment and occupation seems to be much more problematic for women than for men. In the English television series called "Yes, Minister," there is an episode where the Minister, full of reforming zeal, is trying to find out from the immovable permanent secretary, Sir Humphrey, how many women are in really senior positions in the British civil service. Sir Humphrey says that it is very difficult to give an exact number; it would require a lot of investigation. The Minister is still insistent, and wants to know approximately how many women are there in these senior positions. To which Sir Humphrey finally replies, "Approximately, none." (6) Ownership inequality: In many societies the ownership of property can also be very unequal. Even basic assets such as homes and land may be very asymmetrically shared. The absence of claims to property can not only reduce the voice of women, but also make it harder for women to enter and flourish in commercial, economic and even some social activities.2 This type of inequality has existed in most parts of the world, though there are also local variations. For example, even though traditional property rights have favoured men in the bulk of India, in what is now the State of Kerala, there has been, for a long time, matrilineal inheritance for an influential part of the community, namely the Nairs. K. GAJENDRAN At a family welfare centre in Tamil Nadu. (7) Household inequality: There are, often enough, basic inequalities in gender relations within the family or the household, which can take many different forms. Even in cases in which there are no overt signs of anti-female bias in, say, survival or son-preference or education, or even in promotion to higher executive positions, the family arrangements can be quite unequal in terms of sharing the burden of housework and child care. It is, for example, quite common in many societies to take it for granted that while men will naturally work outside the home, women could do it if and only if they could combine it with various inescapable and unequally shared household duties. This is sometimes called "division of labour," though women could be forgiven for seeing it as "accumulation of labour." The reach of this inequality includes not only unequal relations within the family, but also derivative inequalities in employment and recognition in the outside world. Also, the established fixity of this type of "division" or "accumulation" of labour can also have far-reaching effects on the knowledge and understanding of different types of work in professional circles. When I first started working on gender inequality, in the 1970s, I remember being struck by the fact that the Handbook of Human Nutrition Requirement of the World Health Organisation (WHO), in presenting "calorie requirements" for different categories of people, chose to classify household work as "sedentary activity," requiring very little deployment of energy.3 I was, however, not able to determine precisely how this remarkable bit of information had been collected by the patrician leaders of society. II. Focussing on South Asia It is important to take note of the variety of forms that gender inequality can take. First, inequality between women and men cannot be confronted and overcome by any one set of all-purpose remedy. Second, over time the same country can move from one type of gender inequality to harbouring other forms of that inequity. I shall presently argue that there is new evidence that India is undergoing just such a transformation right at this time. Third, the different forms of gender inequality can impose diverse adversities on the lives of men and boys, in addition to those of women and girls. In understanding the different aspects of the evil of gender inequality, we have to look beyond the predicament of women and examine the problems created for men as well by the asymmetric treatment of women. These causal connections, which (as I shall presently illustrate) can be very significant, can vary with the form of gender inequality. Finally, inequalities of different kinds can also, frequently enough, feed each other, and we have to be aware of their interlinkages. Even though part of the object of this paper is to discuss the variety of different types of gender inequality, a substantial part of my empirical focus will, in fact, be on two of the most elementary kinds of gender inequality, namely, mortality inequality and natality inequality. I shall be concerned, in particular, with gender inequality in South Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. While I shall separate out the subcontinent for special attention, I must also warn against the smugness of thinking that the United States or Western Europe is free from gender bias simply because some of the empirical generalisations that can be made about the subcontinent would not hold in the West. Given the many faces of gender inequality, much would depend on which face we look at. For example, India, along with Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, has had female heads of governments, which the United States or Japan has not yet had (and does not seem very likely to have in the immediate future, if I am any judge). Indeed, in the case of Bangladesh, where both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition are women, one might begin to wonder whether any man could possibly rise to a leadership position there in the near future. To take another example, I had a vastly larger proportion of tenured women colleagues when I was a Professor at Delhi University - as early as the 1960s - than I had at Harvard University in the 1990s, or presently have at Trinity College, Cambridge. To take another type of example (of a rather personal kind), in preparing my last book, Development as Freedom,4 when I was looking for a suitably early formulation of the contrast between the instrumental importance of income and wealth, on the one hand, and the intrinsic value of human life, on the other (a point of departure for my book), I found it in the words of Maitreyee, a woman intellectual depicted in the Upanishads (from the eighth century B.C.). The classic formulation of this distinction would, of course, come about four centuries later, from Aristotle, in Nicomachean Ethics, but it is interesting that the first sharp formulation of the value of living for men and women should have come from a woman thinker in a society that has not yet - three thousand years later - been able to overcome the mortality differential between women and men. Indeed, in the scale of mortality inequality, India - as well as Pakistan and Bangladesh - is close to the bottom of the league in gender disparity. And, as I shall presently argue, natality inequality is also beginning to rear its ugly head very firmly and very fast right at this time in the subcontinent. III. Exceptions and Trends In the bulk of the subcontinent, with only a few exceptions (such as Sri Lanka and the State of Kerala in India), female mortality rates are very significantly higher than what could be expected given the mortality patterns of men (in the respective age groups). This type of gender inequality need not entail any conscious homicide, and it would be a mistake to try to explain this large phenomenon by invoking the occasional cases of female infanticide that are reported from China or India; these are truly dreadful events when they occur, but they are relatively rare. Rather, the mortality disadvantage of women works mainly through a widespread neglect of health, nutrition and other interests of women that influence survival. It is sometimes presumed that there are more women than men in the world, since that is well-known to be the case in Europe and North America, which have a female to male ratio of 1.05 or so, on the average (that is, about 105 women per 100 men). But women do not outnumber men in the world as a whole; indeed there are only about 98 women per 100 men on the globe. This "shortfall" of women is most acute in Asia and North Africa. For example, the number of females per 100 males in the total population is 97 in Egypt and Iran, 95 in Bangladesh and Turkey, 94 in China, 93 in India and Pakistan, and 84 in Saudi Arabia (though the last ratio is considerably reduced by the presence of male migrant workers from elsewhere who come to Saudi Arabia). It has been widely observed that given similar health care and nutrition, women tend typically to have lower age-specific mortality rates than men do. Indeed, even female foetuses tend to have a lower probability of miscarriage than male foetuses have. Everywhere in the world, more male babies are born than female babies (and an even higher proportion of male foetuses are conceived compared with female foetuses), but throughout their respective lives the proportion of males goes on falling as we move to higher and higher age groups, due to typically greater male mortality rates. The excess of females over males in the population of Europe and North America comes about as a result of this greater survival chance of females in different age groups. BRENNAN LINSLEY/AP There is relatively little bias against women in terms of health care and social status in sub-Saharan Africa. However, in many parts of the world, women receive less attention and health care than men do, and particularly girls often receive very much less support than boys. As a result of this gender bias, the mortality rates of females often exceed those of males in these countries. The concept of "missing women" was devised to give some idea of the enormity of the phenomenon of women's adversity in mortality by focussing on the women who are simply not there, due to unusually high mortality compared with male mortality rates. The basic idea is to find some rough and ready way to understand the quantitative difference between (1) the actual number of women in these countries, and (2) the number we could expect to see if the gender pattern of mortality were similar in these countries as in other regions of the world that do not have a significant bias against women in terms of health care and other attentions relevant for survival. For example, if we take the ratio of women to men in sub-Saharan Africa as the standard (there is relatively little bias against women in terms of health care, social status and mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa, even though the absolute numbers are quite dreadful for both men and women), then its female-male ratio of 1.022 can be used to calculate the number of missing women in women-short countries.5 For example, with India's female-male ratio of 0.93, there is a total difference of 9 per cent (of the male population) between that ratio and the standard used for comparison, namely, the sub-Saharan African ratio of 1.022. This yielded a figure of 37 million missing women already in 1986 (when I first did the estimation). Using the same sub-Saharan standard, China had 44 million missing women, and it was evident that for the world as a whole the magnitude of shortfall easily exceeded 100 million.6 Other standards and different procedures can also be used, as has been done by Ansley Coale and Stephan Klasen, getting somewhat different numbers, but invariably very large ones (Klasen's total number is about 80 million missing women).7 Gender bias in mortality does take an astonishingly heavy toll. How can this be reversed? Some economic models have tended to relate the neglect of women to the lack of economic empowerment of women. While Ester Boserup, an early feminist economist, discussed how the status and standing of women are enhanced by economic independence (such as gainful employment), others have tried to link the neglect of girls to the higher economic returns for the family from boys compared with girls.8 I believe the former line of reasoning, which takes fuller note of social considerations that take us beyond any hard-headed calculation of relative returns from rearing girls vis-a-vis boys, is both appropriately broader and more promising, but no matter which interpretation is taken, women's gainful employment, especially in more rewarding occupations, clearly does play a role in improving the deal that women and girls get. And so does women's literacy, and other factors that can be seen as adding to the status, standing and voice of women in family decisions.9 An example that has been discussed in this context is the experience of the State of Kerala in India, which provides a sharp contrast with many other parts of the country in having little or no gender bias in mortality. Indeed, not only is the life expectancy of Kerala women at birth above 76 (compared with 70 for men), the female-male ratio of Kerala's population is 1.06 according to the 2001 Census (possibly somewhat raised by greater migration for work by men, but certainly no lower than the West European or North American ratios, which are around 1.05 or so). With its 30 million population, Kerala's example also involves a fair number of people. The causal variables related to women's empowerment can be seen as playing a role here, since Kerala has a very high level of women's literacy (nearly universal for the younger age groups), and also much more access for women to well paid and well respected jobs. One of the other influences of women's empowerment, namely a fertility decline, is also observed in Kerala, where the fertility rate has fallen very fast (much faster, incidentally, than China, despite the rigours of Chinese coercive measures in birth control), and Kerala's present fertility rate around 1.7 or 1.8 (roughly interpretable as an average of 1.7 or 1.8 children per couple) is one of the lowest in the developing world (about the same as in Britain and France, and much lower than in the United States). All these observations link with each other very well in a harmonious causal story. However, there is further need for causal discrimination in interpreting Kerala's experience. There are other special features of Kerala which may also be relevant, such as female ownership of property for an influential part of the Hindu population (the Nairs), openness to and interaction with the outside world (with the presence of Christians - about a fifth of the population - who have been much longer in Kerala - since around the fourth century - than they have been in, say, Britain, not to mention Jews who came to Kerala shortly after the fall of Jerusalem), and activist left-wing politics with a particularly egalitarian commitment, which has tended to focus strongly on issues of equity (not only between classes and castes, but also between women and men).10 IV. Issues that Need Investigation I now move away from the old - and by now much discussed - problems of gender bias in life and death (illustrated by the enormity of the size of "missing women") to other issues which are in need of greater investigation at this time. We begin by noting four substantial phenomena that happen to be quite widely observed in South Asia. (1) Undernourishment of girls over boys: At the time of birth, girls are obviously no more nutritionally deprived than boys are, but this situation changes as society's unequal treatment takes over from nature's non-discrimination. There has, in fact, been plenty of aggregative evidence on this for quite some time now.11 But this has been accompanied by some anthropological scepticism of the appropriateness of using aggregate statistics with pooled data from different regions to interpret the behaviour of individual families. However, there have also been some detailed and concretely local studies on this subject, which confirm the picture that emerges on the basis of aggregate statistics.12 One case study from India, which I myself undertook in 1983, along with Sunil Sengupta, involved the weighing of every child in two large villages. The time pattern that emerged from this micro study, which concentrated particularly on weight-for-age as the chosen indicator of nutritional level for children under five, brings out clearly how an initial condition of broad nutritional symmetry turns gradually into a situation of significant female disadvantage.13 The detailed local studies tend to confirm rather than contradict the picture that emerges from aggregate statistics. In interpreting the causal process, it is important to emphasise that the lower level of nourishment of girls may not relate directly to their being underfed vis-a-vis boys. Often enough, the differences may particularly arise from the neglect of health care of girls compared with what boys get. There is, in fact, some direct information of comparative medical neglect of girls vis-a-vis boys in South Asia. Indeed, when I studied, with Jocelyn Kynch, admissions data from two large public hospitals in Bombay (Mumbai), it was very striking to find clear evidence that the admitted girls were typically more ill than boys, suggesting the inference that a girl has to be more stricken before she is taken to the hospital.14 Undernourishment may well result from greater morbidity, which can adversely affect both the absorption of nutrients and the performance of bodily functions. JORGE SILVA/REUTERS A malnourished mother and her daughter in Guatemala. (2) High incidence of maternal undernourishment: In South Asia maternal undernutrition is more common than in most other regions of the world.15 Comparisons of Body Mass Index (BMI), which is essentially a measure of weight for height, bring this out clearly enough, as do statistics of such consequential characteristics as the incidence of anaemia.16 (3) Prevalence of low birthweight: In South Asia, as many as 21 per cent of children are born clinically underweight (in accepted medical standards) - more than in any other substantial region in the world.17. The predicament of being low in weight in childhood seems often enough to begin at birth in the case of South Asian children. In terms of weight for age, South Asia has around 40 to 60 per cent children undernourished compared with 20 to 40 per cent undernourishment even in sub-Saharan Africa. The children start deprived and stay deprived. (4) High incidence of cardiovascular diseases: South Asia stands out as having more cardiovascular diseases than any other part of the third world. Even when other countries, such as China, have greater prevalence of the standard predisposing conditions, the Indian population seems to have more heart problems than these other countries have. It is not difficult to see that the first three observations are very likely causally connected. The neglect of the care of girls and of women in general and the underlying gender bias that they reflect would tend to yield more maternal undernourishment, and through that more foetal deprivation and distress, underweight babies, and child undernourishment. But what about the last observation - the higher incidence of cardiovascular diseases among South Asian adults? In interpreting it, we can, I would argue, draw on some pioneering work of a British medical team, led by Professor D.J.P. Barker.18 Based on English data, Barker has shown that low birth weight is closely associated with higher incidence, many decades later, of several adult diseases, including hypertension, glucose intolerance, and other cardiovascular hazards. The robustness of the statistical connections as well as the causal mechanisms involved in intrauterine growth retardation can, of course, be further investigated, but as matters stand these medical findings offer a possibility of causally interconnecting the different empirical observations related to South Asia, as I have tried to discuss in a joint paper with Siddiq Osmani.19 The application of this medical understanding to the phenomenon of high incidence of cardiovascular diseases in South Asia strongly suggests a causal pattern that goes from the nutritional neglect of women to maternal undernourishment, from there to foetal growth retardation and underweight babies, and thence to greater incidence of cardiovascular afflictions much later in adult life (along with the phenomenon of undernourished children in the shorter run). What begins as a neglect of the interests of women ends up causing adversities in the health and survival of all - even at an advanced age. Given the uniquely critical role of women in the reproductive process, it would be hard to imagine that the deprivation to which women are subjected would not have some adverse impact on the lives of all - men as well as women and adults as well as children - who are "born of a woman" (as the Book of Job describes every person, not particularly daringly). Indeed, since men suffer disproportionately more from cardiovascular diseases, the suffering of women hit men even harder, in this respect. The extensive penalties of neglecting women's interests rebounds, it appears, on men with a vengeance. V. What Women's Agency Can Achieve These biological connections illustrate a more general point, to wit, gender inequality can hurt the interests of men as well as women. There are other - non-biological - connections that operate through women's conscious agency. The expansion of women's capabilities not only enhances women's own freedom and well-being, but also has many other effects on the lives of all.20 An enhancement of women's active agency can, in many circumstances, contribute substantially to the lives of all people - men as well as women, children as well as adults. As many studies have brought out, the greater empowerment of women tends to reduce child neglect and mortality, cut down fertility and overcrowding, and more generally, broaden social concern and care. These illustrations can be supplemented by considering the functioning of women in other areas, including in economic and political fields.21 Substantial linkages between women's agency and social achievements have been noted in many different countries. AVENTURIER PATRICK/GAMMA An Afghan mother and children at a refugee camp in Pakistan. There is, for example, plenty of evidence that whenever social and economic arrangements depart from the standard practice of male ownership, women can seize business and economic initiative