The India-Pakistan border at Wagah. Photo: Dharmesh on Flickr

Ambassador S. Azmat Hassan is a former Ambassador of Pakistan to Malaysia, Syria and Morocco and Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

U.S. policymakers probably rue the day when the Bush Administration decided to broaden its intervention in Afghanistan. Eight and a half years after evicting the Taliban and installing the ineffectual Hamid Karzai as President, the U.S. finds itself bogged down in Afghanistan.

The Karzai government has failed to provide its war-weary countrymen a reasonable measure of peace or security. Suicide bombs kill foreigners and Afghans alike with disturbing frequency in the bigger cities, while guerrilla attacks by a resilient Taliban insurgency continues to take a toll of U.S. and NATO troops.

Corruption and drug-running is rampant. To remain in power, Karzai has had to consort with a number of unsavory warlords who are masters in their fiefdoms. Karzai’s brother, the overlord at Kandahar, has the reputation of being both a CIA agent and the province’s biggest drug dealer.

In the witches’ brew that is Afghanistan today, India and Pakistan are both jockeying for influence. The poor Afghans are caught in the middle of this zero-sum game.

India, seizing on Afghanistan’s travails, has pumped in over a billion dollars toward improving Afghanistan’s economic and social infrastructure. On the face of it, this magnanimity should be considered a praiseworthy gesture.

But the Pakistani ruling circles and especially its Armed Forces are alarmed at India’s burgeoning influence in Afghanistan. India’s economic largesse coupled with the opening of its consulates in Afghan provinces close to Pakistan’s border, have rung alarm bells in Islamabad.

Pakistan’s fears of Indian encirclement both from its eastern and now increasingly its western borders, would prevent regional cooperation in pacifying Afghanistan.

General McChrystal has alerted his superiors in Washington that Karzai’s pro-India orientation — plus India’s forward posture in Afghanistan by alienating Pakistan, a crucial ally — would adversely affect U.S. interests in Afghanistan.

It is not known whether McChrystal’s advice has been heeded by the Obama administration. However, a recent statement by General Petraeus suggests that he understands and perhaps supports Pakistan’s quest for gaining strategic depth in a friendly Afghanistan.

While the war in Afghanistan drags on, U.S.-Pakistani relations are currently facing a downward trajectory. The U.S. is unhappy that Pakistan is not going all out against some Afghan Taliban factions based in Pakistan who are battling U.S. and NATO troops.

The Pakistanis are unhappy about U.S. foot dragging on meeting its financial commitments to the Pakistani Army, which has made a significant contribution in the “war on terror” against the Taliban.

This level of mistrust between the two allies is troubling. A continuous dialogue at the political and military level is the only antidote to prevent a further erosion of this crucial alliance.

Hopefully, in his forthcoming visit to Washington, astute Pakistani Army Chief General Kayani will help clear the air. Both the U.S. and Pakistan need each other to get over the hump in Afghanistan. Pakistan needs U.S. assistance to appreciably increase its economic and social development indicators.

Without Pakistan’s support and cooperation, it is difficult to envisage the U.S. achieving its objectives in Afghanistan. This in turn might affect the exit strategy of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

The U.S. needs to become much more proactive in nudging Pakistan and India to resolve their disputes — the principal one, from Pakistan’s perspective, being Kashmir.

India does not want to engage Pakistan in a composite dialogue till Pakistan curbs terrorist attacks from its territory — like the Mumbai killings — by non-state actors. India thinks that some elements in Pakistan’s government encourage such attacks, to destabilize India. Better India-Pakistan relations could possibly help dampen their rivalry in Afghanistan.

The truth of the matter is that both India and Pakistan have been victims of violent extremism. Both are facing multiple insurgencies within their borders. Instead of playing the blame game, both should be prodded to work together in curbing this common menace.

The United States should pay much more attention to removing mutual mistrust between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. Being a neutral bystander issuing anodyne statements is not good enough in the current scenario.

A coordinated regional approach between Pakistan, India and the Karzai regime with active U.S. encouragement could possibly ameliorate the situation in Afghanistan. Then the U.S. can depart with a semblance of dignity and honor.

- S. Azmat Hassan

For more on the rising number of super-rich in Asia, Daljit Dhaliwal speaks to Roben Farzad, senior writer for Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

And China — whose economic power rests largely on its manufacturing might — now faces labor shortages in its manufacturing heartland.

As Rob McBride of Al Jazeera English reports, young workers want more money and better opportunities.

These two rapidly growing economies have formally agreed this week to be part of the climate change accord that was worked at last December’s climate change conference in Copenhagen.

The nonbinding document calls for limiting the rise in global temperatures.

Andrew Potter of Al Jazeera English reports on the significance of the news.

A street in Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum. Photo: Ben Piven

The government of India announced plans earlier this week to do comprehensive mapping of slums in the entire country.

In many of India’s big cities such as Mumbai, well over half the population reside in slums.

Using Geographical Information System mapping, the project aims to produce reliable numbers about slum populations — to further the government’s ambitious goal of making India slum-free within five years.

