Sunday, December 26, 2010

Stop Asbestos Cement Plants in Bihar

To

Shri Sushil Kumar Modi
Deputy Chief Minister
Department of Environment & Forests
Government of Bihar
Patna

Subject-Stop Asbestos Cement Plants in Bihar

Sir,

This is to draw your urgent attention towards the proposed asbestos cement roofing sheet factory in Chainpur, Muzaffarpur which is facing massive and unprecedented opposition by the villagers since July 2010. It has come to light that similar plants have been proposed by Chennai based Ramco Industries Limited in Bihiya, Bhojpur and Kolkata based Utkal Asbetsos Industries, in Panapur, Vaishali.

I wish to inform you that The White Asbestos (Ban on Use and Import) Bill, 2009 is pending in the Rajya Sabha. Some 52 countries have already banned it. There is a compelling logic to initiate the process of banning asbestos manufacturing, trade and use in Bihar as well.

It is estimated that "currently about 125 million people in the world are exposed to asbestos at the workplace. According to WHO estimates, more than 107,000 people die each year from asbestos-related lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis resulting from occupational exposures. One in every three deaths from occupational cancer is estimated to be caused by asbestos. In addition, it is estimated that several thousands of deaths can be attributed annually to exposure to asbestos in the living environment." There is a list of documents reflecting WHO's assessment of the risks of the different forms of asbestos and WHOs' technical directions and recommendations for the elimination of asbestos-related diseases. Please find attached a scientifically referenced fact sheet on elimination of asbestos prepared by WHO. 

When the world is preparing and planning to get rid of all forms of asbestos, it makes us look stupid in Bihar, India to be still importing it, we should devote our scarce resources to prevent the impending public health disaster by phasing out this killer fiber as soon as we can.

Safer substitute materials for white asbestos are available, they should be considered for use. White (chrysotile) asbestos, which represents 100% of the global asbestos trade is not yet completely banned in India but all the relevant UN agencies have called for its immediate elimination because its safe and controlled use is impossible. 

The United Nations (UN) document, Environmental Health Criteria 203 for Chrysotile Asbestos concludes, “Exposure to chrysotile asbestos poses increased risks for asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma in a dose-dependent manner. No threshold has been identified for carcinogenic risks.” This criterion has been created by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), ILO and WHO.

Strangely, India has banned mining of asbestos which used to be done in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand by banning non-renewal of pre-existing leases including chrysotile asbestos mines due to health hazards from its lethal fibers but allows countries like Canada to dump their asbestos in India. Asbestos waste trade is also banned in India. Besides White Asbestos, all the other forms of asbestos such as Blue Asbestos, Brown Asbestos are banned in India. But Chrysotile (white) asbestos is yet to be banned despite incontrovertible evidence against it.

Asbestos is a mineral fiber that has been used commonly in a variety of building construction materials for insulation and as a fire-retardant. Either through wind erosion or through normal wear and tear, when asbestos-containing materials are damaged or disturbed by repair, remodeling or demolition activities, microscopic fibers become airborne and can be inhaled into the lungs, it leads to significant incurable health problems. It became a popular building material since the 1940 because its a health hazards were suppressed by the asbestos industry.

Asbestos exposure leads to diseases like mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, asbestosis, pleural thickening. Mesothelioma is a cancer which affects the lining of the lungs (pleura) and the lining surrounding the lower digestive tract (peritoneum). It is almost exclusively related to asbestos exposure and by the time it is diagnosed, it is almost always fatal.

Asbestos-related lung cancer is the same as (looks the same as) lung cancer caused by smoking and other causes. It is estimated that there is around one lung cancer for every mesothelioma death.
Asbestosis is a serious scarring condition of the lung that normally occurs after heavy exposure to asbestos over many years. This condition can cause progressive shortness of breath, and in severe cases can be fatal.

Pleural thickening is generally a problem that happens after heavy asbestos exposure. The lining of the lung (pleura) thickens and swells. If this gets worse, the lung itself can be squeezed, and can cause shortness of breath and discomfort in the chest.

According to UK Government’s Health & Safety Executive, “Asbestos is a hidden killer that can cause four serious diseases. These diseases will not affect you immediately; they often take a long time to develop, but once diagnosed, it is often too late to do anything.” Not surprisingly, European countries were the first to ban the mining, manufacturing, trade and use of this killer fiber.  Asbestos is being promoted freely in our country whereas the developed countries are keeping away from it. Canada which is one of the bigger suppliers of asbestos has decontaminated its parliament (House of Commons) and has adopted a no home use policy.

In view of the above, I wish to seek your urgent intervention in the matter of a serious unprecedented environmental and occupational health crisis with regard to imminent asbestos epidemic in Bihar in general.