with much success. It is also clear that the result of women's participation is not merely to generate income for women, but also to provide many other social benefits that come from women's enhanced status and independence. The remarkable success of organisations like the Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in Bangladesh is a good example of this, and there is some evidence that the high profile presence of women in social and political life in that country has drawn substantial support from women's economic involvement and from a changed image of the role of women. While the Revd James Fordyce might disapprove of "those masculine women," as he called them, straying into men's "province," the nature of modern Bangladesh reflects in many different ways the increasing agency of women. The precipitate fall of the total fertility rate in Bangladesh from 6.1 to 3.0 in the course of two decades (perhaps the fastest such fall in the world) is clearly related to the changed economic and social roles of women, along with increases in family planning facilities. There have also been cultural influences and developments in that direction.22 Similar changes can be observed also in parts of India where women's empowerment has expanded, with more literacy and greater economic and social involvements outside the home.23 VI. Behind a Split India While there is something to cheer in the developments I have just been discussing, and there is considerable evidence of a weakened hold of gender disparity in several fields in the subcontinent, there is also, alas, some evidence of a movement in the contrary direction, at least in one aspect of gender inequality, namely, natality inequality. This has been brought out particularly sharply by the early results of the 2001 decennial national Census of India, which are now available. Early results indicate that even though the overall female to male ratio has improved slightly for the country as a whole (with a corresponding reduction of the proportion of "missing women"), the female-male ratio for children has had a substantial decline. For India as a whole, the female-male ratio of the population under age 6 has fallen from 94.5 girls for hundred boys in 1991 to 92.7 girls per hundred boys in 2001. While there has been no such decline in some parts of the country (most notably Kerala), it has fallen very sharply in others, such as Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra, which are among the richer Indian States. Taking together all the evidence that exists, it is clear that this change reflects not a rise in female child mortality, but a fall in female births vis-a-vis male births, and is almost certainly connected with increased availability and use of gender determination of foetuses. Fearing that sex-selective abortion might occur in India, the Indian Parliament banned some years ago the use of sex determination techniques for foetuses, except when it is a by-product of other necessary medical investigation. But it appears that the enforcement of this law has been comprehensively neglected, and when questioned by Celia Dugger, the energetic correspondent of The New York Times, the police often cited difficulties in achieving successful prosecution thanks to the reluctance of mothers to give evidence of use of such techniques. I do not believe that this need be an insurmountable difficulty (other types of evidence can in fact be used for prosecution), but the reluctance of the mothers to give evidence brings out perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this natality inequality, to wit, the "son preference" that many Indian mothers themselves seem to have. This face of gender inequality cannot, therefore, be removed, at least in the short run, by the enhancement of women's empowerment and agency, since that agency is itself an integral part of the cause of natality inequality. Policy initiatives have to take adequate note of the fact that the pattern of gender inequality seems to be shifting in India, right at this time, from mortality inequality (the female life expectancy at birth is by now two years higher than male life expectancy in India) to natality inequality. Indeed, there is clear evidence that traditional routes of changing gender inequality, through using public policy to influence female education and female economic participation, may not serve as a path to the removal of natality inequality. A sharp pointer in that direction comes from countries in East Asia, which all have high levels of female education and economic participation. Despite these achievements, compared with the biologically common ratio across the world of 95 girls being born per hundred boys, Singapore and Taiwan have 92 girls, South Korea only 88, and China a mere 86. In fact, South Korea's overall female-male ratio for children is also a meagre 88 girls for 100 boys and China's 85 girls for 100 boys. In comparison, the Indian ratio of 92.7 girls for 100 boys (though lower than its previous figure of 94.5) still looks far less unfavourable.24 However, there are more grounds for concern than may be suggested by the current all-India average. First, there are substantial variations within India, and the all-India average hides the fact that there are States in India where the female-male ratio for children is very much lower than the Indian average. Second, it has to be asked whether with the spread of sex-selective abortion, India may catch up with - and perhaps even go beyond - Korea and China. There is, in fact, strong evidence that this is happening in a big way in parts of the country. There is, however, something of a social and cultural divide across India, splitting the country into two nearly contiguous halves, in the extent of anti-female bias in natality and post-natality mortality. Since more boys are born than girls everywhere in the world, even without sex-specific abortion, we can use as a classificatory benchmark the female-male ratio among children in advanced industrial countries. The female-male ratio for the 0-5 age group is 94.8 in Germany, 95.0 in the U.K., and 95.7 in the U.S., and perhaps we can sensibly pick the German ratio of 94.8 as the cut-off point below which we should suspect anti-female intervention. The use of this dividing line produces a remarkable geographical split of India. There are the States in the north and the west where the female-male ratio of children is consistently below the benchmark figure, led by Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat (with ratios between 79.3 and 87.8), and also including, among others, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, and Bihar (a tiny exception is Dadra and Nagar Haveli, with less than a quarter million people altogether). On the other side of the divide, the States in the east and the south tend to have female-male ratios that are above the benchmark line of 94.8 girls per 100 boys: with Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam (each between 96.3 and 96.6), and also, among others, Orissa, Karnataka and the northeastern States to the east of Bangladesh (Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh). S. GOPAKUMAR At the start of a new school year in Kerala. One significant exception to this neat pattern of adjoining division is, however, provided by Tamil Nadu, where the female-male ratio is just below 94, which is higher than the ratio of any State in the deficit list, but still just below the cut-off line used for the partitioning (94.8). The astonishing finding is not that one particular State seems to provide a marginal misfit, but how the vast majority of the Indian States fall firmly into two contiguous halves, classified broadly into the north and the west, on one side, and the south and the east, on the other. Indeed, every State in the north and the west (with the slight exception of the tiny Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli) has strictly lower female-male ratio of children than every State in the east and the south (even Tamil Nadu fits into this classification), and this indeed is quite remarkable. The pattern of female-male ratio of children produces a much sharper regional classification than does the female-male ratio of mortality of children, even though the two are also fairly strongly correlated. The female-male ratio in child mortality varies between 0.91 in West Bengal and 0.93 in Kerala, on one side, in the southern and eastern group, to 1.30 in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, with high ratios also in Gujarat, Bihar and Rajasthan, in the northern and western group. The north and the west have clear characteristics of anti-female bias in a way that is not present - or at least not yet visible - in most of the east and the south. This contrast does not have any immediate economic explanation. The States with anti-female bias include rich ones (Punjab and Haryana) as well as poor States (Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh), and fast-growing States (Gujarat and Maharashtra) as well as growth failures (Bihar and Uttar Pradesh). Also, the incidence of sex-specific abortions cannot be explained by the availability of medical resources for determining the sex of the foetus: Kerala and West Bengal in the non-deficit list, both with the ratio of 96.3 girls to 100 boys (comfortably higher than the benchmark cut-off of 94.8), have at least as much medical facilities as in such deficit States as Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan. If commercial facilities for sex-selected abortion are infrequent in Kerala or West Bengal, it is because of a low demand for those specific services, rather than any great supply side barrier. This suggests that we have to look beyond economic resources or material prosperity or GNP growth into broadly cultural and social influences. There are a variety of potential connections to be considered here, and the linking of these demographic features with the rich subject matter of social anthropology and cultural studies would certainly be important to pursue.25 There is perhaps a common link with politics as well. Indeed, it has been noted, in other contexts, that the States in the north and the west have, by and large, given much more room to religion-based sectarian politics than have the east or the south, where religion-centred parties have had very little success. For example, of the 197 members of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena elected in 1999, as many 169 won from States in the north and the west. Even if we take out the BJP members who, though elected from Bihar or Madhya Pradesh, come from the recently formed relatively "eastern" States of Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh (which, incidentally, do have "eastern" female-male ratios above the benchmark line), the predominance of the north and the west in the representation of the Sangh Parivar remains strong. It is not easy to settle, without further scrutiny, how significant these regional, cultural or political associations are, and how (and even in which direction) the causal influences operate. But the remarkable geographical division of India into two largely contiguous parts in terms of female-male ratio among children (reflecting the combined influence of inequality in natality and post-natal mortality) does call for acknowledgement and further analysis. It would also be important to keep a close watch on whether the incidence of sex-specific abortions will significantly increase in States in which they are at this time quite uncommon. VII. Summing up I may end by trying briefly to identify some of the principal issues I have tried to discuss. First, I have argued for the need to take a plural view of gender inequality, which can have many different faces. The prominent faces of gender injustice can vary from one region to another, and also from one period to the next. Second, the effects of gender inequality, which can impoverish the lives of men as well as women, can be more fully understood by taking detailed empirical note of specific forms of inequality that can be found in particular regions. Gender inequality hurts the interests not only of girls and grown-up women, but also of boys and men, through biological connections (such as childhood undernourishment and cardiovascular diseases at later ages) and also through societal connections (including in politics and in economic and social life). Fetching water, a scene from rural Rajasthan. To have an adequate appreciation of the far-reaching effects of disparities between women and men, we have to recognise the basic fact that gender inequality is not one affliction, but many, with varying reach on the lives of women and men, and of girls and boys. There is also the need to reexamine and closely scrutinise some lessons that we have tended to draw from past empirical works. There are no good reasons to abandon the understanding that the impact of women's empowerment in enhancing the voice and influence of women does help to reduce gender inequality of many different kinds, and can also reduce the indirect penalties that men suffer from the subjugation of women. However, the growing phenomenon of natality inequality raises questions that are basically much more complex. When women in some regions themselves strongly prefer having boys to girls, the remedying of the consequent natality inequality calls at least for broader demands on women's agency, in addition to examining other possible influences. Indeed, in dealing with the new - "high tech" - face of gender disparity, in the form of natality inequality, there is a need to go beyond just the agency of women, but to look also for more critical assessment of received values. When anti-female bias in action (such as sex-specific abortion) reflects the hold of traditional masculinist values from which mothers themselves may not be immune, what is needed is not just freedom of action but also freedom of thought - in women's ability and willingness to question received values. Informed and critical agency is important in combating inequality of every kind. Gender inequality, including its many faces, is no exception. Based on the text of an inauguration lecture for the new Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, on April 24, 2001. A shortened version of this paper was published in The New Republic on September 17, 2001; this is the full text. ENDNOTES 1. See William St. Clair, The Godwins and the Shelleys (New York: Norton, 1989), pp. 504-8. 2. Bina Agarwal, among others, has investigated the far-reaching effects of landlessness of women in many agricultural economies; see particularly her A Field of One's Own (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994). 3. World Health Organisation, Handbook of Human Nutrition Requirement (Geneva: WHO, 1974); this was based on the report of a high-level Expert Committee jointly appointed by the WHO and FAO - the Food and Agriculture Organisation. 4. Development as Freedom (New York: Knopf, and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), Chapter 1. 5. Presented in my "More Than a Hundred Million Women Are Missing," The New York Review of Books, Christmas Number, December 20, 1990, and in "Missing Women," British Medical Journal, 304 (March 1992). 6. The fact that I had used the sub-Saharan African ratio as the standard, rather than the European or North American ratio, was missed by some of my critics, who assumed (wrongly as it happens) that I was comparing the developing countries with advanced Western ones; see for example Ansley Coale, "Excess Female Mortality and the Balances of the Sexes in the Population: An Estimate of the Number of 'Missing Females'," Population and Development Review, 17 (1991). In fact, the estimation of "missing women" was based on the contrasts within the so-called third world, in particular between sub-Saharan Africa, on the one hand, and Asia and North Africa, on the other. The exact methods used were more elaborately discussed in my "Africa and India: What Do We Have to Learn from Each Other?," in Kenneth J. Arrow, ed., The Balance between Industry and Agriculture in Economic Development (London: Macmillan, 1988); and (with Jean Drze), Hunger and Public Action (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989). 7. Stephan Klasen, "'Missing Women' Reconsidered," World Development, 22 (1994). 8. See Ester Boserup, Women's Role in Economic Development (London: Allen & Unwin, 1970); M.R. Rosenzweig and T.P. Schultz, "Market Opportunities, Genetic Endowments, and Intrafamily Resource Distribution," American Economic Review, 72 (1982). 9. On this see my "Women and Cooperative Conflict," in Irene Tinker, Persistent Inequalities (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990). See also J.C. Caldwell, "Routes to Low Mortality in Poor Countries," Population and Development Review, 12 (1986); Jere Behrman and B.L. Wolfe, "How Does Mother's Schooling Affect Family Health, Nutrition, Medical Care Usage and Household Sanitation," Journal of Econometrics, 36 (1987); Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen, Hunger and Public Action (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989). 10. I have discussed these factors in my "More Than a Hundred Million Women Are Missing" (1990). See also Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen, India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995), and particularly V.K. Ramachandran, "Kerala's Development Achievements," in Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen, eds., Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996). 11. See the literature on this cited in Development as Freedom (1999). 12. One of the earliest and pioneering studies was by Lincoln Chen, E. Huq and S. D'Souza, "Sex Bias in the Family Allocation of Food and Health Care in Rural Bangladesh," Population and Development Review, 7 (1981). 13. See my joint paper with Sunil Sengupta, "Malnutrition of Rural Indian Children and the Sex Bias," Economic and Political Weekly, 19 (1983). 14. See my joint paper with Jocelyn Kynch, "Indian Women: Well-being and Survival," Cambridge Journal of Economics, 7 (1983), and also Resources, Values and Development (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984). 15. See Peter Svedberg, Poverty and Undernutrition: Theory and Measurement (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000), for an illuminating and thorough analysis of comparative nutrition in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. 16. See S.R. Osmani, "Poverty and Nutrition in South Asia," in ACC/SCN, Nutrition and Poverty (1997), and also Nutrition Policy Paper No. 16 (Geneva: WHO, 1997). This is the First Abraham Horowitz Lecture of the United Nations. See also the references to the literature cited by Osmani. 17. On this see Osmani, "Poverty and Nutrition in South Asia" (1997), and also the references cited there. 18. See D.J.P. Barker, "Intrauterine Growth Retardation and Adult Disease," Current Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 3 (1993); "Foetal Origins of Coronary Heart Disease," British Medical Journal, 311 (1995); Mothers, Babies and Diseases in Later Life (London: Churchill Livingstone, 1998). See also P.D. Gluckman, K.M. Godfrey, J.E. Harding, J.A. Owens, and J.S. Robinson, "Fetal Nutrition and Cardiovascular Disease in Adult Life," Lancet, 341 (1995). 19. Siddiq Osmani and Amartya Sen, "The Hidden Penalties of Gender Inequality: Fetal Origins of Ill-Health," mimeographed, Trinity College, Cambridge, 2001. 20. On the extensive role and reach of capabilities of women, see particularly Martha Nussbaum, Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000). 21. UNDP's Human Development Report 1995 (New York: United Nations, forthcoming: 1995) presents an inter-country investigation of gender differences in social, political and business leadership, in addition to reporting on gender inequality in terms of more conventional indicators. See also Sudhir Anand and Amartya Sen, "Gender Inequality in Human Development: Theories and Measurement," in UNDP, Background Papers: Human Development Report 1995 (New York: United Nations, 1996). 22. The complex influences that operate in fertility decline, including cultural adaptations, have been discussed by Alaka Basu and Sajeda Amin in "Conditioning Factors for Fertility Decline in Bengal: History, Language Identity, and Openness to Innovations," Population and Development Review, 26 (2000). 23. A recent study of local governmental decisions in India brings out the substantial nature of this change, as a consequence of women coming to occupy leadership positions in the "Panchayats" (local administrative bodies); see Raghabendra Chattopadhyay and Esther Duflo, "Women's Leadership and Policy Decisions: Evidence from a Nationwide Randomised Experiment in India," mimeographed, Department of Economics, MIT, 2001. 24. Note, however, that the Chinese and Korean figures cover children between 0 and 4, whereas the Indian figures relate to children between 0 and 6. However, even with appropriate age adjustment, the general comparison of female-male ratios holds in much the same way. 25. See, among other contributions, Irawati Karve, Kinship Organization in India (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1965); Pranab Bardhan, "On Life and Death Questions," Economic and Political Weekly, Special Number, 9 (1974); David Sopher, ed., An Exploration of India: Geographical, Perspectives on Society and Culture (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1980); Barbara Miller, The Endangered Sex (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981); Tim Dyson and Mick Moore, "On Kinship Structure, Female Autonomy, and Demographic Behaviour in India," Population and Development Review, 9 (1983); Monica Das Gupta, "Selective Discrimination against Female Children in Rural Punjab," Population and Development Review, 13 (1987); Alaka M. Basu, Culture, the Status of Women and Demographic Behaviour (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992); Satish Balram Agnihotri, Sex Ratio Patterns in the Indian Population (New Delhi: Sage, 2000).