Officials say that the detailed geographic information will also make it easier for municipalities to provide basic services to slum dwellers, including water and electricity.

Yet some advocacy groups argue that the effort, hatched by Housing Minister Kumari Selja and reliant on technology used by the Indian Space Research Organisation, would merely facilitate redevelopment plans and the relocation of slum dwellers.

Worldfocus spoke with Pratima Joshi, director of housing NGO Shelter Associates, based in Pune, India, for more about the issue:

Worldfocus: Do you support the new slum mapping plan?

Pratima Joshi: Yes, we support the government’s slum mapping program. This is largely based on our model of poverty mapping. Shelter Associates pioneered the use of GIS for mapping poverty in India way back in 1999, and ever since we have been urging cities to have this kind of spatial data in place for effective, inclusive planning.

Worldfocus: What are the primary reasons why the government wants to gather this information?

Joshi: We have been able to demonstrate through some of our projects — especially Sangli — that such information helps to develop a citywide approach to developing the degraded areas in your city and helps achieve optimal utilization of scarce resources like land, instead of the usual piecemeal approach.

Worldfocus: How are slum dweller advocacy groups trying to stop the mapping effort?

Joshi: We have not encountered this problem with our work.

Worldfocus: Will Mumbai benefit from highly-detailed information about its slums, where the majority of Mumbaikars reside?

Joshi: Absolutely. In fact I believe that the need of the hour is to look at slums within the neighborhood and citywide perspectives, rather than just see places liked Dharavi as isolated slum pockets. There could be better solutions emerging if a holistic approach is adopted.

- Ben Piven

A statue of Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar. Photo: Ben Piven

Caste has existed in India for over 3 millennia, and many people view caste - in addition to curry and the Taj Mahal - as one of India’s defining features.

With several thousand castes that each contain sub-castes and even smaller groups, the system varies according to geography and language.

Last week, India commemorated the 60th birthday of its Constitution, which banned untouchability.

The show focuses on:

• Cultural background: Upper/lower castes, Urban/rural differences, & discrimination

• Politics: reservation system, reverse casteism, & Dalit political party

• Big picture/U.S.: Dalit diaspora, parallels with black Americans, anti-racism movement

Joining Martin Savidge to discuss caste in India are Vivek Kumar and Corey Washington.

Guests:

Vivek Kumar is a sociologist at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. His areas of specialization are social stratification, Dalit movements and the Indian diaspora.

Corey Washington is a PhD student at Columbia University in New York. He is currently producing two documentaries about caste in rural areas of the Indian states of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Worldfocus Signature stories reported by Martin Himel — India’s untouchables trudge through sewers and One woman fights for members of India’s lowest caste — explore the lives of Indians who perform degrading caste-based occupations.

Reid, who recently apologized, is quoted in a new book as saying Obama was electable because he is “light-skinned…with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

Racial discrimination takes on many forms around the world.

In Iraq, some estimate that 10 percent of the country’s 29 million people are of African origin.

Much of the black population feel marginalized and are increasingly frustrated about not having a legally mandated share of parliamentary seats — unlike many of Iraq’s other minorities, including Kurds and Christians.

Watch a report by Omar Saleh of Al Jazeera English here:

In Australia, 21-year-old Indian student Nitin Garg was stabbed to death in Melbourne recently. And another Indian man was set on fire outside of his Melbourne home.

Australian police are still looking for the attackers but say they don’t think either crime was racially motivated.

This has upset many Indians — both in Australia and India. A series of violent attacks against Indians in Australia last year had already strained diplomatic relations.

Applications by Indians for Australian student visas have dropped by half, and at least one protest has taken place outside the Australian High Commission in New Delhi.

Watch a recent report by Ashima Thomas of Al Jazeera English on the violence in Australia:

Global Voices blogger Kevin Rennie, a former secondary school teacher and resident of Melbourne, offers a wrap-up from Australian bloggers.

The murder of an Indian man in Melbourne has reignited the debate about racism in Australia and the safety of overseas students. It has also severely strained relations between Australia and India.

And lastly, in our Worldfocus broadcast tonight, we discuss the discrimination faced by Afro-Peruvians.

For the first time, the government of Peru has apologized to the African-Peruvian population for centuries of abuse, exclusion and discrimination.

The government said it hoped the apology would help promote the “true integration” of Peru’s multi-cultural population.

Africans first arrived in Peru in the 16th century as slaves of Spanish conquerors. Today Afro-Peruvians account for 5 to 10 percent of Peru’s 29 million people.

On the blog “Living in Peru,” Andres Flores writes about the history of Africans in Peru:

“According to the anthropologist Humberto Rodriguez, traces of the African culture are strongly marked in the capital. “There are streets in Lima called Malambo, inhabited by large numbers of African descendants. Their roots are not confined only to music and food, they are also seen in their lifestyle, their creolism, language and customs of the city.”

- Geneva Sands-Sadowitz

This year saw many significant events — ranging from great recession to Iran’s election protests.