Even if one asbestos fibre reaches the right place, it causes irreversible damage - leading to asbestosis, lung cancer or mesothelioma. Earlier on August 18, 2003, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare informed the Parliament that: "…long-term exposure to any type of asbestos can lead to development of asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma."

This was not the first official acknowledgment of the asbestos hazard. Government of India's Office Memorandum NO.6 (6)/94 - Cement, (Sept 1, 1994) of the Ministry of Industry states: "The Department has generally not been recommending any case of Industrial License to any new unit for the creation of fresh capacity of asbestos products in the recent past due to the apprehension that prolonged exposure to asbestos leads to serious health hazards".

It may be noted that in 2006 alone there were more than 1,000 mesothelioma deaths (asbestos related fatal disease) in Japan which along with some 52 countries has banned asbestos. Some 10, 000 people are dying of asbestos related diseases in the US. Indians in general and people of Bihar in particular face and await a similar fate.

These asbestos factories are proposed unmindful of the fact that World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Labour Organisation (ILO) too have called for the elimination of asbestos of all kinds. Delay in stopping asbestos plants in Bihar is a victory for those who do not wish to put health and the environment ahead of commercial interests.

Although the Supreme Court of India has ruled that the Government of India must comply with ILO resolutions, so far the ILO resolution (June 14, 2006) stating "the elimination of the future use of asbestos and the identification and proper management of asbestos currently in place are the most effective means to protect workers from asbestos exposures and to prevent future asbestos-related disease and deaths" has not been acted upon. 

The WHO document says, “Elimination of asbestos-related diseases should take place through the following public health actions: a) recognizing that the most efficient way to eliminate asbestos-related diseases is to stop the use of all types of asbestos; b) replacing asbestos with safer substitutes and developing economic and technological mechanisms to stimulate its replacement; c) taking measures to prevent exposure to asbestos in place and during asbestos removal (abatement), and; d) improving early diagnosis, treatment, social and medical rehabilitation of asbestos-related diseases and establishing registries of people with past and/or current exposures to asbestos.”

I am an environmental health researcher. I have worked with national and international organizations working on environmental and occupational health. I am an applicant in the Supreme Court in the hazardous wastes/shipbreaking case.

It is high time you took note of the possible exposures to the residents, consumers and workers from the Asbestos Plants in Bihar and took immediate remedial measures. The exposure of asbestos fibers defies regulatory control efforts in any country.

I wish to draw your urgent attention to the order of Kerala Human Rights Commission (KHRC) that has ruled that exposing Indians to asbestos is a human rights violation. This paves the way for the eventual complete ban on asbestos and its products. On January 31, 2009, the KHRC ruled that the government should take steps to phase out asbestos roofing from all schools in the state.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has passed an order recommending that the asbestos sheets roofing be replaced with roofing made up of some other material. The Annual Report of NHRC 2003-2004 refers to a Report entitled “Asbestos – Health and Environment – an in-depth Study” submitted by the Institute of Public Health Engineers, India. NHRC is currently examining an application to make our country asbestos free at the earliest. 

As per the survey of U.P. Asbestos Limited, Mohanlalganj,Lucknow and Allied Nippon Pvt Ltd, Gaziabad, (U.P), the lung function impairment was found to be higher in subjects exposed for more than 11 years. This was the result of a Central Pollution Control Board sponsored project entitled "Human risk assessment studies in asbestos industries in India". This has been reported in the (2001-2002) Annual Report of Industrial Toxicological Research Centre, Lucknow. It has also been published in the 139th Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment, Forests, Science and Technology and presented to the parliament on 17th March, 2005.

Given the ubiquitous presence of the fiber, there is no alternative to getting it banned in right earnest. Scientists, doctors, public health researchers, trade unions, activists and civil society groups has been working to persuade the central government and state governments to give up its consistent and continued pro-asbestos industry bias and lack of concern for the asbestos-injured who die one of the most painful deaths imaginable.

World over, public health researchers, civil society groups, trade unions and human rights groups have demanded an immediate ban on all uses of asbestos including an immediate end to the import of chrysotile. They seek measures to identify, compensate and treat the asbestos-injured and regulations to minimize harmful exposures are also being proposed. They demand criminal prosecution of those responsible for asbestos exposures such as factory owners and company directors who knowingly expose unsuspecting people to killer fibers of asbestos.

Although non-asbestos technology certainly exists in India, in fact in some factories the two technologies exist side-by-side, consumers will inevitably opt for the cheaper product: more demand will translate into higher sales which will generate more chrysotile rupees that can be used to obtain political support.

As the quid-pro-quo relationship between Government officials and asbestos businessmen exists outside the media spotlight, journalists and the public remain unaware of the pernicious reasons which motivate the decisions being taken; decisions which will expose current and future generations to the deadly asbestos hazard. Hopefully, the asbestos industry’s blind profit mongering will not succeed in silencing the officials in Bihar. A people’s government will keep public health ahead of commercial interest. The proposed asbestos plants in Bihar are attest case for the same.

