Business and Economy

• The Food secretaries of major wheat producing states met and set the target quantity of wheat production at 16.2 million tons, an increase of 1.4 million tons from last year. They pointed out that the current crisis in wheat supply was caused by lower contribution of wheat production from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Gujarat, Bihar, Delhi , Jharkhand, and Rajasthan. A shortfall of 2 million tons created a crisis in supply therefore causing an increase in the price of wheat. This year, 26.5 million hectares will grow wheat compared to 26.3 million last year. The shortfall in wheat buffers by about 2 million was known on January 1, so it is still remains unanswered why it took the Government so long to realize that there was a shortfall in wheat production and take corrective action. The recommended action is to import 500,000 tons of low quality wheat by the Government in the spot market at 30% more than normal rates. The mismanagement, recommendation, and delay in action have been highly criticized by the opposition and experts.

• President Abdul Kalam, on an official visit to the Philippines said that Asia is the "future of business." He attributed this to "the tremendous economic potential and the availability of knowledge-based human capital." He called on the ASEAN countries to exploit these inherent benefits to create e-businesses and claim fair market share of this growth.

Democracy, Politics and Judiciary

• The Tribal Affairs Ministry Secretary Meena Gupta disclosed that the Scheduled Tribes Bill, also known as Recognition of Forest Rights Bill, would be tabled in the next Parliament session. She said that forest officials were treating tribal population living in the forests for millenniums as “encroachers” and is often harassed. The Draft National Policy prepared by the Ministry said that 8.5 million tribal people have been displaced from the forests till 1990 to accommodate some mega "development" projects. The tribal population makes up 55.16% of the total displaced population in India. Referring to a report from the Forest and Environment Department, she said that various tribes occupy 1.3 million hectare of 7.4 million hectare total forestland. She pointed out that of this, only 365,000 hectares of the "encroached" land has been grand fathered and "regularized." The cut-off date for claiming rights to live in the forest is October 25, 1980 and claimants can submit police case, forest case, or other documents to support their claim. The safety measures of this bill to protect the tribal population from land mafias, industrial encroachers, or from binami (front or fictitious names) transactions is not known. 

Environment, Health and Education

• The Supreme Court Monitoring Committee on Hazardous Waste submitted its recommendation to the Supreme Court and said that this would be a "turning point in environmental awareness." Refusing to reveal their recommendations for "protocol" reasons, Chairman G. Thyagarajan said that the Committee might open up for more discussions and suggest a set of options for the court to consider. 

• A virulent strain of bird flu virus has killed 40,000 birds in a large poultry farm in Nigeria. This is the very first known instance of bird flu in Africa. The farm where the H5N1 virus was found first on Jan 15, 2006 treated the chickens, geese, and ostriches with a broad dosage of antibiotics. Nigeria reported bird flu to the World Health Organization only after the birds did not respond to this treatment. An India sailor was reported to have contracted bird flu and his condition is unknown.

• Editorial: Regulate Ship Breaking Business

Terrorism, Defense, Security

• A lone suicide Taliban terrorist exploded a bomb outside the police headquarters in Kandahar, killing 13 people and injuring 14 others. Taliban has been increasing its suicide operations in a systematic manner causing much hardship to civilians. The public has been vocal protesting these attacks. The Afghan Government blames Pakistan for not doing enough to catch the Taliban terrorists hiding in Baloachistan.

Neighbors

• Bugti insurgents fired over 100 rockets in the South Western province of Baloachistan near the largest gas field killing 8 people, injuring scores, and damaging gas and water pipelines. Sui, the place of this incident, is about 700 kilometers from the capital Islamabad. Last month, Pakistan launched an intense attack on Bugti tribal villages using helicopter gun ships, artillery, and combat aircraft killing hundreds of civilians. Sustained international exposure has forced Pakistan to reduce the use of such excessive force in what the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) calls a race-based discriminatory campaign. The tribes themselves accuse Pakistan of unduly exploiting natural resources of Baloachistan, building the Kalabagh dam that would cut water to Baloachistan and threaten their existence, and administrative high-handedness. Pakistan has a history of fighting Baloach rebels. In the 1973 insurgency, 3000 army, 5000 insurgents, and innumerable civilians lost their lives. The province never truly integrated with Pakistan.