Read our top 10 web articles from 2009:

	UAE Foreign workers leave Dubai en masse as economy spirals	The sprawling city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is known for real estate, finance and trade. But now, with the slumping economy, many foreigners who worked in Dubai are being laid off and thousands are leaving.
	YEMEN Saudi Arabia and Iran fight proxy war in northern Yemen	Worldfocus contributing blogger Dwight Bashir writes about recent skirmishes between Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels in northern Yemen. Iran accused Saudi Arabia of state-sponsored “Wahhabi terrorism” in Yemen.
	MALAYSIA Burmese refugees rounded up and sold in Malaysia	In Malaysia, some immigration officials have been accused of involvement in selling refugees from Myanmar, also known as Burma. The U.S. State Department placed Malaysia on its list of the world’s worst human trafficking offenders.
	INDIA Curvaceous cartoon banned in India for exploits	Some people in India are mourning the passing of Savita Bhabhi, a curvaceous and promiscuous cartoon porn star whose sexual adventures were recently banned by the government. Ben Piven describes Indian cultural attitudes towards sex.
	IRAN Iran’s “Twitter Revolution” - myth or reality?	Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have become important tools of communication as Iran has cracked down on news organizations trying to cover protests over disputed presidential election results.
	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Haitians in DR face racism	Up to one million people of Haitian origin currently live in the Dominican Republic, and many are subjected to discrimination and violence, with their Dominican-born children denied citizenship.
	CHINA China reduces poverty; 60% decline in 25 years	A new World Bank report calls China’s progress in reducing poverty “enviable” and shows that the percentage of the Chinese population living below the poverty line declined from 65 percent in 1981 to 4 percent in 2007.
	BRITAIN Britain mandates sex education for young children	British schools will teach sex education to children as young as five in an effort to curb high teen pregnancy rates. Young U.K. students will receive lessons on topics such as body parts and reproduction.
	ETHIOPIA Conflict endures in Ethiopia’s ethnic Somali region	The violent, separatist conflict in southeastern Ethiopia has claimed thousands of lives over the last 15 years. Ethiopia sealed off the region to media so there is little accurate information about the conflict.
	CANADA Canada in Afghanistan’s war zone	As Canada prepares to withdraw its combat forces from Afghanistan in 2011, explore our Worldfocus time-line of Canada’s involvement in the war. And view scenes from on the ground.

Read their most compelling personal accounts and commentary from 2009, touching on subjects ranging from the seemingly-endless war in eastern Congo to pop culture in North Korea.

	INDIA “Slumdog” immigrant waits for U.S. Green Card lifeline	Rajeet Mohan is an Indian living in the U.S. on an H-1B visa. He shares his frustrating immigration experience and offers some solutions to retain and leverage highly-skilled immigrants in the U.S.
	CONGO War still rages on in corners of eastern Congo	Michael J. Kavanagh reports on the conflicting news coming out of eastern Congo. In the region’s most remote areas, Kavanagh has seen victims of attempted massacres, torture and kidnappings, as well as sex slaves.
	TAIWAN Taiwanese baseball fans outraged by game-fixing charges	Hsin-Yin Lee writes how a game-fixing scandal has rocked Taiwanese professional baseball. Fans are wondering whether there is a future for the island’s beloved sport. Evidence says Taiwan’s league is all mobbed up.
	JAMAICA Gay men in Jamaica must lead two separate lives	Lisa Biagiotti shares the story of a gay Jamaican who received asylum in the U.S. on the basis of his sexuality. While he is now free from persecution, he struggles with his identity and still conceals his sexuality from family members.
	SYRIA Watching Oprah in a Syrian refugee camp	Kristen Gillespie produced two signatures stories out of Jordan for Worldfocus. She writes about the global reach of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which has impacted a refugee living in a Syrian refugee camp.
	PAKISTAN Drone attacks deaden diplomatic track in Pakistan	S. Azmat Hassan argues that U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan will not succeed in fighting the Taliban. He outlines Taliban groups on both sides of the border and explains the Pakistani reluctance to take on the Afghan Taliban.
	NORTH KOREA Sweet dreams of Beyonce in N. Korean people’s paradise	Part 4 of 6 of our Inside the Hermit Kingdom series on the people and culture of North Korea. Ben Piven writes about popular music, food and beer in the most isolated country on earth. Believe it or not, North Koreans know Beyonce.
	CUBA Cuba provides free health care without the worry	Apropos of the current health care debate in the United States — what happens when a government you dislike does some good things? Cuba has a startling level of health care, writes Worldfocus blogger Peter Eisner.
	MYANMAR A Burmese family’s story of multiple arrests, weekly bribes	Karen Zusman writes about one Burmese family caught up in the human trafficking on the border. In June, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Report blacklisted Malaysia for trafficking refugees into Thailand.
	CHINA Post-Tiananmen, it’s no easier seeking human rights abroad	On the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, Nina Hachigian writes that in the last 20 years, while standards of living in China have risen dramatically, political reform has stalled and dissidents continue to live in terror.

Our signature stories delve into issues around the world — from the long-term effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam and gang violence in Mexico to discrimination against whites in South Africa and Afghan immigrants in Iran.

