News Wrap
AGD
Alandmark 2010 law mandates that all Indian children,
between the ages of 6 and 14, be in school. Even then about 28 million children in India, are working instead in shops, kitchens, farms, factories, construction sites and in mines. While there are good laws, implementation is never achieved because of poverty, corruption, decrepit schools and absentee teachers. The Indian Mines Act (1952) prohibits anyone younger than 18 from working in coal mines. About 70,000 children are working in about 5000 mines in Meghalaya. The mines have no ventilation, and only one entrance. They follow no mining rules. The local tribal population largely shuns the jobs, so children and other labourers are brought in from Nepal and Bangladesh, through informal trafficking network. Mine operators charge huge premiums to deliver drinking water, food and other staples to mining camps, set up with tarpaulins and sticks. Many child labourers are unable to send money home, or earn enough to leave. In a sense they are virtually working as bonded labourers.
Electricity in Delhi
The average power consumption in Delhi is, at present, 3500 mw, of which only 1000 mw is produced in Delhi. This summer power demand in the national capital has touched 6500mw, from last year’s 5600 mw. The Delhi administration has been purchasing power from various generating units. Delhi government’s Bawana plant has failed to produce electricity, due to unavailability of gas. Even though the plant was scheduled to be fully functional two years ago, the 1500 mw unit is just managing to generate 200 mw, which gets interrupted due to short supply of gas. The increasing prices of national gas has led to the shortage. Electricity is being procured from the centre and other states, to meet requirements. Currently the Bawana plant is obtaining 1564 cubic metres of gas from state owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Reliance India Ltd is charging higher prices. If utilized to its full capacity, the Bawana plant could have provided one-fourth of the total electricity requirement of New Delhi.
Maoist Bullets
Between 13-14 March 2013, Jharkhand Maoists had ‘‘trapped’’ about 250 policemen, consisting of state police, Jaguar armed police, and COBRA personnel, for over 24 hours, engaging them from below. The Maoists prevented 1000 other policemen to join the rescue mission, until a team led by the Director General, Police finally rescued the encircled policemen. Hill number 974 is the battlefield hill, between Sibil and Saksari villages of Dhainpur block, Gumla. The Maoists unwillingly forfeited a locational advantage, and descended the hill shortly before police reinforcements arrived. Police had earlier received information that Maoist leader Arvindji, alleged master mind of January 2013 Latehar attack, was camping in the Sibil forests. The naxals fired regularly, and had also laid pressure bombs and landmines along the way. Villagers alarmed by gunshot took shelter in a school. Even though no bodies have been recovered, police estimate that activists of the People’s Liberation (4) Guerilla Army suffered at least 13 casualties. The PLGA encirclement of the police for over thirty hours, had destroyed security co-ordination and supplies. Emboldened by the hill top achievement, the Maoists surrounded a police vehicle, and opened fire, killing five cops at Chainpur’s crowded Thursday market, on 4 April 2013. An explosion, triggered by the Maoists on 6 April 2013, damaged the block headquarters. During a Bihar-Jharkhand bandh called by the Maoists on 6-7 April 2013, Chainpur thana was locked with a pair of handcuffs. The hill encounter is reminiscent of Tadmetla in April 2010, when Maoists fired from a hilltop killing 76 policemen in three hours.
North Korean Threat
North Korea, for the last four months, has been on a verbal offensive against South Korea and the United States. It has recently deployed a medium range missile, with potential to strike the American islands of Guam and Hawai. Any test firing will increase tensions. The weapon, identified by Seoul news agencies as a Masudan missile, has a range of up to 4023 km, which means it has the potential to strike targets in South Korea and all of Japan. Even though tensions are running high on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea has not mobilized forces nor made serious war preparations. But North Korea is pursuing the challenges of miniaturising a nuclear war head and connecting it to a multistage missile. USA has deployed missile interceptors to the island of Guam, to strengthen defence capabilities for American citizens in the US territory of Guam and US forces stationed there. To mark North Korea’s 65th anniversary, a dummy version of the Musudan, also known as the BM25, was first displayed at a military parade in Pyongyang in 2010.
Rivers Disappear in China
The national cost of development excesses have led to the disappearance of about 28,000 rivers in China. Only 22,909 rivers, covering an area of 100 sq km were located by surveyors, compared with the more than 50,000 present in the 1990s. China is one of the 13 countries most affected by water scarcity, as industrial toxins have poisoned historic water sources. In 2012, the Yangtze was converted to an alarming shade of Red. More than 2800 pigs were dumped by farmers into the Huangpu River, which runs through the heart of Shanghai, in March 2013. Shanghai Waterworks, which manages top water in Shanghai, maintain that the water still met drinking standards. There was a 39-ton chemical spill on 31 Dec 2012, from a fertilizer factory in Shanxi Province, affecting two provinces downstream. 1000 dead ducks were found dumped in the last week of March 2013, in the Nanhe River of Sichuan Province. Large hydro-electric projects, such as the Three Gorges Dam, diverted gallons of water to drier regions.
Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 44, May 12-18, 2013
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