The pattern of asbestos disease in Bihar is all set to follow the diseases pattern seen in the developed countries. Concerned with the global and national evidence about the increasing death toll of asbestos workers, trade unions, labour and environmental groups have sought immediate phase out of chrysotile asbestos.

Despite the fact that even the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has given an appropriate judgment against it, upholding France's decision to ban import of asbestos from Canada, successive governments in India have promoted this killer mineral fibre ignoring public health.

Dr S R Kamat, a renowned lung specialist, former head, Respiratory Medicine, KEM Hospital, Mumbai notes that in the 5 surveys done in the country, large number of the subjects showed asbestos lung diseases. All of them showed breathing problem, many had cough, some had sputum, chest pain finger clubbing and chest pain. He notes, "Disability in the cases of asbestos diseases is permanent."

Union Ministry of Labour has concluded that even in controlled conditions asbestos workers continue to suffer and safety gear made no material difference in their condition. It took note of Prevalence of Asbestosis and Related Disorders in an Asbestos Fiber Processing Unit in West Bengal as early as in 1996.

Taking note of the fact that public concern, regulations and liabilities involved have ended the use of asbestos from the developed countries, residents of Bihar wonder, "why is it that the concern of the countries, which have banned asbestos not relevant to India?." Exposing communities to asbestos must be equated to murder and legal provisions must deal with it accordingly.

"Experimental as well as epidemiological studies proved asbestos as carcinogen as well as co-carcinogen. Risk assessment and control of occupational exposure are very poor in developing countries like India," says Dr Qamar Rehman, a renowned toxicologist, former scientist with Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow.

In the light of these findings and developments, in short I seek your immediate intervention to stop the construction of proposed asbestos cement plants in Bihar.

We earnestly request you to direct all the workers and consumers in your state to take immediate steps to ensure that there no more exposures take place from now on.

I submit that Bihar government must consider putting an end to the use of the of all kinds of asbestos products that is being used and encountered daily, because none of the schools, offices, legislatures, courts, hospitals, automobiles, private and public buildings in our state are asbestos free.

Therefore, it is necessary to initiate preventive action in order to protect present and future generations from asbestos fibers, a silent killer which is akin to a time bomb in the lung.

I will be glad to share more relevant information against asbestos of all forms including white asbestos (chrysotile) that is proposed to be used in the plants in Bihar.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Yours faithfully
Gopal Krishna
Convener
Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI)
New Delhi
Mb: 9818089660
E-mail:krishna2777@gmail.com

Cc
Mr Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister, Bihar 
Mr Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of Environment & Forests
Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare
Ms. K. Sujatha Rao, Secretary, Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,
Mr R. K. Srivastava, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Government of India
Ms. Sudha Pillai, Member Secretary, Planning Commission, Government of India  
Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar 
Principal Secretary, Department of Health, Government of Bihar
Prof. Subhash Chandra Singh, Chairman, Bihar State Pollution Control Board
Prof. S. P. Gautam, Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) 
Mr Anand Kishore, District Magistrate, Muzaffarpur 
Mr Sunil Kumar, Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur
Dr (Ms) Safina A N, District Magistrate, Bhojpur 
Mr Anil Kishore Yadav, Superintendent of Police, Bhojpur
Mr Sanjeev Hans, District Magistrate, Vaishali 
Mr Sujit Kumar, Superintendent of Police, Vaishali 

Ban Asbestos Campaign in Bihar



Attack on cops at asbestos factory
Muzaffarpur, Sept. 14: A mob of villagers from Bishunpur, Aima, Chainpur and Marwan attacked policemen and district administration officials on the premises of TMT Saraiya factory at Bishunpur.

The officials had gone to the village to open the factory which was locked by the villagers on September 8.
The villagers had objected to the running of the asbestos factory, as it would adversely affect their health, and had demanded immediate shifting of factory from the village.

Hundreds of agitating farmers and villagers, under Khet Bachao Jivan Bachao Sangharsh Morcha, gathered on the factory premises and chased away the policemen and the district officials.

The morcha is spearheading a crusade against the asbestos factories. Supervisor of TMT Saraiya, Alok Kumar had sought police protection in view of the palpable tension brewing in the region due to the factory.

Subdivisional officer (west), Kundan Kumar said that the policemen had to face the wrath of the villagers and farmers. The supervisor and other employees of the factory managed to flee from the scene when the villagers barged into the premises.

Nagrik Forum, an outfit of intellectuals, also condemned the move of TMT Saraiya to run an asbestos factory, putting lives of rural masses at risk.