Here are the 15 Signature stories most popular with viewers in 2009:

	MOROCCO Moroccan single moms cope with hostility, shame	Young Muslim women who become pregnant out of wedlock face intense pressures. They are often shunned and scorned. Hoda Osman, Rebecca Haggerty, Megan Thompson and Reda Fakhar report on how mothers are coping.
	HAITI Dirt poor Haitians eat cookies made of mud	The cookie recipe — dirt, butter and salt — has been passed down through the generations, despite a lack of nutritional value. Benno Schmidt and Ara Ayer report on how these dirt cookies are managing to keep Haiti’s poor alive.
	JORDAN Oprah brings taboo topics to Middle East	The Middle East’s MBC-4 began airing “The Oprah Winfrey Show” more than four years ago, and the program now reaches about 6 million viewers in the Arab world each day. Kristen Gillespie reports from Jordan on the ”Oprah effect.”
	VIETNAM Agent Orange devastates generations of Vietnamese	During the Vietnam War, the U.S. dropped millions of gallons of Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant. Generations of Vietnamese civilians have suffered the consequences. Mark Litke and Ara Ayer report on the devastating effects the toxin has left behind.
	MEXICO Gangsters spill blood and spread fear in Tijuana, Mexico	Over the last year, more than 6,000 people have been murdered in Mexico’s drug wars, more than 700 of them in Tijuana alone. John Larson, Bryan Myers, Megan Thompson and Ivette Feliciano report from Tijuana.
	SOUTH AFRICA Poor white South Africans blame reverse discrimination	To some extent, the economic playing field has been leveled since the end of apartheid 15 years ago. Martin Seemungal reports on South Africa’s white community, where poverty has doubled since 1994.
	JAMAICA One island, two Jamaicas and a ‘whole heap’ of difference	A public debate erupted when graphic Dancehall music lyrics and images were banned from Jamaican radio and TV. Lisa Biagiotti, Micah Fink and Gabrielle Weiss report on how the ban highlights the divide that dates back centuries.
	ISRAEL Israeli company builds infrastructure for world’s electric cars	One Israeli company is designing an entire system to service electric cars with battery charging stations. Many other countries are expressing great interest. Michael Greenspan, Yuval Lion and Ara Ayer report from Israel.
	LIBERIA Liberia, “America’s stepchild,” searches for own identity	Liberia was settled by freed American slaves, and now, as Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson report, the nation is trying to re-shape its identity. Liberia, a small country in West Africa, has longstanding ties to the U.S.
	LATVIA Empty stores, offices tell tale of Latvia’s economic fall	Until the global recession, Latvia was experiencing rapid economic growth. During the past year, it has tumbled down, with unemployment around 14.5 percent. Daljit Dhaliwal, Sally Garner and Ara Ayer report on the scope of Latvia’s fall.
	IRAN Afghan immigrants find refuge in oil-rich Iran	Though the West has branded Iran a nuclear outlaw and supporter of terrorism, Iran is a model of stability compared to its neighbors. Three million Afghan immigrants in Iran are low-skilled laborers. Richard O’Regan reports from Tehran.
	DENMARK Taxes curb Danish oil use, promote energy independence	In Denmark, a Ford Focus costs $51,000 — $34,000 of which is in taxes. John Larson explains how taxing energy and subsidizing alternative technologies have reduced the country’s dependency on oil and created thousands of jobs.
	INDIA India’s “untouchables” trudge through sewers	While India has largely transformed into a modernized economy, the country remains strongly tied to the traditions of the caste system, which often governs the jobs that people hold. Martin Himel reports on India’s lowest class of laborers.
	TURKEY Rising Islamist movements challenge secularism in Turkey	Secular critics are branding Turkey’s growing conservative groups as fundamentalist. Gizem Yarbil and Bryan Myers report on how traditional religion and modern democracy are trying to coexist.
	PHILIPPINES Journalists risk their lives reporting in the Philippines	Today in the Philippines, journalism is robust. But more than 70 journalists have been murdered since 1986. Mark Litke and Ara Ayer report on the risks that many reporters face doing their jobs — from Manila to rural areas.

From entrepreneurship in Ethiopia and Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war to reverse brain drain in China and Baha’is in modern Iran, listen to the most popular shows from 2009:

	ETHIOPIA Entrepreneurship in Ethiopia	The Ethiopian government is trying to strengthen local businesses and attract foreign direct investment. Martin Savidge hosts Ermyas Amelga and Phillip LeBel to discuss how easy it is to do business in Ethiopia and who’s investing.
	CHINA Uighur Unrest in China	Ethnic clashes between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese turned deadly when riots erupted in early July. Martin Savidge hosts Enze Han, Andrew James Nathan and Alim Seytoff to discuss Uighur political aspirations and Han Chinese migration.
	IRAN Baha’i Faith and Modern Iran	Iranian leaders view the banned Baha’i faith as heresy, and its followers have been arrested, imprisoned or executed. Martin Savidge hosts Dwight Bashir, Kit Bigelow and Trita Parsi to discuss the religion’s history of persecution in Iran.
	RUSSIA Russia’s Population in Peril	Facing dual threats of low birth rate and soaring mortality rate, the ethnic Russian population is aging and dying. Martin Savidge hosts Paul Goble, Vladimir Lenskiy and Louisa Vinton to discuss pro-natalist campaigns and national debates on abortion.
	PHILIPPINES The Forgotten Terrorist Front	Since 9/11, the U.S. has stationed 500 to 600 troops in the Philippines to root out terrorists from the lawless jungles of the heavily Muslim south. Martin Savidge hosts Eliseo Mercado and Zachary Abuza to discuss Filipino counter-insurgency.
	CANADA Canada in Afghanistan	Canadian troops have served alongside Americans in Afghanistan, with 2,700 currently posted — primarily in Kandahar. Martin Savidge hosts Amb. Ron Hoffman, Nipa Banerjee and Terry Glavin to discuss Canada’s role and Afghan public opinion.
	CHINA & INDIA Reverse Brain Drain	Does the U.S. risk falling behind as skilled immigrants return to their home countries? Martin Savidge hosts Vivek Wadhwa and Michele Wucker to discuss emerging opportunities for highly-skilled immigrants and U.S. immigration restrictions.
	SRI LANKA Sri Lanka’s Bloody Civil War	As the Sri Lankan military waged its final bloody battle against the rebel Tamil Tigers, civilians were caught in the crossfire. Martin Savidge hosts Rohan Gunaratna, Amb. Jeffrey Lunstead and Ahilan Kadirgamar to discuss war and peace in Sri Lanka.
	IRAQ The Business of Iraq	Small enterprises — “mom and pop” shops — represent about 90 percent of the Iraq’s businesses. Martin Savidge hosts Ali Alnaemi, Eric Davis and Robert Looney to discuss Iraq’s high unemployment and ability to rebuild itself.
	ISRAEL Jerusalem United or Divided?	East and West Jerusalem are divided along ethnic and religious lines — in addition to the separation fence that Israel built to secure the city. Martin Savidge hosts Mustafa Barghouti and Gershon Baskin to analyze the shared city.

Worldfocus producers Mary Lockhart and Ara Ayer and correspondent Daljit Dhaliwal reported on the food crisis from the slums to high-rise buildings outside of Delhi in a Worldfocus Signature story first aired late last year.

(View full post to see video)

Young girls from Madhya Pradesh’s tribal communities near in the town of Dhar. Photo: Overseas Development Institute

Worldfocus partner World Pulse is a media enterprise covering global issues through the eyes of women. This post is excerpted from their PulseWire project, an international online forum for women. In it, Subhadra Khaperde, an activist and researcher from Indore, India, argues that anti-poverty efforts won’t succeed without addressing the root causes of poverty.

There is an interesting hiatus between the perceptions of tribal women and the NGOs regarding the problem of child malnutrition in Madhya Pradesh state in India.

While Chato, a Sahariya tribal woman, emphatically states that the lack of land, means of livelihood, electricity and medical facilities are the main barriers to keeping her children alive the NGOs are more concerned about the improper functioning and lack of universalisation of supplementary child nutrition services.

Thus while the poor women have hit upon the correct analysis that the lasting solution to the problem of malnutrition is in providing adequate and sustainable livelihood opportunities. The NGOs campaigning for an end to malnutrition on the other hand are more concerned with trying to improve the quality of the superficial bandage services being provided by the State. Plants need water at their roots and not on their leaves.

The crisis of malnutrition is there among all the poor and Madhya Pradesh is the state with the most number of hungry people in India. However, the children owing to their lower immunity are more prone to die than their elders are.

The truth is that devastation of livelihoods in Madhya Pradesh has taken place due to the adoption of wrong agricultural policies over the past 40 years or so.

The introduction of the cultivation of soyabean in the monsoon season has led to the gradual vanishing of such nutritious crops as jowar, bajra, makka, udad, tuar, moong and groundnut.

Simultaneously, in the winter season only wheat is sown and the area under gram has been going down. Thus while earlier the poor small farmers used to get nutritious food from their farms they now have to purchase food from the market at exorbitant prices.

Moreover, while agriculture was a profitable enterprise earlier because of subsidies provided for power and fertilizer now it has become a loss-making proposition due to the withdrawal of subsidies.

The problem has been aggravated over time by the fragmentation of land with the increase in population. This has meant that there are now more landless labourers like Chato who get less work and less remuneration and so are in even greater trouble than small landholders.

- Subhadra Khaperde

Climate change workshop at a school in Vilandai, India. Photo: Flickr user 350.org

Navroz K. Dubash is a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, India. He writes about the climate change debate within India.

This article originally appeared in Eye on Earth, Worldwatch Institute’s online news service. It was also posted at Chinadialogue.net, a bilingual website on the environment.

U.S. climate politics loom large on the global stage. The twists and turns of senate deliberations are a favored topic among the world’s “climaterati” – the climate-change policy community. But with India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh recently making his inaugural visit to Washington to meet US president Barack Obama, it is worth recalling that India has complex climate-change politics, too. Moreover, India has been invoked frequently as an obstacle to US climate politics, second only to China, making it vital to explore these dynamics further if we are to get constructive movement on the global stage.