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I am a friend of Naxalites: Nirmala Deshpande
Headlines India
----------------------

Nirmala Deshpande is a name, which does not require any introduction.
A widely acclaimed social activist Nirmala is one of the flagbearers
of non-violence in our country. Born in 1929, she joined Acharya
Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan Padyatra in 1952, and covered more than 40
thousand miles touching all nooks and corners of India. She has been
the president of Harijan Sevak Sangh, founded by Mahatma Gandhi. In
2005 Nirmala was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize and in 2006 she was
awarded with Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award. She has been
working in troubled areas of Kashmir valley for peace since long.
Currently she is a member of Rajya Sabha. Nirmala Deshdande talked to
Santosh H K Narayan of Headlinesindia on various issues ranging from
politics to Naxalite movement in India in an exclusive interview.

"Freedom struggle has to go on and it is going on."- Deshpande


Q: How much relevant is the 'Gandhian Value' in the present scenario?

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: We know that UN (United Nations) has declared the
Mahatma Gandhi's birthday -- October 2 as an International Day for
Non-violence. It reveals that not only India but the whole world
recognises Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy. His actions and
programmes are becoming more and more relevant for the contemporary
world.


Q: But it is seen that in India, we are neglecting him in each and
every aspect.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: I think, it is the perception of those who are
metro centric (Urbanites) . Go to rural areas and countryside, you
would come across a general change in perception. I have been to
almost all places in India and discovered that Gandhi is becoming
more and more relevant. His principles have influenced the people
there. You will very well find it if you visit rural areas.


Q: Actually, I was talking about the government policies.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: Why are we so much concerned about government
policies?


Q: Because we are a democracy.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: No. People are supreme in democracy. Government
has a role to play. But it's the people who shape the country; the
society and I can talk about the people who are fighting. We have to
follow his (Gandhi's) ideas and philosophies in order to solve many
of our problems as well as shape the way of life that leads to peace
and harmony. Government is trying to follow many of his ideas, eg
employment guarantee scheme. The idea is to help the poorest of the
poor and those who are not much qualified. They also have the right
to live. Right to live with dignity. Such schemes really give a kind
of instrument to the people to live a better life. Well, I agree with
you that many areas are underdeveloped but I will also say that it's
not the government but the people who are responsible for that. We as
social activists find that wherever our friends try to mobilise
people for the implementation of polices properly, we get very good
results. So government plus social activists have to work together.
And I am very hopeful that in the near future, these schemes would be
properly implemented.

"New York Times has written an article as its editorial that after
the disintegration of Soviet Union, only one super power was left.
But now another super power is emerging. That is world public opinion
for peace. The editor saw this people movement as an another super
power."


Q: But if you see at the other side of the story, big companies and
corporate houses are coming in large scale to grasp what was
considered as profession of poor, like vegetable and retail
marketing. We have seen disturbances in Singur and Nandigram.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: Well, there are different streams of life
altogether. That is also there what you said is happening. But I
would like to assure you that those who are working with people are
very much hopeful to assert a dignified life for them.


Q: It means that you are justifying what people did at Singur and
Nandigram.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: I would only like to say that whatever policy the
government is bringing should be implemented in a proper way and will
be implemented. I would also like to tell you that some policies are
not in tune with the people. And it has to be changed. Now who is
going to change? It is the people. In a democracy, it is the people
who have the last say.


Q: But if we look into the 60 years of our independence, the fate of
our people has not changed much. So called poverty line is not
practical.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: As far as the independence is concerned, much has
been done and a lot more is remains to be done. Gandhiji said that we
had achieved the political independence but we have to achieve social
and economic independence and it is more difficult task. Working at
the grass root level is very difficult but we don't have other way
left. We have to do that for changing the way of life of the people.
Participation of people in that process is necessary. We, social
activists, are just a facilitator. I would like to give you an
example. In Vidarva, Maharastra there were suicide case by farmers.
Some of our friends met representatives of people in that area. They
facilitated the meeting with the Prime Minister and he was very
sympathetic and immediately went to villages and talked to the
people. He announced a package for them last year. But we know, very
less reached to the people. We did not stop there. We continuously
worked in the area with local social oraganisations. Bhave, Shivajee
and other cooperatives are already there in that area for training,
awakening and organising the people and we find that there was a
tremendous change in the attitude of the people. We have organised
presentations in every Tehsils and people decided that they would not
leave their rights and change their future. It was a tremendous
change and I can give one more example. We organised camps on Tehsil
level and one marginalised lady farmer heard that government was
giving Rs 185 for each family but she was getting only Rs 120. She
straightway walked to the Tehsildar and enquired about the amount. He
replied that 185 is given. She told that the Patwari gave me only
120. We would not tolerate this injustice and would take our rights,
she said. You know, what happened then? The Tehsildar immediately
send the Patwari to the village and he apologise for his deeds and
assured that she would get Rs 185. It happened when people organise
themselves, assert themselves. Officials have to change. They are
changing. If you go to the people organise them for good reasons you
can see good results. If you don't do anything and only criticise
them then what will happen? Nothing.
Another piece of legislation is RTI Act. In Muzzafarnagar district of
UP, our young friends organised people at grass root level and now on
the basis of RTI they are able to achieve what they want.


Q: This is the input coming from the people. But I wanted to know
that how much competent is our political system ?

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: If the people will take the initiative, the entire
political system and other setups will have to change. Who is making
the change? It is not the so-called political leaders but it is the
people. Gandhiji mobilised the people, the common man and British
were forced to leave.


Q: Do we need another freedom struggle?
NIRMALA DESHPANDE: As I told you, Gandhiji said that freedom is not
complete. We have got political freedom only. In 1947 he used to say
that what we achieved was a part. Battle is still on. Freedom
struggle has to go on and it is going on.


Q: But irony is that we have to fight against our own people now.
NIRMALA DESHPANDE: Yes. That is more difficult. But we have to do
that. But the means should be non-violent as the country has to
realise that and in fact it is realising. As a social activists, we
can only say that if you follow non-violent means, the target can be
achieved.


Q: Do you relate these things with Naxalite movement?
NIRMALA DESHPANDE: You know, Vinoba Bhave was Mahatma Gandhi's
spiritual successor. He started Bhudan Andolan and for the some
extent I was part of it and walked with him. In days when Bhudan was
succeeding 40 lakh acre of land was acquired. At that time you could
see the decrease in violence. However, down the line, we could not
continue that tempo. We all are responsible for that and then
Naxalite movement started. But I would like to tell you that I am a
friend of Naxalites. They are fighting for the rights of the people
but it should be with non-violent means if it has to succeed. I have
been telling this and exchanging my views. Sometimes, some of them
join us but it is a big challenge. I am still hopeful that Naxalite
leaders and cadres who really want to change the society will realise
that a revolutionary change can be brought only by non-violent
methods. I am quite hopeful.