The think-tank of the Morcha, led by Sachidanand Sinha, Ram Kishore Prasad, Uday Shankar Singh, B. Prashant, Arun Kumar Singh, Ravindra Kumar Ravi, Shashikant Jha, Nawal Kishore Singh, D. Satyarthi, Ramesh Pankaj and Abhijit held an emergency meeting and sought immediate intervention of chief minister Nitish Kumar to put a blanket ban on the asbestos factory.

They also lodged an FIR against the owners of the factory and accused them of endangering the lives of farmers and villagers of the areas.

They expressed their displeasure over district officials attempt to open the factory.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100915/jsp/bihar/story_12936062.jsp

    Thursday, December 23, 2010

    Akhlaq Ahmed Seeks Resignation from RJD President

    Former minister and parliamentary secretary Akhlaq Ahmed has demanded that Lalu Prasad should step down from the post of National President of Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) owning moral responsibility for party's crushing defeat in the Bihar Vidhan Sabha elections. Lalu had termed the performance of JDU-BJP as "rahasyamaye jeet".

    The two-day meeting of the RJD to review defeat in the Vidhan Sabha elections during 21-22 December was attended by only two party MPs, Lalu and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. Jagdanand Singh and Uma Shankar Singh, MP from RJD were absent. The review meeting was attended by party MLAs and defeated MLAs. Party MLAs said that 18 per cent of Yadav voters were with RJD but the party did not reach beyond the M-Y (Muslim-Yadav) combination.

    Earlier, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, former RJD Union Minister expressed his disappointment with Lalu Prasads’s poll strategy saying, "Rabri Devi, our former Chief Minister, lost from both seats. The Deputy CM candidate of the RJD-LJP coalition also couldn’t win his seat. I think projecting Lalu Prasad as the CM-candidate had negative impact. Voters might have related his candidature with those dark days of the RJD rule. He should not have projected himself as the CM. Arre bhai, you are the party leader. You are the owner of the whole building. Why would you say that I want to occupy a room (CM’s chair)?". He added, "Former MP, Prabhunath Singh, joined our party from JD(U) and proved to be a liability. Lalu Prasad made a gross mistake by putting up a candidate against Putul Singh, wife of the late Digvijay Singh, in the Banka Lok Sabha by-poll. We lost at least 10 to 12 seats because of this decision, as Rajput voters fumed." RJD contested the by-polls for Banka Lok Sabha seat that became vacant after the death of Digvijay Singh and lost. In an interview with Business Standard on November 25, 2010, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said, "Lalu Prasad also made a mistake after the assembly by-poll last year. Nitish Kumar lost miserably but quickly rectified his line of action. We won and got carried away. There was no reason to give so many seats to Ramvilas Paswan."

    Ahmed said that RJD suffered in the elections because Lalu Yadav did not review the outcome of results during the 2005 Vidhan Sabha elections. RJD's organizational structure has become quite weak. Ahmed was denied ticket during the recent elections. Ahmed was Samata Party's national General Secretary in 1997.
    RJD won only 22 seats out of a total of 243 Vidhan Sabha seats. At the review meeting of RJD, the party attributed its defeat to "sharp division" in "secular and social justice" votes and Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) as some of the factors. Other key RJD leaders present included Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Raghunath Jha, Ghulam Gaus, Uday Manjhi, Shakeel Ahmed Khan, Veena Shahi, and Shakuni Chowdhary.

    RJD's state president Ramchandra Purvey cancelled the scheduled meeting with the media. He informed that the party would again meet on January 24, 2010 to ascertain the reason behind RJD's defeat in the assembly polls. Purvey said that from now on 50 percent seats would be reserved for Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs) and Mahadalits in party's organizational structure.