It may be surprising to discover that a variety of stances on climate change exist in India, which make consensus on domestic politics a challenge. For some, the climate negotiations are seen as no more than an economic containment strategy by the west. These “growth-first stonewallers” argue that even if climate change is real, the objective should be to maximize growth, so that India can better handle the impact. Until then, the country should not compromise.

For others, the effort to prioritize environmental sustainability and equity is stronger. These “progressive realists” are growth critics and, although keen to generate action on climate change, they are deeply cynical about the global negotiations. With the belief that these discussions sideline core concerns of equity, they call on India to take aggressive climate measures, but to do so domestically, delinking these from the global process.

Others believe that India should take on ambitious emission reduction measures and throw its weight fully behind a global climate deal. These “progressive internationalists” argue that doing so will help shift the global debate forward and spur matching action in other countries. Since climate impacts will disproportionately affect India’s poor, they suggest that a pro-poor approach is also a pro-climate regime approach.

For advocates of a global climate deal, the good news is that the influence of growth-first stonewallers has waned in India. The bad news, however, is that the center of gravity in India lies firmly with the progressive realists, who shy away from engagement in global climate politics, rather than with progressive internationalists, who seek to embrace it.

Unlocking progressive climate politics in India will build confidence in a far more progressive global, and particularly US, climate politics. Yet we are still far from this point, and three major issues get in the way.

To begin with, industrialized countries signal bad faith by making their commitments toward climate action conditional on similar commitments by developing countries. Americans, for example, should be reducing their emissions because they are responsible for 25% of carbon dioxide emissions released in the past 50 years.

Suggesting responsibility for past emissions carries politically unpalatable overtones of an ecological debt; however, arguing for no responsibility is effectively granting Americans squatter’s rights to the atmosphere. In addition, the 1992 Earth Summit bargain required rich nations to “take the lead” in reducing emissions, but the United States has not done so.

Now, economic competitiveness is being used as a basis to challenge the 1992 compromise itself. Doing so sends a dangerous signal that moral arguments have no role in shaping the climate regime and that national expedience will regularly trump global deals. These are both extremely dangerous signals to send, in climate as in other world affairs. To get more action from India, we need to see more unconditional action from the United States.

Second, Indians fear that there is insufficient understanding of their continued development burden at home. India is growing rapidly, yes, but starting from a very low base. Just under one-third of Indians live on less than US$1 a day, and 77% live on less than $2 a day. Most surprising, less than 1% of Indians (or 10 million people) are middle class by American standards – that is, they consume more than $13 a day. To be sure, within this top 1% there is an emergent and problematic class of oligarchic super-rich, and India has a moral obligation to spread the benefits of growth more equally. But by discounting India’s continued development burden when allocating climate responsibilities, the industrialized world is hiding behind India’s narrow rich class.

Third, India gets insufficient credit for what it already has done and is doing to shift to a low-carbon economy. The country uses less energy per unit of GDP than the United States and half as much as China. Electricity prices for industry and petrol prices in India, when adjusted for purchasing power, are four times US prices, creating incentives for further improvements. India has recently publicized a slew of new measures and is discussing legislation to give teeth to these efforts. Collectively, this amounts to a substantial down payment.

None of this is to suggest that India cannot and should not do more to contribute to a constructive global climate regime. Indeed, as the fourth-largest aggregate emitter of greenhouse gases worldwide, India must be far more creative and visionary about creating a low-carbon future. Because of the vulnerable poor in India and elsewhere, the country must better integrate its domestic actions into a strong global climate regime. Climate negotiators have to be as vigorous about championing emissions equity within India as they are about advocating equity across nations. And it would help its negotiation stance if India better managed the tensions of being simultaneously an aspiring power and a poor society.

But the three irritants described above enable stonewallers and realists to portray any further climate efforts by India as a futile strategy of appeasement. Far from leading, U.S. emissions in 2005 were 16% above their 1990 levels, and the United States continues to signal its intent to displace the climate burden onto societies far more disadvantaged. Progressive internationalists in India and elsewhere have gone as far as they can to move their own societies and polities in favor of progressive climate politics. To move any further, India needs a positive and adequate signal of intent from the United States.

- Navroz K. Dubash

A de-miner near Srinagar, Kashmir. Photo: Flickr user Haumont

Ambassador S. Azmat Hassan is a former Ambassador of Pakistan to Malaysia, Syria and Morocco and Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations. He is currently an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University and is a contributing Worldfocus blogger.

Nonaligned India was perceived by most analysts to be largely in the Soviet camp during the Cold War. But the demise of the Soviet Union prompted India to recalibrate its relationship with the world’s only remaining superpower: the United States.

Another major factor assisting in this realignment was India’s embrace since the early 1990’s of free market reforms, trade liberalization and privatization measures. These changes opened up the vast Indian market to U.S. exporters and foreign investors. While millions of Indians are still desperately poor, around 300 million Indians have joined the middle class. Thus a new and expanding Indian market is opening up for a wide variety of U.S. exports, and U.S. investment in Indian industry and infrastructure has risen appreciably in the last few decades.