Q: Like Maoist achieved in Nepal.
NIRMALA DESHPANDE: Yes. I would like to tell you they are also my
friend. I told them that please don't take arms. When will you
succeed? When you organise a peaceful movement. In 90s, in Kathmandu
they organised a peaceful movement and they succeeded. Only peaceful
methods crop success. And now I am very happy that they have joined
the Parliament and let us hope that with other friends of Nepal they
will be able to solve the problem together. They will be able to give
justice to the poor and the Naxalites of India would take a cue from
them. They may also start thinking about that. I hope so and pray for
that.


Q: How much do we care for our monumental history? Like we have seen
such a drama on Gandhiji's letter.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: No drama. It's the media who made it a drama. In
fact, it was not a letter. Thousands of Gandhiji's letters and his
hand written manuscripts are safely preserved. One or two such stolen
writings finds the way to auction house but it's a stolen property.
In the past also we had succeeded in getting them back and this time
also we succeed. By and large whatever Gandhiji has written are
safely preserved.He used to write extensively. He wrote so much in
his last days. He used to write on small pieces of paper and give it
to typists with instruction to type and destroy the paper. But the
typist somehow kept some of these papers with him and tried to sell
them some ten years ago. Then he was told that it was unethical.
Gandhiji in his will has clearly stated that "Although I don't have
any private property but there are books and manuscripts written by
me should go to Navjeevan Trust". So, if somebody else has got it
then he is a thief. But thank God, the person understood and gave
back the letter.


Q: So, that manuscript is coming back?
NIRMALA DESHPANDE: It was published in 'Harijan' in English. I have a
copy with me. So, it will definitely come back to India. There is no
problem as such. If some thing from some body's house is stolen, then
how are you going to recover that? Those who are custodian of
Gandhian ideology as well as the Government of India should adopt
Gandhian mean of persuading. They don't have right to auction it and
last time also we have succeeded and this time we will succeed in
getting it back.


Q: If we talk about other monumental icons like we are observing Taj
hysteria now?
NIRMALA DESHPANDE: India is a big country and there are many things
that need to be preserved. Government is doing it in the best
possible ways. But it is also our job to preserve them. Let's do our
job. We together can preserve everything. It should be a joint
venture.


Q: Do you support such type of hysteria created by media?
NIRMALA DESHPANDE: Let's me be very frank. Our media is not playing a
proper role. Media is neglecting positive things. It always digs out
the negative things and highlights them. Lots of good work has to be
done. How many of you go and see Nehru Museum? Thousands of
Gandhiji's letter and manuscripts are being preserved there. People
have donated themselves. But nobody knows about that and nobody wants
to know. But one stolen thing creates such a media hype.


Q: One thing has become very controversial now. Presidential
election…
NIRMALA DESHPANDE: I am not a politician. I am out of it. I am a
Gandhian. Ask me anything about that.


Q: As a citizen, how do you think that such a type of mud slinging…
NIRMALA DESHPANDE: I don't want to say anything. I am busy with my
own business. Mud slinging is always bad. One should
maintain 'maryada' (dignity) in public life and 'laxaman rekha'
should not be crossed. It applies everywhere.


Q: In such a type of political scenario, how Gandhiji would have
reacted ?
NIRMALA DESHPANDE: If Gandhiji would have been here today, you would
not have had such scenario. Binova Bhave said in darkness you have to
face many problems. But as soon as the Sun rises the whole darkness
is vanished.


Q: What are your further plans for the society?
NIRMALA DESHPANDE: We are doing every thing, what one can do. Today (
July 6) is the birth day of His Holiness Dalai Lama and lakh of trees
would be planted. Our friends in from all over India are doing that.
We have started a signature campaign for Aung San Suu Kyi for her
release. The message has gone to the people. In a short period of
time we are expecting to collect 10 lakh signatures.


Q: We have seeen that some parts of our country are lagging behind
like Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa. And Naxal problem is on the rise
there.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: In some areas people are not enjoying the fruits
of growth. These are neglected areas. We have to concentrate more on
such areas and we are trying to do that.


Q: Are you persuading the government for that as a Rajya Sabha
member?
NIRMALA DESHPANDE: Both. I have collected 1500 signatures of my
fellow parliamentarians and urged the government to change its policy
for those areas and implement it.


Q: At present, what ever our political system is, are you satisfied
with that or would you like to change it?

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: Of course we are for a change; we are for
revolution. As a Gandhian we want to bring revolution but by non-
violent means. We don't want this system to continue. Not at all. But
who would bring the change? Its the People.


Q: And for what?

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: For better, peaceful, harmonious and just society.



Q: Will you suggest any framework for the change?

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: We have a framework. It is evolving. The
revolution is going on but I must say that media doesn't have time
and mind to see these good things happening. Lots of pople are doing
good work. We are moving ahead.


Q: But I was talking about parliamentary system.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: Parliamentary system has its limitations and the
system also needs a change. But who is going to bring the change.
Again, the people. People are the instrument to change the system.



Q: But people's voice is being suppressed.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: No. People's voice is heard and has to be heard.



Q: It is right. But we saw last year that some politicians tried to
derail this RTI Act.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: It may be but the bill was passed and it is an act
now. And those who wanted to take an advantage of that, are taking.



Q: With life becoming materialistic and government adopting policies
leading to commercialisaton with the every passing day, do you think
it is going to change.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: It is changing. It has to change. You might have
heard about Social Forum. The movement is bringing a new hope.
Another world is possible. We are not happy with this world. We want
to change it. It is prevailing all over the world. It is a beginning.
When the bombings started at Iraq, huge peace marches were out in New
York, London, Paris, Kolkata, Rome. People walked all over the
world. 'Say yes to peace, say no to war. No blood for oil.' Those
were the slogans. But all by peaceful means. And New York Times had
to write an article as its editorial that after the disintegration of
Soviet Union, only one super power was left. But now another super
power is emerging. That is world public opinion for peace. The editor
saw this people movement as another super power. It is in the making.
It is people who took the initiative and oraganised themselves. They
are trying to do some thing and make their voice heard. So the
movement of people is becoming a strength. Slowly but surely it is
going to become a super power and it can change the whole world.



Q: Kashmir is an important issue between India and Pakistan. Whatever
the ongoing process may be, do you suggest any solution that could be
the win-win situation for both?

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: Well, solution will emerge. I worked in Kashmir.
The people there are peace loving. They respond to a call of peace
and Gandhi's thought. I am quite hopeful. I think something will
emerge from the dialogue process.


Q: Do you want to say something on Jihadi groups. Like we saw Glasgow
bombing plot and many others and some particular groups are being
targeted.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: As His Holiness Dalai Lama wrote to US President
after 9/11 that in Buddhist philosophy there is no effect without a
cause. So, why this happened? Try to find out the cause and remove
that cause. That is same for all those Jehadis and militants.
Everybody knows whatever activities they do but why they take such an
extreme step, that the whole world is yet to find out. There is some
injustice somewhere. Like what happened in Gujarat five years back.
There is hardly any justice given to victims of Gujarat. Who is
responsible? Extremists have to be condemned but we have to find out
the reasons behind.


Q: In that way we can say that 'Gandhian Value' is in jeopardy.
Jehadis are taking violent roots for the sake of their considerable
demands.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: We believe in non-violent system but have not been
able to convince them to not to take violent methods for their
demands. But in Kashmir, you will find extremists who have discarded
guns and taken peaceful means to protest, to express their feelings.
The change is taking place in Kashmir.


Q: On the other hand if we take the example of Suu Kyi and Dalai
Lama, their efforts are not bearing fruits.

NIRMALA DESHPANDE: It will take time. Do not go by timetable. We
fought for more than 150 years for our independence. So they have to
fight for a longer time. They will also get justice. Those who
believe in non-violence are quite sure about that. Those are ought to
succeed but when? We don't know. We have to continue the struggle and
remain hopeful.


Available online at: http://headlinesindia.com/special-
reports/nirmaladeshpande-interview.html

Online at: http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/sep/03bobby.htm

 

No RTI relief for Hashimpura victims

Bobby Ramakant 

 

September 03, 2007 20:43 IST

 

 

For the kith and kin of Uttar Pradesh's Hashimpura massacre victims, it has been a long wait for justice. After knocking several doors, the survivors' last hope was the Right to Information Act.

 

But even that failed to yield results. At least 615 RTI applications were moved 100 days ago (May 24) -- the day which marked the 20th anniversary of the bloodbath in Hashimpura. Some queries were answered, which included some blank pages, said survivors.

However, on Monday, the appellate officer at the Crime Branch-Central Investigation Department assured some activists of prompt action.

 

Critical information, including the Crime Branch-Central Investigation Department report, has not been provided, the victims said. They alleged that the police, administration and judicial system tried to delay or even expunge the case.

 

The RTI queries they posed were: Why the Provincial Armed Constabulary accused have not been suspended from service while being prosecuted for custodial murders? What departmental proceedings and disciplinary action, if any, were initiated against them? Why was there a delay of almost a decade in charge-sheeting the PAC accused? Why were most of those indicted by the CB-CID report let off the hook?

 

The RTI application also wanted the CB-CID inquiry report into the PAC killings to be made public.

 

In 1988, the state government ordered an inquiry by the CB-CID. The report, submitted to the Uttar Pradesh government in1994, was never made public. In 1995, some victims moved the Allahabad high court to make the report public.

 

Also in May 2007, senior Supreme Court advocate Vrinda Grover filed two RTI applications with the state home department. The state was also asked to reveal how many persons were indicted by the CB-CID report. No reply has been given to Grover.

 

While accepting that information should have been provided in response to RTI applications, the CB-CID appellate officer on Monday assured Vrinda and other activists, including Magsaysay award-winner Sandeep Pandey, of prompt action.

 

Some documents provided in response to the rest of the RTI applications said that the accused PAC men were suspended briefly and then re-instated, said activists.

 

PAC personnel allegedly gunned down over 40 people on May 22, 1987. The incident occurred during the communal riots that broke out in Meerut after the then Central government opened the Babri Masjid for worship.

 

Online at: http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/sep/03bobby.htm

 

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Philip Morris Indian subsidiary violates Indian Tobacco Control Act

(To read this posting in hindi language , please click here )

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An advertisement of a tobacco product in Goa by the world's largest tobacco company Philip Morris' subsidiary in India blatantly violates the Indian tobacco control Act.

"Tobacco companies are undermining [tobacco control] legislations in many countries" had said Dr. Douglas Betcher, Head of Tobacco Free Initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) recently in a meeting on the global tobacco treaty.

The rulings for point-of-sale tobacco advertising in accordance with `The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003', came into effect on 1 January 2006. The Rules envisage stringent and immediate action by the State Government against advertisement of smoking and other tobacco products.

The rules clearly mention that on point-of-sale of tobacco products, only type of tobacco product should be mentioned and no brand name, or any other promotional message or picture is permitted under the Indian law.

But Philip Morris' advertisements boards in Goa violates the law. "This advertisement is, at the onset, reckless contempt of the law" said Dr Shekhar Salkar, General Secretary of National Organization for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE India), in a letter addressed to the Indian subsidiary of Philip Morris demanding an unconditional apology for this gross violation and disregard to public health.

"The Act does not allow display of pictures at the point of sale of tobacco products, which has been done [pictures have been displayed] in the advertising board placed at a kiosk in Panaji near Hotel Lucky, opposite Municipal garden and kiosk below D. V. talaulikar hospital, Khalap Mension, Vasco,Goa. The law states that, at a point of sale of cigarettes, the boards shall contain only the words: - `Cigarettes are sold here'" said Dr Salkar.

"Big Tobacco's interference in health policy is one of the greatest threats to the treaty's implementation and enforcement. Philip Morris/Altria, British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco (JT) use their political influence to weaken, delay and defeat tobacco control legislation around the world. While the industry claims to have changed its ways, it continues to use sophisticated methods to undermine meaningful legislation" had said Kathy Mulvey of Corporate Accountability International at the recent meeting last year on the global tobacco treaty.

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The exact wording of the rulings on point-of-sale tobacco advertising is given below:

(a) All the existing points of sale advertisement boards for cigarettes and other tobacco products will have to be removed.

(b) The point of sale advertisement boards that is permitted under the Rules shall not exceed 60 cm x 45 cm. Each of these boards should contain the specified health warning occupying the top edge of the board measuring 20 cm x 15 cm and the display boards shall only list the type of tobacco product at the point of sale, without any mention of the board name or other promotional message or picture.

(c) There shall be no display of cigarette and other tobacco products at the point of sale.

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"People need to become more aware of existing tobacco control legislations in India and take responsibility in partnering with the government for the enforcement of the same" said another tobacco control advocate Professor Dr Rama Kant who heads Indian Society Against Smoking, and has been working closely with NOTE India too.

Only time will tell how committed Indian Government and state government of Goa is to the public health and well-being of its citizens, and take 'stringent and immediate action' as per the law.

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(To read this posting in hindi language , please click here )

PM's Indian subsidiary removes tobacco advertisements in Goa

Activists to go to court for legal action against Godfrey Phillips

(To read this posting in hindi language , please click here)

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To download:

- The Cigarette and other tobacco products Act 2003 , click here 

- the rulings on point-of-sale tobacco advertising , click here 

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The point-of-sale tobacco advertisements that were violating the Indian tobacco control Act in Goa, India, were removed by the evening of 16 January 2008.

