Brief, fascinating article @ TCS about India’s Woe Over H2O

Water is rarely a political topic in rich countries, and in most developing ones it only reaches the national media when its delivery becomes a problem. But India is something of an exception. It has both serious water problems and politicians that are routinely fired for not delivering voters this most precious substance. India desperately needs water reform, and especially privatization, but even the current Indian government — the most free-market oriented realistically imaginable — is unlikely to try to tackle hydro-politics.

There are two most remarkable statistics about Indian water: over one million children die from water-borne diseases every year and illegal water trading realizes over $1 billion in value. What is perhaps not surprising is that these two issues are inter-related. Few Indians (perhaps 30%) have access to decent sanitation and high quality drinking water. Not only does this expose the majority to dangerous dysenteries and other water-borne disease, but it provides back-breaking toil for those (usually women and children) who have to collect it every day. The indirect costs are even more staggering with salinity levels rising in so much irrigation water that crops fail, farmers commit suicide (over 500 year this so far) and thousands of the poorest starve.

Sometimes you can’t take even the tiniest things for granted…

As a bit of an econo-geek, this passage rang very true –

Indians are proud to be part of the world’s largest democracy, but given the elitism in their society they are also part of the world’s largest rent-seeking, politically manipulative and bureaucratically stifling society the world has ever seen.

quick, think back to when you were small and misbehaving in public…how did your parents react? don’t even try to front like they reprimanded you in english– you know they busted out with the mother tongue for one brutal yet discreet verbal smackdown. that is one small privilege of being “different” in this western world; you may snark about others and they’ll be none the wiser, since the odds of someone understanding your native tongue are totally in your favor.

well, say you’re one of the 308 members of the Canadian House of Commons, and you want to vent about some MP who’s REALLY getting on your last Canadian nerve, but you want to preserve your chances for re-election. have no fear! curse them out in PUNJABI! those damned sons-of-owls!

TEN South Asian Canadians have won recent parliamentary elections, and of that number, eight speak Punjabi, making it the fourth most popular language that is spoken by MPs. basically, this article details how MPs speak english (no, really?), french (ditto), italian (no witty parenthetical remark for this one) and now Punjabi (kiddan?). i think i was just excited that our neighbors to the north are cool enough to have brown legislators in the DOUBLE-DIGITS. now if you’ll excuse me, i’m going to go make a jack-ass out of myself to some Malkit Singh while i fantasize about ONE brown person in congress. oh balle balle!

via Livin’ Simply Continue reading →

Well okay, my title was purposely provocative but I am not too far off the mark. Late today the NY Times reported:

The federal government is offering $1 billion to hospitals that provide emergency care to undocumented immigrants. But to get the money, hospitals would have to ask patients about their immigration status, a prospect that alarms hospitals and advocates for immigrants.

Well of course it alarms hospitals. They know what a dumb idea this is (disclaimer: I am a liberal). Immigrants aren’t going to seek the medical help they might need knowing that Uncle Sam will be there checking their passports. In post 9/11 times, when an illegal immigrant with a brown name can get held, seemingly indefinitely, under material witness statutes, why would they risk going to the hospital? Continuing with the article:

The Department of Health and Human Services wants hospitals seeking reimbursement to ask patients these questions, among others:
-“Are you a United States citizen?”
-“Are you a lawful permanent resident, an alien with a valid current employment authorization card or other qualified alien?”
-“Are you in the United States on a nonimmigrant visa” of the type issued to students, tourists and business travelers?
-“Are you a foreign citizen who has been admitted to the United States with a 72-hour border crossing card?”

Lawyers are already pointing to the 1964 Civil Rights Act in calling this a bad idea. You should read the other silly details in the article for yourself.

FYI – some of you may be interested in comments I left over @ Seshu’s Tiffinbox blog re: Outsourcing & Capitalism. The comments are perhaps a tad overly political vs. the type of stuff I’d generally post here but I thought it may be of interest nonetheless –

FIRST – India’s GNP = $3Trillion

Total Outsourcing market in ’03 = $1.3Billion.

So, outsourcing = 0.04% of India total GNP. A drop in the bucket. By comparison, India’s other exports (farm products, textiles, etc.) = $57Billion

SECOND – there’s a different theme in your post which I consider one of the most significant, and yet unseen political divides – are the Rules of Capitalism Natural or Arbitrary…

Last month during the Democratic National Convention in Boston I was desperately hoping to get an invite as a blogger. I knew that wasn’t going to happen however, and I was overheard several times muttering, “Who do I need to sleep with to get a floor pass?”

That’s why I was shocked when I learned that nineteen-year old Tanisha Sandhu of El Sobrante, California was actually at the convention as a delegate. Its not a trivial thing to be a delegate. Those spots are usually reserved for the party faithful (i.e. biggest fund-raisers and local politicians). As a delegate at 19 she may have a bright future ahead of her.

This past weekend seventeen-year-old Ranjit “Ricky” Gill of Morada, California spoke at the California State GOP Convention.

He is a top student at his high school, where he helps classmates in math. The aspiring doctor also volunteers at Lodi Memorial Hospital. He’s served on the Greater Lodi Area Youth Commission, and last month, he was named by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the only student representative on the state Board of Education.

Now there seems to be a push, to put him on the stage in NY at the National Convention.