As a rising regional power, India is anxious to be recognized as a major player not only in South Asia but on the international stage. The importance of India to the U.S. was highlighted by the choice of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the first foreign dignitary to be accorded the honor of a state visit.

A major impediment retarding India’s quest towards great power status is its perennial dispute with neighboring Pakistan over Kashmir. The two oldest conflicts on the agenda of the UN Security Council from the late 1940’s are the Arab-Israeli and Kashmir conflicts.

Despite a number of diplomatic meetings spread over five decades, India and Pakistan have yet to overcome the hurdle of Kashmir, over which they have fought three wars. For Pakistan, Kashmir remains the unfinished agenda of the 1947 Partition. For secular multicultural India, Kashmir is a symbol of its heterogeneity.

President Obama has publicly stated that the U.S. would help India and Pakistan to normalize their relations,  including the dispute over Kashmir. The U.S. can help both countries. If the U.S. can persuade India to withdraw some of its forces on its border with Pakistan, this gesture would enable the latter to commit more of its troops now facing India to its lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

While the Pakistan army has achieved encouraging gains against the Pakistani Taliban in Swat and South Waziristan, its counterinsurgency efforts need to achieve more success. Once the tribal areas are pacified, they will no longer afford a sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda elements that cross the mountainous and porous Pakistan-Afghanistan border at will, to attack U.S. and NATO troops fighting the Taliban insurgents.

So it is patently in the U.S. interest to invest more diplomatic capital in New Delhi and Islamabad. India and Pakistan have both suffered from violent extremism. They continue to be plagued by domestic insurgencies. Whether they admit it or not, they have a shared interest in combating the ravages of terrorism in their territories.

As the U.S. footprint in both Pakistan and India assumes greater depth, hopefully the U.S. will nudge both countries to consistently focus on a resolution of the Kashmir imbroglio. A mutually acceptable settlement of this issue should be placed on the same pedestal as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in U.S. calculations.

- S. Azmat Hassan

Below are four different maps showing global emissions totals. All data graphics are by Stephen Rountree.

Current Emissions (millions of tons): Rapidly-growing China has surpassed the U.S. as the world’s top contributor of greenhouse gases. Manufacturers in the U.S. are pressuring Congress not to commit to emissions cuts — thus forestalling higher energy costs in the future.

Per Capita Emissions (tons per person): Compared to industrialized countries, less developed nations contribute relatively little to global emissions. But some developing countries such as India, with the world’s second highest population and rapid economic growth, could see sharp per-person emissions increases.

Cumulative Emissions (millions of tons): Using totals from the mid-19th century up to the present day, the U.S. and E.U. far surpass other countries in their historical contribution to global warming. The original 1992 UN climate change convention in Rio de Janeiro, which paved the way for the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, called for developed nations to take the lead in cutting emissions.

Emissions Intensity (tons per million dollars of GDP): In many developed countries, increased energy efficiency has resulted in a reduction of greenhouse gas intensity (emissions per unit of gross domestic product). China is pledging to cut its energy intensity but will need to take even more drastic action to prevent disproportionate contributions to future global warming.

- Ben Piven

Last year, Daljit Dhaliwal visited Bhopal while reporting in India. She toured the site of the tragedy and saw how the people of the area still live with the aftermath.

In this extended interview, Lalit Shastri, a journalist for The Hindu newspaper, describes how he arrived in Bhopal the night before the accident to take an accounting exam.  What he saw changed his life — he went on to become a journalist and an author who writes frequently about the tragedy.

Watch a Sights & Sounds video of the devastation that remains in Bhopal.

Worldfocus spoke with Sood about her experiences producing the videos.

Worldfocus: Why did you select the taxi as the venue for your reporting?

Vandana Sood: Taxis are a space where interesting interactions take place. Where else can you have a conversation between a driver and a diamond merchant, an IT professional and a washer man? The public yet contained environment of the taxi acts as a meeting ground for people from a diverse cross-section of society.

Taxi drivers represent the working class — the Indian common man, aam aadmi. On the other hand, passengers usually belong to more educated higher socioeconomic groups.

In India, the fault lines based on caste, class, education and creed run deep. Hence it is important to find spaces where it is possible to have a dialogue that overcomes such divisions — especially when the discussion is about terrorism, which does not discriminate amongst its victims and affects humanity universally.

Worldfocus: What has changed in Mumbai in the year since the terrorists attacks?

Vandana Sood: Mumbai is as resilient a city as ever, having faced decades of communal violence and bomb blasts. In a sense, not much has changed in this urban space where people have no alternative but to enter the same train station where armed terrorists opened fire indiscriminately last year. For most people, the attacks (known as 26/11) is ingrained in their psyches. But Mumbai is still in flux — as vibrant and chaotic as before.

In Mumbai, there was an initial burst of activism, which appears to have made way for a more cynical attitude, which is unfortunate. At the same time, there are fewer war cries heard after the initial calls for revenge against Pakistan.

