India Bans Child Labor

Byoliveridley

About frigging time. It’s scary when I was growing up to be “helped” by kids younger than me, I remember feeling lucky to be on the receiving side. Wonder if implementationitis will hit this as well (who will enforce? will they selectively enforce? Will this be just another extortion excuse? Will people complain if they see any child labor in their local tea shop? What will poor parents make their kids do to earn extra income for the family?)
BBC NEWS | South Asia | India bans child domestic labour

The order, which applies to children under 14, will come into effect in October, officials say.It also bans children from teashops, restaurants, hotels, motels, resorts, spas or other recreational centres.

There are estimated to be more than 12.6 million child workers in India, many of whom work as domestic helps or in small roadside restaurants.

The committee, while recommending the ban, warned that children under 14 were vulnerable to physical, mental and even sexual abuse. Mr Srivastava said that anyone found violating the ban would be penalised under the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act of 1986. Punishment range from a fine to imprisonment.

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    Byoliveridley

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    Big news out of India in the last few days. Tehelka has posted plenty of video of what they say are the results of a six month operation investigating the Gujarat riots of 2002, in which an estimated 2000 people, mostly Muslims were killed. The state government led by Narendra Modi of the BJP looked the other way for the most part and was accused of inciting, even planning the violence.

    These videos are hidden camera interviews with people in the VIshwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang Dal and various other Hindu fundamentalist and extremist groups that do they BJP’s dirty work. They tell the story that the government had more than a passive hand in the riots. Not that this was not obvious to anyone with even a little bit of familiarity with goings on in Gujarat, but it is good to have all this information catalogued on YouTube in all its gory detail.

    Pass the Roti has more on this story…

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    South Asians: Watch your Heart

    Byoliveridley

    Seems like us South Asians die earlier from heart attacks.

    ScienceDaily: South Asians Have Higher Levels Of Heart Attack Risk Factors At Younger Ages

    Deaths related to cardiovascular disease occur 5 to 10 years earlier in South Asian countries than in Western countries, according to background information in the article. This has raised the possibility that South Asians exhibit a special susceptibility for acute myocardial infarction (AMI; heart attack) that is not explained by traditional risk factors.

    But why?

    The prevalence of protective risk factors (leisure time physical activity, regular alcohol intake, and daily intake of fruits and vegetables) were markedly lower in South Asian study participants compared with those from other countries.

    Um, it is mainly behavioral, not genetic according to the authors, and hence can be mitigated by lifestyle changes.

    Well, I guess it is time to take a personal stock as of 1-18-2007:

    • Weight – Well, I am in the lower end of the healthy BMI.
    • Exercise – 4-5 days of 45 minutes – 1 hour per day, pretty good.
    • Food – Well, mostly good, especially if the candy can be avoided. I need to eat more vegetables, but I eat a lot of high fibre, and whole wheat food, probably not enough protein, mostly vegetarian.
    • Alcohol (1-2 drinks is apparently a heart protector) – Amen, I am a religious one drink a day partaker, more on weekends :-;
    • Smoking – Well, gave that up a while back, now to quit that occasional “party” smoke.
    • Stress – Well, not so good, this is probably the area I would need to work on the most.
    • Hypertension – Well, I am borderline on my blood pressure readings 🙁 Need to work on that.
    • Cholesterol – Still waiting for results on my physical.

    On the whole, I seem to be in decent shape. It’s good to take stock once in a while.

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    The NY TImes on India’s Water Issues

    Byoliveridley

    The New York Times starts a three part series on water issues in India.
    In Teeming India, Water Crisis Means Dry Pipes and Foul Sludge – New York Times

    The crisis, decades in the making, has grown as fast as India in recent years. A soaring population, the warp-speed sprawl of cities, and a vast and thirsty farm belt have all put new strains on a feeble, ill-kept public water and sanitation network. The combination has left water all too scarce in some places, contaminated in others and in cursed surfeit for millions who are flooded each year. Today the problems threaten India’s ability to fortify its sagging farms, sustain its economic growth and make its cities healthy and habitable. At stake is not only India’s economic ambition but its very image as the world’s largest democracy.

    This has not changed since I was a kid, we had the exact same problems growing up, and it is not likely to get any better real soon. Depressing to read first thing in the morning.

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    Half of India's children are malnourished – Yahoo! News

    Byoliveridley

    Half of India’s children are malnourished – Yahoo! News

    With about 46 percent of children underweight — a negligible improvement over the last survey, conducted in 1998-99 — India is in the same league as nations like Burkina Faso and Cambodia. In China, Asia’s other rising economic power and the country India so often compares itself with, only 8 percent of children are underweight.

    The improved infant mortality rate — down to 57 per 100,000 births from 68 in 1998-99 — remains dramatically higher than that seen in Western nations, such the Netherlands, where it is 4.

    In every category where a comparison between the health of people in the countryside and cities was offered, those in rural areas lagged far behind. The rural infant mortality rate, for example, was 62 per 100,000, compared to 42 the in urban areas.

    Such statistics show India “should be worried,” said Werner Schultink of UNICEF. “It’s going to be difficult for India if wants to use its human resources to develop the nation but does not make improvements.”

    I don’t really know what to say, it is depressing, and points to the enormous amount of basic nuts and bolts infrastructure work that needs to be done in India. Back to themes from yesterday’s sewer post, it is basic government work, not sexy, not exciting, not flashy, just plodding mundane get it right kind of infrastructure building. It HAS to be done, there’s no sense in pointing to fancy malls in Bangalore or a super wonderful space program. One day, when I have time, I will convert all these percentages to numbers, percentages are good for comparing data, but to get a true sense of the magnitude, I think numbers are necessary. Quick calculation,the 2001 Indian Census says there were 350 million children (15 years old or less) in 2001, well, that makes 170 million starving (okay, “underweight”) children, it’s a happy place, ain’t it?

  • India makes commercial satellite launch

    Byoliveridley

    The Hindu : Front Page : PSLV makes commercial launch

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    The PSLV also carried an ISRO payload, Advanced Avionics Module (AAM), to establish the next generation computers, navigation, guidance, control and telemetry systems that will be used in future launch vehicles. It weighed 185 kg.

    ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair called the mission “a 100 per cent success” and “a remarkable achievement.”

    He said: “We have made a good entry into the launch business. I hope we will get more and more business opportunities in future. The contract [to launch the Italian satellite] came at a time when there was a complex, competitive environment.”

    Indian space research has always been way ahead of just about any other field, a good indication of the research priorities set in the 1970s. The take home message is that if India throws money and attention at a problem, it does seem to have some success. Now if they can only fix this…
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