In the lead up to the removal of these advertisements, activists and media had reported that the advertisements of a cigarette brand of world's largest tobacco company - Philip Morris' Indian subsidiary were blatantly violating `The Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003' and the rulings for the point-of-sale tobacco advertising.

Clearly due to the mounting pressure, these tobacco advertisements were removed by last evening.

"I'm extremely happy that the advertisement boards were removed! But we cannot take these violations lying down! I'm moving the local court against the Godfrey Phillips [Indian subsidiary of Philip Morris], the dealers and the kiosk owners" said

Dr Shekhar Salkar, General Secretary of National Organization for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE India). "All the activists must watch for any violation and book these irresponsible industrialists".

The rulings for point-of-sale tobacco advertising in accordance with `The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003', envisage stringent and immediate action by the State Government against advertisement of smoking and other tobacco products.

The rules clearly mention that on point-of-sale of tobacco products, only the kind of tobacco product being sold should be mentioned, and no brand name, or any other promotional message or picture is permitted under the Indian law.

But the tobacco advertisements boards in Goa were violating this law. "This advertisement is, at the onset, reckless contempt of the law" had said Dr Salkar, in a letter addressed to the Indian subsidiary of Philip Morris demanding an unconditional apology for this gross violation and disregard to public health.

"The Act does not allow display of pictures at the point of sale of tobacco products, which has been done [pictures were displayed earlier] in the advertising board placed at a kiosk in Panaji near Hotel Lucky, opposite Municipal garden and kiosk below D. V. talaulikar hospital, Khalap Mension, Vasco,Goa. The law states that, at a point of sale of cigarettes, the boards shall contain only the words: - `Cigarettes are sold here'" had reported Dr Salkar.

Although the rulings of the tobacco control Act mentions stringent and immediate action by the state government against such violations, it is yet to be seen how urgently and stringently will the government act to protect public health from the tobacco industry interference.

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The relevant part of the rulings on point-of-sale tobacco advertising, in accordance with The Cigarette and Other Tobacco products Act 2003 is given below:

(a) All the existing points of sale advertisement boards for cigarettes and other tobacco products will have to be removed.

(b) The point of sale advertisement boards that is permitted under the Rules shall not exceed 60 cm x 45 cm. Each of these boards should contain the specified health warning occupying the top edge of the board measuring 20 cm x 15 cm and the display boards shall only list the type of tobacco product at the point of sale, without any mention of the board name or other promotional message or picture.

(c) There shall be no display of cigarette and other tobacco products at the point of sale.

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Visit:

Tambakoo Kills web-blog (hindi and english)

Appeal: Write to Ministers reviewing pictorial warnings on tobacco products

(To read this posting in hindi language , please click here )

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(The list of ministers with their contact details is given below at the end of this posting)

Civil society activists have strongly condemned the repeated postponement and eventual dilution of the provisions of The Cigarette and other Tobacco products Act 2003, on displaying pictorial warnings on tobacco products in public health interest.

In spite of an urgent call for action by the shimla High court and the civil society, Government of India has not indicated a final decision on the date of nature of warning. It was deferred from June 1, 2007 and postponed four times thereafter.

Tobacco claims around 1 Million lives per year in India. The tall is likely to exceed to 2 Million per year in the next 20 years. Unsuspecting poor and uneducated people are not only the most hard-hit by life-threatening tobacco hazards, but also a substantial portion of their daily earning goes up ‘in smoke’, and later in treatment of tobacco-related health hazards. The low literacy rates in India demand the need to display Pictorial warnings on the products. However, the Government has turned a nelson’s eye to the reality, possibly influenced by the pro-tobacco industry lobby.

Both the Tobacco Industry and Government have a duty to communicate clearly and honestly about the often-deadly health risks of tobacco use to potential and current consumers.

Government of India seems to have fallen prey to the misleading argument of tobacco industry that the display of pictorial warnings would invite decline in consumption, thereby causing unemployment. This is untrue as the decline in consumption is likely to remain steady for next two decades. Moreover, it will be offset by the growth in population.

Pictorial warnings have been introduced in several developing & neighboring nation like Thailand, Singapore, and Brazil, Chile, S. Africa and others with demonstrated benefits to public health.

A Group of Ministers (GOM) has been convened by the Indian Prime Minister to examine the issue. This group includes Shri Pranab Mukharjee (Minister for External Affairs) Shri Jaipal Reddy (Minister for Urban Department), Shri Priyaranjan Dasmunshi (Minister for Parliamentary Affairs), Shri Kamal Nath (Minister for Commerce) Shri Oscar Fernandes (Minister for State Labour and Employment) and Dr Ambumani Ramdoss (Minister for health & family welfare).

This GOM is likely to be biased in favor of the tobacco lobby. Shri Pranab Mukharjee for instance has a massive presence of bidi workers in his constituency. Andhra Pradesh, from where Mr Jaypal Reddy hails, is also a tobacco growing state.

Therefore it is important to write to these ministers individually and let them know the public health concerns.

Dr Shekhar Salkar,
General Secretary, NOTE India.
Ph: 9822485769
Email: sssalkar@...

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Group of Ministers (GOM) reviewing pictorial warnings on tobacco products in India

Mr. Pranab Mukherjee
Permanent Address: 2-A, 1st Floor, 60/27, Kabi Bharti Sarani
(Lake Road), Kolkata-700029,
Tel: (033) 24648366

Shri Jaipal Sudini Reddy
H.No. 6-70, Village and Mandal Madgul,
Distt. Mahbubnagar-509 001 (Andhra Pradesh)
(040)23547122

Shri Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi
Present Address: 7, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi - 110 003
Tels.(011) 24653778, 24653895
Fax.(011) 24653727
Permanent Address: 6A, Rani Bhawani Road,
Kolkata- 700 026 (West Bengal)
Phones: (033)4640707,4640505
Fax: (033) 4640202

Shri Kamal Nath
Present Address: 1, Tughlak Road, New Delhi - 110 011
Tels. (011) 23792233, 23793396, 23011300
Permanent address: Vill. Shikarpur, P.O. Linga, Distt. Chhindwara - 480 001(Madhya Pradesh). Tel.& Fax.(07162)242233

Shri Oscar Fernandes
Present address: 8, pandit pant marg, New Delhi-110001
Permanent address: Doris Rest Haven, Ambalpady, Udupi, Karnataka-575103.

Dr Anbumani Ramadoss
Permanent address: New No.10, Old No.44, Kamatchi Amman, Koil Street, Distt. Villupuram, Tindivanam 604001

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(To read this posting in hindi language , please click here )

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Prevent an independent PMI from worsening the tobacco pandemic

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In anticipation of the expected announcement on 30 January 2008 of the timing of Philip Morris International's spin-off, public health organizations worldwide say there is heightened urgency for governments to enact comprehensive laws to control Philip Morris and other tobacco companies.

"The unleashing of Philip Morris International from Philip Morris USA poses the risk that Philip Morris International will become even more predatory in pushing its toxic products to young people worldwide," says Anna White, of the U.S.-based corporate accountability group Essential Action, "An independent Philip Morris International, which is likely to be based in Switzerland, will no longer feel constrained by public opinion in its home country and most important market, the United States."

Altria/Philip Morris is the world's biggest multinational tobacco corporation. Eighty percent of its sales are outside of the United States.

The company announced last August its intention to pursue the spin-off. Today, Altria's Board of Directors is expected to finalize the decision and announce the timing of the spin-off, assuming required regulatory approvals.

More than 150 public health organizations in over 70 countries worldwide have endorsed a call on governments to adopt comprehensive tobacco control measures to ensure that the spin-off of Philip Morris International does not worsen the tobacco epidemic. Among other measures, they are urging that governments ratify and strongly implement the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, ban the tobacco industry from lobbying or working on legislation to implement the global treaty, and exclude tobacco products from bilateral and multilateral trade and investment agreements. A list of their demands is available at www.philipmorrisbreakup.org/calltogovs .

"An independent Philip Morris International based outside of the United States will be immune to even the possibility of domestic regulation in the United States or litigation in U.S. courts,""This has been a real threat to Philip Morris International." said Anna White,

The litigation risk to Philip Morris International was recently made apparent in the U.S. government case against the tobacco industry. In that case, U.S. Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that Philip Morris and other tobacco companies must stop using misleading terms like "light," "mild" and "low" (as in "Marlboro Lights"). The tobacco industry has used these terms to deceive smokers into thinking they are using a reduced risk product, when they are not. Judge Kessler ruled that the prohibition on use of these misleading terms extends to Philip Morris International. If an independent PMI had no connection to the United States, the judge would not have been able to issue this order.

"The World Health Organization projects that 10 million people will die annually from tobacco-related disease by 2030, 70 percent in developing countries," says White. "We must work to lessen this toll, not allow an independent Philip Morris to make it worse."

Tobacco is reported to kill more than a million people in India alone every year. It is a well-known cause of life-threatening ailments. It has also been proven in many studies that most of the tobacco use begins before the age of 18.

It is indeed a moral imperative on the Government of India to protect the right to life and good health of its young citizens, especially from public health and social justice point-of-view.

"One of the easiest ways to significantly bring down number of children and youth who get initiated to tobacco use in India, without any budgetary allocation for this public health exercise, is to remove depiction of tobacco use in films and TV", had rightly said Dr Ramadoss at the last World Conference on Tobacco or Health in USA.

One of the major influences on the uptake of teen tobacco use is the glamourisation of tobacco use in movies and on television. This has been well documented by comprehensive research studies in India and US.

In an earlier study done by World Health Organization and Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2003 it was revealed that 76% of Indian movies had tobacco use shown in them. In 1991, where 22% of top box office movie hits had lead characters using tobacco on-screen, in 2002, this escalated to 53% tobacco use depiction by lead characters in Indian movies. This study also demonstrated that 52.2% of children in India who had their first smoke were influenced by tobacco use depicted in movies.

A repeat follow-up study conducted by WHO and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India on top box office movie hits during 2004-2005 demonstrated that tobacco use depiction in movies has become more aggressive as compared to previous years. During 2004-2005, 89% of all movies analyzed contained tobacco use on screen and 75.5% movies depicted leading stars using tobacco on screen. Moreover 41% of movies screened had clear and distinct tobacco brand placement.

Dr Ramadoss says categorically that stopping depiction of tobacco use in films is an evidence based public health measure, and that is what he has been strongly advocating since May 31, 2005.

India, says Dr Ramadoss, has the world's largest film industry rolling out over 900 films per year. Through cinema theatres, these movies reach 60 million people and through cable television network, they further reach another 70 million people in India. "Influence of cinema is paramount in India" says Dr Ramadoss.

Dr Ramadoss had also said "film and tobacco industry are hands-in-glove involved" and suggested big pay-offs too.

The Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003  came into effect since May 31, 2003. Explaining the amendments notified on May 31, 2005, Dr Ramadoss had said that movies showing tobacco use will be given 'A' certificate on the condition that the characters using tobacco on screen agree to do a disclosure stating tobacco hazards clearly either before, middle or before the end of that movie.

Health warnings in the same language as that of the movie would start scrolling up 1 minute before the use of tobacco is depicted in movies and will end not before another minute after the depiction of tobacco use stops in that movie.

Exposure to tobacco use in movies is clearly linked to youth tobacco use. Simply put, more must be done to ensure that tobacco use in movies is removed from films seen by our nation's youth. We have within our power one simple and effective way to jump start the decline in youth tobacco use - delete tobacco use in films from the list of influences that rob our youth of longer and healthier lives by removing tobacco use from movies, unless they clearly depict the negative health effects. Together we can ensure that movies continue to entertain and inspire our children and youth, and at the same time, save countless lives from tobacco addiction and premature death. The right to life must overrule the right to `creative liberty' of film-stars.

WHO Report (2008): Global Tobacco Epidemic is worsening

Urgent Action by Nations to Implement Proven Solutions

(Statement of Matthew L. Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids)

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To read/ download this posting in hindi language , click here 

To read/ download The Global Tobacco Epidemic report of WHO 2008 , click here 

To read/ download MPOWER : Six policies to reverse the tobacco epidemic, click here 

To read/ download WHO's Director General's foreward and summary  of this report, click here 

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World Health Organization (WHO) today released a landmark report that makes clear both the devastating scope of the global tobacco epidemic – it is the leading cause of preventable death in the world today – and the fact that it is entirely preventable if nations urgently implement proven solutions.

This report presents the first comprehensive picture of what the world's nations are doing to address this public health crisis, and it demonstrates starkly that most nations are not doing nearly enough.

While some countries have shown exemplary leadership, overall only around five percent of the world's population is covered by any one of the key interventions recommended by the WHO.

The world is truly at a crossroads in this battle. With Philip Morris International and other multinational tobacco companies aggressively introducing new products and increasingly targeting the developing world, it is urgent that nations act now to implement the proven solutions identified in this report. If they do so, they can save hundreds of millions of lives. If nations fail to act, the world will pay a terrible price.

The WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008, finds that tobacco use already kills 5.4 million people a year and the epidemic is worsening, especially in the developing world where more than 80 percent of tobacco-caused deaths will occur in the coming decades.