The slow judicial proceedings for Ajmal Kasab, the lone captured terrorist, have led to complaints about the government’s lethargy and corruption. Most people hope that the Indian government has amended its security lapses and will be more prepared next time. The question is: can another 26/11 really be avoided?

Worldfocus: What did you see in the future for the Mumbai megalopolis?

Vandana Sood: The hard truth is that we will be hit again. The subcontinent has become a hotbed for several players like the Taliban, creating serious instability in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Indian government cannot deal with this matter in isolation but requires the cooperation of world leaders in formulating policies that do not have vested interests. As the financial center of a rising Asian power, Mumbai will have a shaky future in the world economy if these problems are not confronted.

- Ben Piven

Pandya analyzes Manmohan Singh’s visit, in light of the fact that this is the first state visit by a foreign leader during Obama’s presidency. Pandya also addresses why many Indians view the U.S. president with suspicion and why India is skeptical about the growing U.S.-China relationship.

CHINA: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with US President Barack Obama in Beijing, where they discussed a range of issues of common concern to both countries. China made few concessions to the U.S.

INDIA: Ahead of India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington, the U.S. is asking Pakistan to take actions against the groups allegedly responsible for the Mumbai attacks.

SOUTH KOREA: Legislators of South Korea’s National Assembly were in favor of the government’s latest decision to dispatch military forces to protect civilian aid workers in Afghanistan.

SOMALIA: Late Tuesday a woman accused of committing adultery was stoned to death in Somalia. A judge working for the militant group Al-Shabaab said the women had given birth to a stillborn baby. Her boyfriend was given 100 lashes.

Pirates on Wednesday attacked the US flagged ship Maersk Alabama for the second time. Just seven months ago the ship was attacked and the captain taken hostage, though he was eventually rescued. This time the ship was able to repel the attack.

ITALY: The UN Food and Agriculture Summit ended Wednesday with little progress in the way of a new strategy to combat hunger, as aid agency Oxfam said the effort offered little more than “crumbs” to the one in six people who do not have enough to eat.

GERMANY: Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that German troops would stay in Afghanistan for another year, though she would not commit additional troops to the region.

UK: Queen Elizabeth II laid out new plans for financial regulation in her speech at the opening of Parliament on Wednesday.

LATIN AMERICA: Analysts say that the number of people per household in Latin America will drop by 18% in 2020.

EL SALVADOR: The government in El Salvador estimates $880 million worth of damage due to flooding and mudslides in the country in early November.

MEXICO: Experts in Mexico say that the epidemic of obesity in children could reduce life expectancy rates in the country.

IRAQ: Preparation for Iraq’s January general elections are on hold because Iraq’s Sunni Arab vice president vetoed part of an election law.

ISRAEL: The United States, in an unusually strong criticism of Israel, voiced dismay at the approval of new Jewish housing in annexed east Jerusalem.

A charity linked to the militant Hamas group offered $1.4 million dollars for anyone who takes an Israeli soldier hostage.

UAE, DUBAI: American talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey apologized to her followers for an episode of her show featuring women from around the world in which a guest from Dubai gave false information about life in Dubai.

PALESTINE: Israeli bulldozers demolished a two-family Palestinian home in the town of Al-Isawiya in occupied East Jerusalem today, the second home demolition in two days.

Martin Savidge hosts David Rayside and Rachel Tiven on LGBT politics and gay asylum. We begin the conversation with Jamaica, which makes up 17 of the 55 U.S. asylum cases won by Immigration Equality last year alone. We examine the metastasizing colonial and slave culture, entrenched poverty and rampant violence in Jamaica.

In 1994, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno expanded asylum law to include persecution based on sexual orientation. Sexual orientation has been increasingly used as grounds for asylum. We also discuss how to begin the process of applying for gay asylum in the U.S.

From human rights abuses to political progress, the gay rights movement is at different stages throughout the world. We take a comparative look at the progress of LGBT politics and the gay rights movement in different countries, including the best and worst places to be gay.

A Greek gay rights parade. Photo: Megan Thompson

• Read about one gay Jamaican’s story of asylum: Gay men in Jamaica must lead two separate lives
• Watch signature videos from Jamaica: Violence and venom force gay Jamaicans to hide and Gays in Jamaica worship in underground church
• Watch our signature video from Greece: Ancient Greek values clash with modern treatment of gays

GUESTS:

David Rayside is a political science professor at the University of Toronto. His latest book “Queer Inclusions, Continental Divisions” is a comparative analysis of Canadian and  American political recognition of same-sex relationships, the extension of parenting rights to same-sex couples and the response to sexual diversity in public schooling. For over thirty years, he has also been an activist on issues related to sexual diversity and gender within academic institutions and beyond.

Rachel B. Tiven is the executive director of Immigration Equality, a national organization fighting for equal immigration rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive community. Under her leadership, Immigration Equality has doubled in size, quadrupled client services and opened a policy office in Washington, D.C.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti and Ben Piven
Researcher: Geneva Sands-Sadowitz

For more information on homophobia and HIV in Jamaica, visit The Glass Closet, a multimedia project produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.