    Wednesday, December 22, 2010

    CPIML on Bihar Elections

    Bihar 2010
    Bihar has delivered a stunning verdict. An outgoing government returning to power with 85% majority is a very rare phenomenon in the history of parliamentary democracy anywhere in the world. That such a thing has happened now in the state of Bihar which has been known for the presence of the widest spectrum of political forces in the legislative arena is indeed quite remarkable.
    In a house of 243, the NDA has increased its tally from 143 to 206, with the BJP accounting for nearly 60% of the increase. Consequently, the entire opposition has been virtually driven out of the Assembly. The RJD’s tally has come down from 54 to 22, and its new-found ally LJP which had independently won 9 seats in the last elections, finds itself reduced to just three seats despite the RJD’s backing. The Congress which fought the elections with the call of forming a Congress-led government finished with a tally of only four seats. And for the first time since 1990, the CPI(ML), the consistent Left opposition in Bihar Assembly, would go completely unrepresented.
    Evidently, the verdict reveals an overwhelming and overarching social shift in favour of Nitish Kumar’s promise of development. Bihar certainly does not want to go back – neither to Lalu Prasad nor to the Congress. What triggered this huge social shift were signs of restoration of ‘law and order’ and hope of some delivery of change and development in a state which seemed to have come to an absolute standstill. And facilitating this shift was the good old formula of caste engineering that invoked and energised all those social identities that felt excluded or suppressed during Lalu Prasad’s once dominant and protracted reign of ‘social justice’.
    The contradictions written into Nitish Kumar’s model of development, and the contrast between the rude reality and the heady rhetoric, are yet to forcefully come to the surface. The CPI(ML) was perhaps the only party to challenge Nitish Kumar on the very question of development. The party’s election campaign focussed boldly on the battle between the two contending concepts and modes of development – the dominant neo-liberal model that reinforces the semi-feudal order and uses ‘development’ only to facilitate and camouflage a relentless exploitation of cheap labour in and away from Bihar versus an alternative democratic model that lends primacy to the basic rights of the toiling people and the agenda of all-round development of productive forces within Bihar. This is surely the emerging battle ahead and the revolutionary Left will have to rebuild itself in the course of this all important battle.
    Media analysts are clearly mesmerised by the scale and sweep of the Nitish Kumar phenomenon. The same people who till recently celebrated the Lalu spectacle as the ultimate show of subaltern politics and rubbished communists for not comprehending the reality of ‘caste’ are now busy preaching ‘development’ as the new mantra of politics. Revolutionary communists fought the ‘magic of social justice’ with the logic of class struggle and the banner of social transformation. They will also challenge the euphoria of Nitish Kumar’s ‘politics of development’ by pressing ahead with the arduous course of class struggle and boldly upholding the banner of people’s rights and democracy. The surge of developmental aspirations of the hard working people of Bihar is real and this has now put Nitish on trial.
    As far as the CPI(ML)’s poll performance is concerned, in February 2005, the CPI(ML) had polled a little over 600,000 votes and won seven seats, its highest tally till date. In November 2005, the party had lost two seats and some 50,000 votes to finish with a tally of five seats and nearly 560,000 votes. In the 2010 elections, the party has lost all its seats even as it polled more than half a million votes. The rise and growth of the Nitish phenomenon has clearly taken a toll and blunted the winning edge of the party even in its strongholds. The party has of course begun exposing and challenging the new regime right on the issue of development and all its emerging trappings in Bihar including rampant loot, emerging authoritarian rule and utter deprivation of the masses. The party will now have to summon all its courage and determination to take this battle deeper and wider.
    In India’s parliamentary history, stunning electoral outcomes and euphoric majorities have often proved to be a prelude to major upsurges of mass struggles. Recall Indira Gandhi’s spectacular rise in 1971, Rajiv Gandhi’s extraordinary majority in 1984, the AIADMK’s clean sweep in Tamil Nadu in 1991 and the sweeping victory of the CPI(M) in West Bengal just the other day in 2006 and we know how quickly majorities can melt into thin air in the heat of mass struggles. The message of the 2010 elections for the revolutionary Left is therefore loud and clear: go deep among the people, resume hard work and prepare for the future. Let us turn the developmental aspirations of the people into a powerful political struggle for real development.
    Bihar Assembly Elections 2010:
    The Overall Outcome and the CPI(ML)'s Performance
    1. The NDA has secured an unprecedented majority winning 206 seats in a house of 243. Within the NDA, the BJP's success rate (91 out of 101, i.e. 90%) is higher than that of the JD(U) (115 out of 142, i.e., 80.98%). The leading opposition bloc got only 25 seats (RJD 22, LJP 3), while the Congress got 4 seats and the CPI 1. The JMM too got 1 seat while independents (most of them pro-BJP) got six seats.
    2. In terms of vote share, the NDA has got a little more than 39% (JDU 22.62%, BJP 16.51%), while the leading opposition RJD-LJP combine got 25.63% (RJD 18.88%, LJP 6.75%), followed by 8.38% of the Congress and 4.19% of the Left (CPI(ML) 1.79%, CPI 1.69% and CPI(M) 0.71%). Parties like the BSP (3.22%), NCP (1.82%), JD(S)(0.79%) and SP (0.55%), though failing to win any seat, accounted for a sizable combined vote share of 6.38%.
    3. Compared to November 2005, the NDA's vote-share improved only by 3% while the RJD's share dropped by nearly 4.61% . This was however sufficient to trigger a landslide win for the ruling NDA and a drastic decline in opposition seats.
    4. The Muslim-majority district of Kishanganj is the only district where the NDA drew a blank. The four seats in the district were claimed by the Congress (2), RJD (1) and LJP (1). Among the remaining 15 victorious Muslim candidates, as many as 8 however belong to the JD(U)-BJP combine. Of the 19 Muslim MLAs, the two leading combines thus account for 8 each (JD(U)-7, BJP-1, RJD-6, LJP-2) while three of the four Congress MLAs are also Muslim.
    5. The RJD-LJP combine could open its account in only 15 out of Bihar's 38 districts, winning 2 or more seats in only 8 districts (Madhubani-3, Patna-3, Darbhanga-2, Samastipur-2, Saran-2, Bhojpur-2, Kaimur-2, Kishanganj-2).
    6. The CPI(ML) had fielded a total of 104 candidates. The Party candidates polled a total of 520,352 votes, finishing second in five places, third in 11 and fourth in 12 places. Of the five seats where we finished second, three were in Siwan (Darauli, Ziradei and Raghunathpur), one in Katihar (Balrampur) and only one in south Bihar (Arwal). In all our other prominent constituencies in south Bihar we finished either third or fourth.
    7. In terms of votes, three candidates polled between 30,000 and 50,000 votes, while another three polled between 20,000 and 30,000. There were 8 candidates in the 10,000-20,000 bracket and another 8 in the 5-10,000 bracket. Among the remaining 82 candidates, 6 candidates polled between 4,000 and 5,000; 10 between 3,000 and 4,000, and 12 between 2,000 and 3,000.
    8. The most recent comparison of our performance can be made with the 2009 LS election votes. 2009 was the first election after delimitation and that was also when the current socio-political trends had begun to manifest themselves quite forcefully. Compared to 2009 LS votes, our total votes increased by 50,000, but compared to October-November 2005 our votes are down by 50,000. Compared to February 2005 when we had won our maximum number of seats (seven), our votes have declined by nearly 90,000. In other words, if between February 2005 and November 2005, the rise of the Nitish Kumar phenomenon had cost us 40,000 votes and two seats, the five years of growth and consolidation of the same phenomenon has now cost us another 50,000 votes and all our five seats in the outgoing Assembly.
    9. Among the 22 seats where we have polled 5,000-plus votes, 17 seats have witnessed an increase in votes (91,291) since the 2009 LS election while 5 seats suffered a decline (21,563). Overall, we thus polled 69,728 votes more in these constituencies since May 2009. If we look at 50 key constituencies in terms of our overall practice, votes increased in 33 seats (by a total of 97,871 votes) while declining in the remaining 17 (by 35,943 votes).
    10. Delimitation makes comparison with 2005 Assembly elections somewhat difficult in many seats, but if we compare our main areas we get a mixed picture of marked decline in some seats, more or less steady performance in a few and recovery in the rest over the last five years. For example, while votes dropped quite drastically from 45,516 to 32,474 in the main two seats of Rohtas, and from 45,249 to 31,280 in the two main seats of Patna, votes increased marginally from 67,109 to 72,871 in the three main seats of Siwan and from 29,265 to 38,432 in the main three seats of Arwal-Jahanabad belt. In the 5 main seats of Bhojpur, votes fell from 98,049 to 88,388. Among our other main seats, Balrampur witnessed a marginal increase from 39,872 to 45,432, while Obra (Aurangabad) and Bhorey (Gopalganj) saw votes decline from 24,023 to 18,463 and 15,382 to 8,800 respectively.