Unless urgent action is taken, one billion people will die worldwide from tobacco use this century. Tobacco use is so devastating to the human body that it is a risk factor for six of the eight leading causes of death in the world.

The good news is that this epidemic is far from inevitable, and we know how to stop it. Based on science and experience, the WHO has identified six cost-effective solutions  that have been proven to reduce tobacco use and that every nation should implement.

Called the MPOWER  package by the WHO, these solutions require nations to:

* Monitor tobacco use and assess the impact of tobacco prevention and cessation efforts;

* Protect everyone from secondhand smoke with laws that require smoke-free workplaces and public places;

* Offer help to every tobacco user to quit;

* Warn and effectively educate every person about the dangers of tobacco use with strong, pictorial health warnings and hard-hitting, sustained media campaigns to educate the public;

* Enact and enforce comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorships and on the use of misleading terms such as "light" and "low-tar;" and

* Raise the price of tobacco products by increasing tobacco taxes.

More than 150 nations have committed to implementing these measures by ratifying the WHO tobacco control treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) . The scientific evidence is beyond dispute that these solutions work. Equally important, they are affordable and achievable. Most can be implemented at little or no cost to governments. When costs are involved, higher tobacco taxes can provide the necessary revenue – not only for tobacco control, but for other public health and social programs as well. In fact, these measures will save government huge sums by reducing health care expenditures related to tobacco.

The global tobacco epidemic does not just affect the health of millions of people – it is also an economic threat that costs nations hundreds of billions of dollars in health care expenditures and other economic losses each year. Tobacco use disproportionately hurts the poor and deepens poverty by siphoning money needed for basic necessities such as food, shelter and education and killing wage earners in the prime of their lives.

While there is much work to be done, support for global tobacco control policies is gaining momentum. In South Africa, tobacco taxes were increased by 250 percent in the 1990s – with cigarette consumption falling by five to seven percent for every 10 percent increase, with the most significant decline among the young and the poor.

Just this year, a growing number of countries have implemented strong smoke-free laws, including France, Turkey and Thailand. And several countries, including Brazil , Thailand , Belgium , Australia and Canada have increased public awareness of the dangers of smoking by enhancing pictorial warnings on the packaging of tobacco products to increase smokers' awareness of their risk. The impact in Brazil was significant – after new picture warnings were introduced, 67 percent of smokers said the new warnings encouraged them to quit, an impact that was particularly strong among less educated, lower income people.

In addition, next week representatives from more than 150 countries will meet to begin negotiations on an historic international treaty to combat the illicit trade in tobacco products to supplement the FCTC.

The time to act is now. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids urges nations to implement these proven solutions and save millions of lives.

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The WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 can be downloaded from the URL:

Mark Hurley

Washington DC, USA

Phone: +1-202-460-2679

Email: mhurley@...

To read/ download this posting in hindi language , click here 

To read/ download The Global Tobacco Epidemic report of WHO 2008 , click here 

To read/ download MPOWER : Six policies to reverse the tobacco epidemic, click here 

To read/ download WHO's Director General's foreward and summary  of this report, click here 

To read/ download The Global Tobacco Epidemic report of WHO 2008 , click here 

To read/ download MPOWER : Six policies to reverse the tobacco epidemic, click here 

To read/ download WHO's Director General's foreward and summary  of this report, click here 

However the global tobacco epidemic stands starkly apart from other conventional disease control programmes because of an aggressive tobacco industry that is hell-bent on protecting and expanding its markets globally, particularly in the developing countries of Asia and Africa. The six-effective tobacco control policies recommended under the MPOWER package doesn’t include holding tobacco corporations accountable specifically, although it is inherent in each of them!

The MPOWER package includes:

M: stands for ‘monitor’ tobacco use and prevention policies (not the tobacco corporations). Assessment of tobacco use and its impact must be strengthened.

P: stands for ‘protect’ people from tobacco smoke. All people have a fundamental right to breathe clean air. Smoke-free places are essential to protect non-smokers and also to encourage smokers to quit.

O: stands for ‘offer’ help to quit tobacco use. Services to treat tobacco dependence are fully available in only nine countries with 5% of the world’s population. Countries must establish programmes providing low-cost, effective interventions for tobacco users who want to quit.

W: stands for ‘warn’ about the dangers of tobacco use. Despite conclusive evidence, relatively few tobacco users understand the full extent of their health risk. Graphic warnings on tobacco packaging deter tobacco use, yet only 15 countries, representing 6% of the world’s population, mandate pictorial warnings (covering at least 30% of the principal surface area) and just five countries with a little over 4% of the world’s people, meet the highest standards for pack warnings. More than 40% of the world’s population lives in countries that do not prevent use of misleading and deceptive terms such as ‘light’ and ‘low tar’.

E: stands for ‘enforce’ bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Partial bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, do not work because the industry merely redirects its resources to other non-regulated marketing channels. Only a total ban can reduce tobacco consumption and protect people, particularly youth, from industry marketing tactics. Only 5% of the world’s population currently lives in countries with comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

R: stands for ‘raised’ taxes on tobacco. Raising taxes and therefore prices, is the most effective way to reduce tobacco use, and especially to discourage young people from using tobacco. Only 4 countries, representing 2% of the world’s population, have tax rates greater than 75% of retail price.

“Reversing this entirely preventable epidemic must now rank as a top priority for public health and for political leaders in every country of the world� said Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO in the summary.

But without holding tobacco corporations accountable and monitoring them stringently to ensure that every component of MPOWER works with the utmost impact, reversing the global tobacco epidemic shall remain a daunting challenge.

Tobacco corporations across the world have been not only aggressively protecting and promoting their tobacco markets, particularly in the developing countries, but also trying their best to either abort or weaken the public health policies that begin to take shape in countries around the world.

“Big Tobacco's interference in health policy is one of the greatest threats to the treaty's implementation and enforcement. Philip Morris/Altria, British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco (JT) use their political influence to weaken, delay and defeat tobacco control legislation around the world. While the industry claims to have changed its ways, it continues to use sophisticated methods to undermine meaningful legislationâ€� had said Kathy Mulvey of Corporate Accountability International at the recent meeting last year on the global tobacco treaty â€" the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

FCTC, or the first public health and corporate accountability treaty, is a testimony that more than 150 countries globally are committed to decimating the global tobacco epidemic. The WHO’s MPOWER package of six-effective tobacco control policies gives a road map to reduce tobacco use.

The alert monitoring of tobacco corporations and holding them accountable for violating existing health policies in present and the past will complement the impact of the MPOWER package in reducing tobacco use globally.

To read/ download The Global Tobacco Epidemic report of WHO 2008 , click here 

To read/ download MPOWER : Six policies to reverse the tobacco epidemic, click here 

To read/ download WHO's Director General's foreward and summary  of this report, click here 

Audio capsules in hindi/ urdu on people's movements

Episode 1

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Radio Asha is dedicated to give a voice to the most unheard in development discourses. The episode 1 (10 minutes) of Radio Asha brings to you the following three issues in hindi/ urdu languages:

 1)       The sad demise of social activist and Gandhian Baba Amte

 2)       The kidnapping of the daughter of social activists in Bhadohi

 3)       The Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008 report of World Health Organization

Tune in to Radio Asha, listen while walking, cooking, gardening… to download on your computer/ mobile phone/ MP3 players/ iPods, click here or go to: http://radioasha.blogspot.com/2008/02/radio-asha-14-february-2008.html

Thanks

 Radio Asha

 (To read this posting in hindi language , click here )

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GENEVA---Negotiations toward a protocol on illicit tobacco trade to the global tobacco treaty, formally known as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control  (WHO FCTC), opened yesterday. While many countries voiced their commitment to a protocol that will require tobacco corporations to assume responsibility for their supply chains, provide financial disincentives to the illicit tobacco trade, and prevent government collaboration with the tobacco industry, Japan earned the first Marlboro Man Award of the protocol negotiations.

The award, bestowed by the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) , exposes and challenges countries for espousing treaty positions that benefit the tobacco industry at the expense of public health. The award is named after Philip Morris's notorious advertising icon, which has played a central role in spreading tobacco addiction globally. On the strength of the Marlboro Man advertising and promotional campaign, Marlboro became the world's leading cigarette brand, and Philip Morris/Altria (soon to split into Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International) became the world's largest and most profitable tobacco transnational.

In its opening comments, Japan questioned the value of a potential protocol and suggested that the illicit tobacco trade could be tackled at the domestic level and through existing trade and intellectual property agreements. The Japanese government owns a 50% stake in Japan Tobacco, the world's third largest tobacco corporation, and was sharply criticized throughout the FCTC talks for advocating positions that served the interests of Big Tobacco.

"Tobacco industry interference poses a huge threat to implementation of the global tobacco treaty," said Kathy Mulvey of Corporate Accountability International , a NATT member. "Governments and civil society must be vigilant to ensure that this vital protocol is not derailed." Throughout negotiations on the FCTC from 2000 to 2003, NATT presented the Marlboro Man Award based on the previous day's negotiations.

"Considering that Japan Tobacco's products are being smuggled into West African markets like Nigeria, we're concerned that the Japanese government has a conflict of interest in these negotiations," says Akinbode Oluwafemi of Environmental Rights Action Nigeria, also a NATT member.

Contact: Bryan Hirsch, Corporate Accountability International , +41 76 547 3476

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Tobacco giants accused of 'collusion' over cigarette smuggling

GENEVA (AFP) --- Tobacco giants Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco actively collude with cigarette smugglers to gain a foothold in lucrative developing markets, campaigners alleged on Wednesday.

"Transnationals benefit in a number of ways from the illicit trade in tobacco," said Kathyrn Mulvey, director of international policy with the lobby group Corporate Accountability International (CAI).

This includes establishing a brand presence in new markets, and getting more people addicted to cigarettes -- particularly children because smuggled tobacco is so cheap, she told journalists.

"Documents do show industry complicity in this deadly business," Mulvey added.

The World Health Organisation is meeting in Geneva to debate a new protocol on the illicit tobacco trade to the existing Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

"This week, governments have a new opportunity to prioritise health over trade and commercial interests, and hold tobacco transnationals accountable for the harms they cause," Mulvey said.

The illicit tobacco trade makes up approximately 10 percent of global tobacco sales and costs governments between 40-50 billion dollars (27-34 billion euros) every year, CAI said in a statement.

In African countries such as Nigeria, the rate is even higher at between 10 and 16 percent, said environmental and health activist Akinbode Oluwafemi.

Smuggled tobacco constitutes a "serious public health issue in Africa," he told journalists.

In Nigeria, a pack of smuggled cigarettes can be less than half price.

"It's cheaper than sweets, cheaper than any other item," Oluwafemi said.

Companies such as British American Tobacco are now seeking to portray themselves as anti-smuggling, with BAT offering to supply logistical support and even vehicles to the Standards Organisation of Nigeria.

However, these moves ignore the company's "long history of smuggling into Nigeria," which was documented in a probe by Britain's House of Commons, Oluwafemi said.

CAI said that only a strong protocol to the WHO treaty would be effective in holding companies to account.

"If history is any indication, the tobacco industry will take every opportunity to undermine the treaty's implementation," Oluwafemi warned.

The WHO said last week that tobacco use could kill more than one billion people around the world this century unless governments and civil society act to reverse the epidemic.

 (To read this posting in hindi language , click here )

Tobacco Kills News Bulletin: Issue 323

Brought to you by:

Indian Society Against Smoking and Citizen News Service

(To read this news bulletin in hindi language , please click here )

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Summary:

 This Tobacco Kills News Bulletin features two emerging issues in spotlight over the past week:

1) Anti-tobacco activists in India have responded strongly at the decision taken by the Government of India's Group of Ministers (GOM) to dilute pictorial warnings on tobacco products 

2) The first-ever international study of the tobacco use habits of pregnant women says the rates of smoking, use of smokeless tobacco and exposure to secondhand smoke during pregnancy are higher than expected in developing and middle income countries, and pose an emerging threat to the health of women and their children.

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 'Mild pics on tobacco products won't work'
Press Trust of India (PTI), 28 February 2008

 Excerpts:

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"The decision of a Group of Ministers (GOM) not to insist on effective pictorial warnings on tobacco products smacks of political opportunism. It is sad to note that the rising death toll has made no impact on the GoM," National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) General Secretary Dr Shekhar Salkar said.

 "The GOM in its meeting headed by Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee had agreed for two mild images of a scorpion signal depicting cancer or an x-ray plate of a man suffering from lung cancer as pictorial warning to deter people from smoking"

 "Our insistence on displaying either the skull and bones graphics or the photograph of a cancer patient is based on the belief that they would make the ignorant consumer more conscious and alert"

 (To read the complete news, click here)

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 'Scorpion sign on cigarette packs not enough as deterrent'
IANS, 27 February 2008

 Excerpts:
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'For their short-term political benefits, politicians have compromised with the health of millions of Indians,' alleged Shekhar Salkar.

 "The size of the pictorial warnings would be either 30 or 40 percent of the package and not 50 percent as suggested by the health ministry."

 'Indian authorities lack political will to take strong action' said Bhavna Mukhopadhyay, director of health promotion at the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI)

 "By reducing the size of the pictorial warning from proposed 50 percent to 30 percent of the packet, the government has compromised with the international best practices" said Monika Arora of the NGO Hridaya.

