News Wrap
AGD

Chabahar port in Iran, is 76 km from Pakistan’s Gwador port. As an alternative route that bypassed Pakistan, India assisted in building Chabahar port in the 1990s. In Feb 2013, Pakistan announced that China would be operating Gwador port, allowing sustained anchorage to the Chinese, on the edge of the Arabian Sea, close to the straits of Hormuz, through which passes the bulk of the world’s oil and gas supply. India is investing $100 million in Iran’s Chbahar port, to protect its own interests in the region. Chabahar port is at the confluence of the Indian Ocean and the Oman Sea, permitting India to side-step a hostile Pakistan, and enjoy direct access to Afghanistan. India used Chabahar to ship 1,00,000 tons of wheat and food aid to Afghanistan in April 2012. Minerals can be imported by India from Afghanistan’s Hajigok Iron Mines, in which it has a large stake, via Chabahar. Currently, Pakistan does not allow India land transit rights to Afghanistan. Chabahar, India’s new port of call has, strategic value for India.

Posco steel Plant
India’s Supreme Court has asked the Union Government of India to take a decision on South Korea’s Posco’s planned $12 million steel project at the Kandahar Iron Ore Mines in Sundergarh district of Odisha. Issues of compliance with the Forest Rights Act and the environment impact of mining activity could become hurdles for the company. Already protests by aggrieved Dalit families of Gobindpur and activists of POSCO Paratirodha Sangram Samity (PPSS) have hit trench cutting work, being undertaken at the POSCO project site, for construction of boundary walls. Irate women and children, under the PPSS banner have filled up the 100-metre trench with sand. The Odisha state administration has demolished old betel vines of nearly 22 Dalit families, in the name of new betel vines, but nothing has been given towards compensation. An additional 160 acres of land at Gobindpur has been acquired, placing Patana and Dhinkia villages, within the POSCO project area. The excess land is reportedly for the township.

Shortages in Manipur
Oil tankers transport oil and LPG gas to Manipur, via National Highway No 39, passing through Nagaland. Naga groups demand Rs 10,000 per trip from all oil tankers. The all-Manipur Petroleum Tankers’ and Drivers’ Union frequently go on wild cat strikes in protest. There is an indefinite bandh called by Zeliangrong organizations, demanding the release of a 16-year-old school girl, Alice Komei, who is said to have joined the proscribed valley based Revolutionary People’s Front on her own. Petrol is sold in the black market. With the oil shortage, Manipur state holds petroleum stocks for barely ten days.

Also, there is an acute shortage of potable drinking water in Manipur. Piped water is supplied once a week. People are forced to purchase drinking water from private water carriers, who sell 1000 litres of water, for prices between Rs 250-300. Inhabitants of the Langthabal area have stopped private water carriers from collection of water, from the Canchipur water treatment plant, located inside the Manipur University campus.

Electricity power is supplied for less than six hours a day, viz 9 to 11 am, 3 to 5 pm and 10 to 12 pm. Non payment of bills by consumers on time, contributes to the erratic power supply.

Engagement with Afghanistan
The Afghan government has a combative relationship with the international community. But most people in Afghanistan strongly support international engagement, and approve the presence of troops from NATO countries. The country has a population of 35.3 million, where the median age is 17, and 60% of the people are under age 20. Over eight million children are enrolled in schools, of which 2.6 million are girls. In 2001, the nation’s schools had only 900,000 boys and practically no girls. The literacy rate is currently 33%, and is expected to rise to 60% by 2025, and to 90% by 2040. Improved access to health care has increased life expectancy from 40-odd years to beyond 60. There were just 450 health facilities in 2003, including hospitals ; whereas, now there are more than 1800. The infant mortality rate has fallen by half, and in now down to 97 deaths per 1000 live births.

The largely rural population has rapidly urbanized. Kabul, the capital, is the fifth fastest growing city in the world. In 1990, Kabul had 1.2 million people; by 2025 it is projected to reach seven million. Women’s participation in the workforce, as well as increasing number of girls receiving education, have greatly benefited from the new urban-rural ratio of 50-50. A more universal Afghan identity is being embraced, as city dwellers discard tribal and sectarian links. Access to electricity has nearly tripled to 18% over the past decade. There were only about 32 miles of paved roads in the entire country, in 2002. International donors have contributed to well over 7450 miles of roads today, joining cities. New international airports in Kabul, Kandahar and Herat; and airlines such as Safi, fly Afghans across the world, with seven flights to Dubai alone. From $2 billion in 2001, the Afghan economy has grown to $20 billion today. In 2001, Afghanistan had only 10,000 fixed telephone lines, and no other electronic media. Today, two-thirds of the population, about 20 million people, use mobile phones. 60% regularly watch television, and 95% listen to the radio. News programmes help keep Afghan government institutions and politicians accountable to public opinion. Afghanistan is preparing for its third complete cycle of presidential and parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2015. Corruption and insurgency, financed and orchestrated by meddling regional players, refuse to leave Afghanistan.

Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 49, June 16 -22, 2013

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