    Tuesday, December 21, 2010

    Bihar Congress Bachao Morcha Demands Probe


    Bihar Congress Bachao Morcha has demanded a probe into the bank accounts of the Congress leaders responsible its debacle in the Bihar Vidhan Sabha elections.

    Prior to the elections, Congress party workers attacked Bihar Congress president Mehboob Ali and Ashok Ram over party ticket distribution. Now Congress general secretary incharge of Bihar, Mukul Wasnik has come under attack at the plenary session of the Indian National Congress in Delhi. Party workers from Bihar distributed leaflets accusing Wasnik and other senior leaders of selling tickets in the Vidhan Sabha elections.

    The leaflet carries the pictures of Wasnik, All India Congress Committee (AICC) Secretary, Sagar Rayeka, AICC Minority Cell Chief, Imran Kidwai and former Congress Legislature Party leader of Bihar, Ashok Ram. The leaflet was issued by Bihar Congress Bachao Morcha. These Congress leaders marred the chances of deserving candidates on 142 of the 243 assembly seats in the state.

    Bihar Congress Bachao Morcha has demanded a probe into the bank accounts of these leaders. At the beginning of the two-day plenary session on 19th January, Bihar workers embarrassed Wasnik with their slogans against him. Bihar Congress Bachao Morcha demanded, “Wasnik ko manch se utaaro (Get Wasnik off the dais). Wasnik chor hai chor hai (Wasnik is a thief).” Sonia Gandhi is expected to meet a delegation from Bihar to take stock of the situation.

    Monday, December 20, 2010

    Why Bihar Connection in Radia Tapes Being Ignored?