 (To read the complete news, click here)
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 Researchers Conduct First Global Study of Pregnant Women's Exposure to Tobacco
By Jessica Berman, Voice of America
29 February 2008

 Excerpts:
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 The first-ever international study of the tobacco use habits of pregnant women says the rates of smoking, use of smokeless tobacco and exposure to secondhand smoke during pregnancy are higher than expected in developing and middle income countries, and pose an emerging threat to the health of women and their children

 Researchers, led by investigators at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, found that the highest levels of smoking were in Latin America, with 18 percent of pregnant women in Uruguay and 10 percent of women in Argentina lighting up.

 Investigators found smokeless tobacco was popular among up to one-third of pregnant women in some parts of India.

 The highest levels of secondhand smoke exposure were found in Pakistan, where nearly half of all pregnant women reported that both they and their children were regularly exposed to someone else's smoke.

 Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to go into labor prematurely and give birth to low weight babies. Experts say smoking in pregnancy can also cause sudden infant death syndrome after the baby is born.

 (To read the complete news, click here)
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 Comments are welcome at: tambakoo.kills@...
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100 years ago in 1908, more than 15,000 women marched in New York demanding equal pay and voting rights. This day is commemorated as International Women's Day (8 March). This year the theme is: Shaping progress.

It is not very encouraging to see organizations and individuals working on specific issues are so compartmentalized that it is difficult to bring them together even on cross-cutting issues and opportunities for enhanced advocacy.

For instance on International Women's Day, raising awareness about rising tobacco use among women, especially young girls in developing countries, is so apt.

Tobacco use among women has been on a rise, particularly in developing countries, says the new World Health Organization (WHO)'s report on Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008.

Late in February 2008, researchers have released the results of the first-ever international study of the tobacco use habits of pregnant women. Investigators say the rates of smoking, use of smokeless tobacco and exposure to secondhand smoke during pregnancy are higher than expected in developing and middle income countries, and pose an emerging threat to the health of women and their children.

Investigators found smokeless tobacco was popular among up to one-third of pregnant women in some parts of India.

The highest levels of secondhand smoke exposure were found in Pakistan, where nearly half of all pregnant women reported that both they and their children were regularly exposed to someone else's smoke.

Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to go into labor prematurely and give birth to low weight babies. Experts say smoking in pregnancy can also cause sudden infant death syndrome after the baby is born.

Greater female autonomy and changes in women's roles are associated with smoking uptake. Depression is strongly associated with smoking, and women have about twice the rate of depression than men.

Through comprehensive social research, the tobacco industry understands popular culture and psycho-social aspirations, and it incorporates this knowledge within massive promotional eff orts to seek new markets and sustain existing ones. Prevailing gender norms are a key feature within promotion for both sexes.

Using seductive but false images of vitality, slimness, emancipation, sophistication, and sexual allure, the industry targets women.

Liberation, autonomy, and even female friendship feature in developed countries advertising, and, increasingly, in regions where female roles have begun to change.

The Tobacco Reporter, an industry document, optimistically discussed its prospects in Asia in 1998:

"Rising per capita consumption…and an increasing acceptance of women smoking continue to generate new demand".

Slender, so-called "light", cigarettes packaged in pastel colours convey femininity and slimness in Japan and industrialized countries.

Tobacco causes similar health problems for men and women, including lung cancer, upper aerodigestive cancer, several other cancers, heart disease, stroke, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Tobacco poses additional specific threats for men and women. Men risk declines

in fertility and sexual potency, and female smokers risk increased cardiovascular disease, in particular while using oral contraceptives, and higher rates of infertility, premature labour, low birth-weight infants, cervical cancer, early menopause, and bone fractures. Smoking during pregnancy adversely aff ects foetal development.

Female non-smokers are more likely to be exposed to environmental tobacco smoke, with its elevated risks of lung cancer and heart disease.

Lung cancer death rates in the European Union are nearly three times higher for female compared to male non-smokers, which researchers attribute to exposure to spouse smoking.

A recent meta-analysis found women develop lung cancer with lower levels of smoking compared to men, and are more at risk of contracting the (more aggressive) small cell lung cancer.

Among non-small cell cancer types, adenocarcinoma is more common among women. Explanations centre on women's greater use of low -tar cigarettes and more "compensatory" smoking (deeper inhalation), and faster smoking in response to workplace bans.

It appears women are most at risk of lung cancer if they begin smoking by age 25, six years later than for men.

It is imperative not only to raise awareness about tobacco hazards, but also to hold tobacco corporations accountable for the misleading and surreptitious tobacco promotion, and strengthening the implementation of existing tobacco control policies.

In India, the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (2003) and the global tobacco treaty (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, FCTC) both have strongly endorsed tobacco advertising restrictions, ban to sale to minors, effective warnings on tobacco products and ban on use of misleading terms like `mild', `low tar' or `slim' on tobacco packs. But implementing such effective public health measures is indeed a huge challenge confronting us in present times.

Recently the group of ministers in India which was mandated to review the warning labels on tobacco packs, has actually reduced the size of the pictorial warnings from 50% to 30-40% and opted for less-effective pictorial warnings disapproving the more strong ones earlier approved to be effective in dissuading people especially young people from initiating tobacco use.

Let's hope, the theme of this year's International Women's Day (8 March) – SHAPING PROGRESS – will also mobilize women and men to shape progress on neglected public health measures as well.

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by  John R. Polito

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Boston University School of Public Health professor Michael Siegel today accused the 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health of selling the scientific integrity of the global tobacco control movement to pharmaceutical influence.

The conference is scheduled for Mumbai, India in March 2009. Its website indicates that Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, makers of a growing array of quit smoking "medicines" will serve as conference sponsors.

14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health "How can you objectively discuss the population impact of NRT (nicotine replacement therapy) use at a conference sponsored by two of the leading nicotine replacement therapy drug companies," asks Dr. Michael Siegel, a preventive medicine physician who has been active in tobacco control for 20 years?

"How can you objectively discuss effective national strategies for smoking cessation," or "all aspects of individual and population-based approaches to helping people quit smoking at a conference sponsored by two of the leading nicotine replacement therapy drug companies." "You can't," he asserts.

There is growing awareness that while pharmaceutical quitting products consistently produce victories over placebo users in clinical trials, that those trials were not blind as claimed. Every cessation pharmacology product to date has fallen flat on its face in real-world use, and new evidence suggests that Champix and Chantix (varenicline) may be joining them.

"The drugs are approved because they've shown in FDA studies that they're better than placebo," says Dr. Edward Levin, a psychopharmacological researcher at Duke University Medical Center in Raleigh, N.C., as quoted yesterday in a CNN Money Chantix article. "But being better than placebo doesn't take a whole lot."

As early as 1984 the U.S. FDA was aware that the scientific foundation of clinical trials, placebo group comparisons, was shaky and in trouble. It was then that researchers resorted to the extreme of using small amounts of nicotine in placebo gum as a masking agent, a practice that continued in nicotine patch studies.

Could it be that drug addiction is the only pharmacology research area where comparisons with placebo control groups is actually a license to steal? Is it possible to hide from the average quitter the fact that placebo group assignment has thrown them into full-blown nicotine withdrawal, or hide active group assignment when chemically elevated dopamine output is providing a noticeable reduction in withdrawal intensity from prior quitting attempts?

While promising to double cessation rates, in October 2006 the CDC was forced to report that decline in the U.S. smoking rate had ground to a halt. Is cessation pharmacology actually undercutting worldwide cessation? Is toying with lengthy replacement nicotine weaning schemes actually costing smokers their lives?

Is it realistic to think that such concerns can be openly discussed and debated at a conference where those sponsoring the conference could potentially lose billions in profits if blinding concerns and real-world use findings were granted full and fair hearings?

Whether looking at National Cancer Institute survey data or data following smoking patients of Australian family practice physicians, real-world quitting method studies continue to find that those quitting "on their own" have higher long-term success rates than those using replacement nicotine or bupropion (Zyban).

Since September 11, 2002, industry consultants have countered with a wide range of theories and excuses that all miss one central point, that the continuing blanket marketing representation that these products will increase a smoker's chances of quitting is false.

"The preoccupation with nicotine replacement therapy, spurred on by the infusion of pharmaceutical dollars into the tobacco control field, is causing us to lose sight of the actual root of the problem: the addictive state itself," writes Dr. Siegel. "And that is a shame, because it may be severely hampering our efforts to help smokers quit."

A 2004 study by GlaxoSmithKline consultants found that, then, 37% of nicotine gum users were hooked on the cure. U.S. Presidential candidate Senator Barak Obama admits having been on nicotine gum for more than a year. During varenicline (Chantix/Champix) clinical trials the FDA permitted those who started using replacement nicotine after ending 12 weeks of varenicline use to be counted as successful varenicline quitters at long-term follow-up.

While replacement nicotine clearly poses far less health risk than smoking, it is just as obvious that those dependent upon it have not arrested their chemical dependency, and remain extremely vulnerable to returning to smoking.

Has the pharmaceutical industry invented a new definition of quitting, one that only refers to quitting one form of nicotine delivery, smoke? Why in nearly all clinical trials did it fail to examine nicotine levels in blood, urine or saliva of those declared to have successfully quit? Is the industry's lack of regard for whether a smoker arrests their chemical dependency closer to public health interests or those of the tobacco industry?

But concerns about taking our eye off the ball may be too late. At this moment the FDA is being petitioned to allow pharmaceutical nicotine to invade neighborhood convenience stores, to do open battle against tobacco, by being sold in daily-dose packs beside cigarettes.

While cleaner delivery and harm reduction make sense, intensifying an already ragging battle at the neighborhood candy, chip and soda store does not. Until now, youth were taught that NRT was for quitting. What consequences will flow when an ocean of NRT signs start screaming messages about fast, clean, safe, pleasure, flavor and taste? Should the initial experiment be upon an entire nation?

Are pharmaceutical industry chemical enslavement objectives really any different from the tobacco industry's? Is the 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health being played like a fiddle?

A once secret 1972 R.J. Reynolds document states, "In a sense, the tobacco industry may be thought of as being a specialized, highly ritualized and stylized segment of the pharmaceutical industry. Tobacco products, uniquely, contain and deliver nicotine, a potent drug with a variety of physiological effects." "If nicotine is the sine qua non of tobacco products and tobacco products are recognized as being attractive dosage forms of nicotine, then it is logical to design our products -- and where possible, our advertising -- around nicotine delivery rather than "tar" delivery or flavor." "Hopefully, with time we will be able to develop sophisticated and improved minimum dosage forms for nicotine which will be more satisfying to the user and free of alleged health hazards."

"To prostitute oneself is defined as 'selling one's abilities, talent, or name for an unworthy purpose,'" writes Dr. Siegel. "By accepting Big Pharma money in order to fund its symposium, the World Conference on Tobacco OR Health, in my opinion, is selling its name for what I consider to be an unworthy purpose. The Conference is allowing itself to be used as a pharmaceutical marketing agent, simply to make money, when the over-reliance on pharmaceutical agents is in my opinion one of the main reasons why smoking cessation efforts and policies have been so ineffective."

(To read this posting in hindi language , please click here )

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Although parliamentary Acts like The Cigarette and other tobacco Products Act (2003) and similar provisions banning direct, indirect and surrogate advertising of tobacco and alcohol products in India exist, the recent notification from Government of India has further reinforced the need to implement these pro-people policies in the very interest of the country.

Please read The Hindu (18 March 2008) news below:

Govt. issues notification banning surrogate liquor ads

The Hindu/ PTI, 18 March 2008

NEW DELHI: The government has issued a notification banning surrogate advertising of liquor companies in print, electronic and outdoor media.

 "The notification was issued on February 25, 2008, amending the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 to the effect that no advertisement shall be permitted which promotes directly or indirectly, sale or consumption of cigarettes, tobacco products, wine, alcohol or liquor," Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

 He said "failure to comply will entail action as per the provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and rules framed thereunder".

 The minister also added that even the Press Council of India, a statutory autonomous body, has laid down the norms for journalistic conduct under Article 13 (2)(b) of the Press Council Act 1987, stating that "no advertisement shall be published, which promotes directly or indirectly production, sale or consumption of cigarettes, tobacco products and other intoxicants"

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To read The Hindu (18 March 2008) click here

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Contrary to the popular belief, it is not cancer but tuberculosis which is the major cause of smoking-related deaths in India. 38 per cent of deaths are due to TB, cancer is second at 32 per cent in India. The new study by the Centre for Global Health Research at the University of Toronto is the most comprehensive study ever done on the impact of smoking in India.

Currently about 104 deaths are attributed to smoking every hour in India. If the smoking levels continue to rise as today, by 2010, 114 people will be dieing every hour in India due to smoking.

Another major finding of this study is that 70% of people who will die due to smoking will be between the ages of 30 and 69 years - the most productive age group in any population.

In India the smoking quit rate remains the lowest in the world. Only two per cent adults have quit smoking often only after falling ill.

Experts say it's even more critical to use pictures in India given that 50 per cent of those smoking can't read and many are unaware of the harmful effects of tobacco.

In the age group of 13-15 years, 17.3 per cent are male smokers and 9.7 per cent are female smokers in India.

# But in the age group of 18 to 49, 32.7 per cent are male smokers whereas only 1.4 per cent of women contribute to smoking in India.

To read the study in english, click here

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Photo credit: NDTV

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NEW DELHI: After taking on film stars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, health minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss has now targeted West Bengal chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for smoking in public. "About 70.2 per cent of men in West Bengal smoke, including their chief minister," Dr Ramadoss told reporters at an event here today.

When asked whether he had any word of advice for Mr Bhattacharjee, the health minister said: "He is a senior person and I am a small individual." But the anti-tobacco crusader said Mr Bhattacharjee needed no advice. "As a leader, he should set an example for others to follow."

Dr Ramadoss' remarks came a day after Mr Bhattacharjee made it clear that he would continue to smoke in his office, despite a blanket ban at the state secretariat. In Kolkata, Mr Bhattacharjee said Dr Ramadoss hadn't spoken to him on the matter.

Dr Ramadoss' caveat for the chief minister came on a day the government decided to make employers of smokers pay for their bad habit should they light up at work. "If one person is caught smoking, the fine would be Rs 5,000 for the institution, if two persons are caught it would be Rs 10,000 while if three persons are caught it would be Rs 15,000," Dr Ramadoss told reporters here today while outlining the government's plans for cracking down on smoking in public places.

As part of the plan, the government is also planning to fine an individual smoking in public places Rs 1,000 ~ up from the current Rs 200, he said. Expressing concern over the increase in the number of smokers in the country, he said the ministry had recommended the formulation of a comprehensive Tobacco Control Policy and its effective implementation needed to be initiated.

"There is a need to increase awareness among teachers, students and community leaders," he said at the release of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey and Global School Personnel Survey for 2006.

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 NEW DELHI: "Stop smoking" is easier said than done. Many doctors who say don't smoke are chain smokers themselves, claims the Indian global health professional student survey conducted by the World Health Organisation and the health ministry.

 A survey conducted in 15 medical colleges in India found that there is a high prevalence of tobacco consumption among medical students. The report also pointed out a poor enforcement of smoking ban and poor cessation help.

 Out of the 1,321 students sampled, the prevalence of cigarette smoking and use of tobacco products was higher among the third-year students. Nearly half of smokers reported to have a desire for a cigarette within 30 minutes of awaking in the morning, indicating strong dependence on tobacco. Less than half the students reported that their colleges had an official policy banning smoking in college buildings and clinics. Over 42% students reported having been exposed to second hand smoke at home and 73% reported exposure at public places.

 While over 91% medical students supported a ban on smoking in restaurants and enclosed public places, only 59.7% supported ban in discos, bars and pubs. Most of them did support a ban on selling tobacco products to minors and advertisement of tobacco products.

 Vineeta Pandey, DNA

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 Nav Bharat Times, Goa

 
PANAJI: The Sessions Judge, North Goa, Mr U V Bakre  quashed the process issued by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Panaji against Amitabh Bachchan, chairman of Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd (ABCL).

 The Court has also quashed the process issued against Mr Keshu Ramsay and M/s DMS Film Pvt Ltd.  However, it has not altered the order passed by the JMFC against M/s Anchor Daewoo India Ltd. 

The Court observed that no case made out against Amitabh Bachchan, Mr Keshu Ramsay and M/s DMS Films Pvt Ltd, Mumbai under Section 5(1), 5(3) of the Cigarettes and Tobacco and other Tobacco Products Act, 2003.

 It may be recalled that the National Organization for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) had filed a complaint that the film star had violated the provisions of the Act as he was shown smoking a cigarette on a hoarding for his film `Family' and also endorsing an electrical appliance of M/s Anchor Daewoo India Ltd under the brand name Anchor.

 According to NOTE, these hoardings were in gross violation of Cigarettes and Tobacco and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulations of the Trade and Commerce, Production Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 and under Section 7 of the Goa Prohibition of Smoking and Spitting Act, 1997. Mr Joseph Vaz appeared on behalf of Amitabh Bachchan whereas Mr Prasad Kirtaney appeared on behalf of M/s DMS Films.

(To read this  posting in hindi language , please click here )
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Portrayal of tobacco use in Indian cinema has been on the rise. Despite of The cigarette and other tobacco products Act (2003), repeated requests and appeals by health activists and India's Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss to film stars to desist from smoking on screen and also from brand placement, the incidence of tobacco use in films is only rising.

Dr Ramadoss again appealed to the film-stars to be socially responsible and not smoke on-screen in the larger interest of the youth of the nation. He made a "passionate request" to film stars and other celebrities to stop endorsing cigarettes and other tobacco products on-screen.

"Eighty percent of movies have smoking scenes and studies show that majority of the youngsters take up smoking under the influence of celebrities," said Dr Ramadoss.

Just last week, the legal proceeding against Amitabh Bachchan, was quashed by a session's court in Goa. Indian film superstar Amitabh Bachchan had smoked a cigar in FAMILY film and the posters of which were splashed all across India. NOTE India, a Goa based NGO and Indian Society Against Smoking, a Lucknow based voluntary group had issued legal notices to Amitabh Bachchan then, and NOTE India had taken Amitabh to court. But court quashed the legal proceedings against the Bollywood film icon Amitabh.

Filmstars should also desist from endorsing junk food and alcohol, added Dr Ramadoss.

He agreed that although India had one of the best tobacco control laws but the problem lies with the implementation.

"We will try and bring in school teachers, NCC cadets and various NGOs as legal enforcers," Ramadoss said. "We are planning to introduce tobacco control at the school level also", he added.

Apart from this, the ministry would launch a host of commercial spots and advertisements in print as well as the electronic media, he said.

But is this enough? Is it going to be effective in controlling tobacco use in India? Will it desist youth to take up the deadly addiction? Most importantly, is it going to hold tobacco corporations accountable and put a check on misleading, surreptitious and deceitful tobacco promotions they unabashedly indulge in?

(To read this posting in hindi language, click here)

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Recently a news item published in The Times of India said that Nagpur Central Jail will become tobacco-free.

Despite of the fact that the Jail Manual includes tobacco, Nagpur Jail authorities are determined to enforce this public health measure in their premises. They have already removed all tobacco products from the jail canteen.

"Government is spending a big amount on the health of the prisoners. Tobacco is injurious to health,"  said Surinder Kumar, deputy inspector general of police, prisons (eastern region).

Several young prisoners dying in the jail has recently raised concern that prompted him to take the decision, he added.

Kumar said that the tobacco use, particularly by prisoners suffering from ailments like tuberculosis and HIV, is dangerous. Recently in one of the most comprehensive studies on tobacco use and habits done in India, it was found that tuberculosis (and not cancer) was the biggest cause of death for tobacco-users.

"Apart from ruining one's health, passive smokers also become victims in jail due to restrictions on their free movement," he said.

However just by rulings of ban-on-tobacco-use it will be difficult to enforce the ban considering the strong addiction tobacco is. The inmates of Nagpur Central Jail need quality tobacco cessation services so that they get counseled and assisted to quit tobacco use. Not only prison inmates but prison staff also needs help if they use tobacco in any form.

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Will alcohol and tobacco companies continue with surrogate ads in India?

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Indian laws do not allow alcohol and tobacco companies to advertise, but a few of these advertisers have extended their brands to other categories purely in an attempt to advertise.
 
Surrogate advertising happens when the brand extension is seen as a guise for a product that is almost non-existent in commercial terms.
 
An interesting article in the Mint asked the most valid question: Will Kingfisher Airlines be allowed to advertise?

 Kingfisher is also the brand-name of an Indian alcohol (beer). Kingfisher alcohol existed long before the Kingfisher airline came into existence. Similarly Indian Tobacco Company's (ITC) had their flagship brand cigarette `Wills' and then opened Wills Lifestyle stores (readymade garments) across India when Indian tobacco control Acts tightened the clamp on tobacco advertising.

 Another alcohol brand `Royal Challenge' (beer) sponsors a sport-event (Indian Premier League matches) which are broadcasted on Sony television. This time, Sony TV is likely not to screen such programmes since tobacco or alcohol sponsorship of sport events is also banned in India.

 Enforcing such tobacco and alcohol advertisement bans are in extreme interest of the people, public health and the country's welfare. Studies have proven how tobacco and alcohol ads use glamour and lifestyle imagery to promote their products and catch youth's fancy for their capital interests. The deadly health-hazards of tobacco and socio-economic disaster which alcohol spells on families are a reality we deal with in our day-to-day lives.

 However advertisement firms are going to lose Rs 250 crores of the revenue which was earlier coming from tobacco and alcohol ads. They ask: "Why is the [tobacco and alcohol advertisement] clamp not extended to other media, such as sponsored ground events, outdoors, point-of-purchase advertising etc., which will reap our losses?"

 The question is indeed very valid. These bans on alcohol and tobacco advertisement should be extended to sponsored ground events, outdoors, point-of-purchase advertising etc as well. Actually the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products Act (2003) does extend the ban on tobacco advertising (direct, indirect and surrogate) to sponsored ground events, outdoors, but allows tobacco advertising at the point-of-purchase with conditions: the size of the board is fixed by law and also the content: tobacco advertisements on point-of-sale cannot display any graphic or picture or any brand name, and should only mention the kind of tobacco being sold there with 25% of board area dedicated to health warning (Tobacco causes cancer or Tobacco kills) in local language.

 In the year 2000, the government formed a committee headed by the then additional secretary of the Information and broadcasting ministry which included prominent broadcasters to look into the issue. The committee recommended that products with real production and distribution channels cannot be called surrogate. However tobacco and alcohol companies have been promoting their products under the garb of non-tobacco or non-alcohol products with same brand names. Such surrogate advertisement does have a brand recall impact since most of the viewers associate a particular brand with the main product. For example, Royal Challenge is an alcohol for most consumers or potential consumers and not a sport!

Climate change has implications on public health

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The World Health Day this year (7 April 2008) focuses on the need to protect health from the adverse effects of climate change. The theme "protecting health from climate change" puts health at the centre of the global dialogue about climate change. The World Health Organization (WHO) selected this theme for the World Health Day in recognition that climate change is posing ever growing threats to global public health security.

The appalling conditions of health responses during civil unrest, violence and natural calamities like floods in India are well-documented. Also the disease outbreaks, especially water-borne diseases, have been posing an enormous challenge in such situations.

People requiring long-term ongoing care and treatment, are left with hardly any choice to adhere to their drug-regimens during civil unrest or natural calamities. For example people with tuberculosis (TB) who are required to adhere to the anti-TB drugs, often struggle to reach to the TB clinics and the risk to develop anti-TB drug-resistance is enormous. Similarly people living with HIV are struggling to reach to the clinics for the ongoing treatment, care and support services, particularly those who need anti-retroviral drugs and are not able to access them.

Moreover natural calamities escalate the risk of disease transmission and exacerbate the vulnerabilities of people to infectious diseases. With health systems disrupted and healthcare providers often at risk of facing violence themselves, it is a serious concern how to effectively improve health responses during civil unrest, violence and natural calamities.

According to the WHO, "through increased collaboration, the global community will be better prepared to cope with climate-related health challenges worldwide." Examples of such collaborative actions are: strengthening surveillance and control of infectious diseases like tuberculosis (TB), ensuring safer use of diminishing water supplies, and coordinating health action in emergencies.

Overwhelming evidence shows that human activities are affecting the global climate, with serious implications for public health. Catastrophic weather events, variable climates that affect food and water supplies, new patterns of infectious disease outbreaks, and emerging diseases linked to ecosystem changes, are all associated with global warming and pose health risks.

Climate and weather already exert strong influences on health: through deaths in heat waves, and in natural disasters such as floods, as well as influencing patterns of life-threatening vector-borne diseases such as malaria.

Continuing climate change will affect, in profoundly adverse ways, some of the most fundamental determinants of health: food, air and water, according to WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan. Malnutrition, lack of access to basic sanitation including access to safe drinking water, and pollution are known factors to aggravate the risk to respiratory diseases including TB.

Areas with weak health infrastructure - mostly in developing countries - will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond. These impacts will be disproportionately greater in vulnerable populations, which include the very young, elderly, medically infirm, poor and isolated populations.

Increasing global temperatures affect levels and seasonal patterns of both man-made and natural air-borne particles, such as plant pollen, which can trigger asthma. About 300 million people suffer from asthma, and 255 000 people died of the disease in 2005. Asthma deaths are expected to increase by almost 20% in the next 10 years if urgent actions to curb climate change and prepare for its consequences are not taken.

The health impacts of climate change will be difficult to reverse in a few years or decades. Yet, many of these possible impacts can be avoided or controlled. There are established steps in health and related sectors to reduce the exposure to and the effect of changing climate. For example, controlling disease vectors, reducing pollution from transport and efficient land use and water management are well-known and tested measures that can help.

However government of India's response in efficient land use and water management to mitigate the adverse impact of the global climate has been appalling.

The privatization of water, use of agriculture lands as special economic zone for rapid industrialization, heavy displacement of poor people with `development projects' which put them at grave risk of infectious diseases, are certainly not going to help India in minimizing the harm of the climate change.

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