    Opposition parties are intriguingly ignoring Bihar connection in the Radia Rapes.  Nitish Kumar is reported to have avoided a wedding in the family of Rajya Sabha member N K Singh. 
    Singh, a former secretary in the finance ministry, apparently calls petroleum minister Murli Deora ''incompetent'', and refers to civil aviation minister Praful Patel as having ''worked as a minister for (Jet Airways founder) Naresh Goyal.''
    Singh is the son of late T.P. Singh, who was in the erstwhile Indian Civil Service and was the son-in-law of one of the richest zamindars of Purnea. The MP’s sisters — Krishna and Radha — are IAS officers.

    Singh also says surface transport minister Kamal Nath ''is literally on the road'' - referring to the fact that Nath got only the roads portfolio and not shipping, which went to G K Vasan.

    Singh, who is deputy chairman of the Bihar Planning Commission, talks in detail about the ''spectacular decline of Kamal Nath''.

    ''He is on the road... literally on the road... well you can always hide it by saying highways are after all one black point of the government and they want to make up for it. But I think there is much more than meets the eye ... in Kamal Nath's case enough is enough ... and I do not think right now he needs another ATM. He has one going on for many years and that is enough for him,'' Singh is heard saying.

    Meanwhile, in the matter of telecom scam that got revealed through Radia tapes, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja also said the opposition will pursue its demand for the JPC probe into the telephony spectrum allocation of 2008, an issue that led to parliament's winter session being washed out to anti-government protest by MPs.
    "PM has again ruled out any constitution of JPC. I don't understand why. Why is he making it such a contentious issue. The JPC will go into the depth of this scam. I don't think PAC can be better than JPC," Raja said.


    Saturday, December 18, 2010

    Stop Asbestos Plant in Muzaffarpur

    To 

    Justice S N Jha
    Chairperson 
    Bihar Human Rights Commission 
    Patna   

    Subject-Stop Asbestos Plant in Muzaffarpur 

    Sir, 
    With reference to my earlier letter November 6, 2010, this is to draw your urgent attention towards the proposed asbestos cement roofing sheet factory in Chainpur, Muzaffarpur. As you are aware the exposure to killer fibers of  constitute human rights violation of the exposed communities, there is an immediate need to protect the villagers from incurable lung cancer and other diseases. Please find attached the pamphlets of the villagers who are bitterly opposed to the asbestos plant that poses a grave threat to their health. 

    This factory is coming up unmindful of the fact that some 52 countries have banned asbestos. WHO and ILO too have called for its elimination.

    I wish to seek your urgent intervention in the matter of a serious unprecedented environmental and occupational health crisis with regard to unnoticed asbestos epidemic in Muzaffarpur. Even if one asbestos fibre reaches the right place, it causes irreversible damage - leading to asbestosis, lung cancer or mesothelioma. Thirty deaths are caused per day from asbestos-related diseases as per estimates based on US and European studies.

    When the world is preparing and planning to get rid of all forms of asbestos, it makes us look stupid in India to be still importing it, we should devote our scarce resources to prevent the impending disaster by phasing it out as soon as we can. Safer substitute materials for white asbestos are available, they should be considered for use.

    I am an environmental health researcher. I have worked with national and international organizations working on environmental and occupational health and am an applicant in the Supreme Court in the hazardous wastes/shipbreaking case.

    It is high time BHRC took note of the exposures to the residents, consumers and workers from the Asbestos Plant in Muzaffarpur and took immediate remedial measures. The exposure of construction residents, workers and automobile mechanics for instance defies regulatory control efforts in any country.

    I wish to draw your urgent attention to the order of Kerala Human Rights Commission (KHRC) that has ruled that exposing Indians to asbestos is a human rights violation. This paves the way for the eventual complete ban on asbestos and its products. On January 31, 2009, the KHRC ruled that the government should take steps to phase out asbestos roofing from all schools in the state.

    As per the survey of U.P. Asbestos Limited, Mohanlalganj,Lucknow and Allied Nippon Pvt Ltd, Gaziabad, (U.P), the lung function impairment was found to be higher in subjects exposed for more than 11 years. This was the result of a Central Pollution Control Board sponsored project entitled "Human risk assessment studies in asbestos industries in India". This has been reported in the (2001-2002) Annual Report of Industrial Toxicological Research Centre, Lucknow. It has also been published in the 139th Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment, Forests, Science and Technology and presented to the parliament on 17th March, 2005.

    Given the ubiquitous presence of the fiber, there is no alternative to getting it banned in right earnest. Scientists, doctors, public health researchers, trade unions, activists and civil society groups has been working to persuade the Governments to give up its consistent and continued pro-asbestos industry bias and lack of concern for the asbestos-injured who die one of the most painful deaths imaginable.

    Although the Supreme Court of India has ruled that the Government of India must comply with ILO resolutions, so far the ILO resolution (June 14, 2006) stating "the elimination of the future use of asbestos and the identification and proper management of asbestos currently in place are the most effective means to protect workers from asbestos exposures and to prevent future asbestos-related disease and deaths" has not been acted upon.

    We earnestly request you to direct all the workers and consumers in your state to take immediate steps to ensure that there no more exposures take place from now on.

    Earlier on August 18,2003, the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs informed the Parliament that: "Studies by the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad, have shown that long-term exposure to any type of asbestos can lead to development of asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma." This was not the first official acknowledgment of the asbestos hazard. Government of India's Office Memorandum NO.6 (6)/94 - Cement, (Sept 1, 1994) of the Ministry of Industry states: "The Department has generally not been recommending any case of Industrial License to any new unit for the creation of fresh capacity of asbestos products in the recent past due to the apprehension that prolonged exposure to asbestos leads to serious health hazards".

    Public health researchers, civil society groups, trade unions and human rights groups have demanded an immediate ban on all uses of asbestos including an immediate end to the import of chrysotile. They seek measures to identify, compensate and treat the asbestos-injured and regulations to minimize harmful exposures are also being proposed. They demand criminal prosecution of those responsible for asbestos exposures such as factory owners and company directors. 

    Although non-asbestos technology certainly exists in India, in fact in some factories the two technologies exist side-by-side, consumers will inevitably opt for the cheaper product: more demand will translate into higher sales which will generate more chrysotile rupees that can be used to obtain an eve\of political support. As the quid-pro-quo relationship between Government officials and asbestos businessmen exists outside the media spotlight, journalists and the public remain unaware of the pernicious reasons which motivate the decisions being taken; decisions which will expose current and future generations to the deadly asbestos hazard.

    The pattern of asbestos disease in Bihar is all set to follow the diseases pattern seen in the developed countries.

    Concerned with the global and national evidence about the increasing death toll of asbestos workers, trade unions, labour and environmental groups have sought immediate phase out of chrysotile asbestos. In India asbestos is still used in the manufacture of  pressure and non-pressure pipes used for water supply, sewage, and drainage, packing material, brake linings and jointing used in automobiles, heavy equipment, nuclear power plants, thermal power plants amongst others.

    Despite the fact that the World Trade Organisation has given an appropriate judgment against it, upholding France's decision to ban import of asbestos from Canada, successive governments in India have promoted this killer mineral fibre ignoring public health. 

    Dr S R Kamat, a renowned lung specialist was bitter at the "utter callousness of employers", the total lack of medical expertise and government inaction; all of which continued to put workers at risk of contracting asbestos related diseases. In the 5 surveys done in the country, large number of the subjects showed asbestos lung diseases. All of them showed breathing problem, many had cough, some had sputum, chest pain finger clubbing and chest pain. Disability in such cases are permanent, progressive; means of compensation are meager, informs Dr Kamat.

    White asbestos continues to be in use in India although other kinds such as blue and brown asbestos are banned. Asbestos is being promoted freely in our country whereas the developed countries are keeping away from it.

    Taking note of the fact that public concern, regulations and liabilities involved have ended the use of asbestos from the developed countries, delegates at a Round Table wondered, "why is it that the concern of the countries, which have banned asbestos not relevant to India?." Exposing workers to asbestos must be equated to murder and legal provisions must deal with it accordingly. How many consumers would want to use the material if they know that even a single exposure can cause cancer? "Experimental as well as epidemiological studies proved asbestos as carcinogen as well as co-carcinogen. Risk assessment and control of occupational exposure are very poor in developing countries like India," said Dr Qamar Rehman, a renowned toxicologist. There are no industrial physicians and virtually no occupational health centres, whatever the rules may say.

    Even World Bank has a policy against asbestos since 1991. "The Bank increasingly prefers to avoid financing asbestos use...Thus, at any mention of asbestos in Bank-assisted projects, the Task Manager needs to exercise special care." Diagnosable asbestosis among workers in most asbestos cement factories and consumer products with no warning labels and unions with no programmes to prevent asbestos disease and exposure in builders and mechanics is alarming.

    Delay in stopping asbestos trade and use is a victory for those who do not wish to put health and the environment ahead of commercial interests.

    In the light of these findings and developments, in short I seek your immediate intervention to stop the construction of asbestos cement plants in Muzaffarpur in particular and in Bihar in general. I submit that BHRC must consider putting an end to the use of the of all kinds of asbestos products that is being used and encountered daily, because none of the schools, offices, legislatures, courts, hospitals, automobiles, private and public buildings in our state are asbestos free.

    Therefore, it is necessary to initiate preventive action in order to protect present and future generations from the silent killer which is akin to a time bomb. I will be glad to share more relevant information against asbestos of all forms including white asbestos (chrysotile) as well. 

    Thanking you in anticipation.                   

    Yours faithfully

    Gopal Krishna
    Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI)