DP-Index-mar08-lead6
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A section of
DOCPOST which is an
extract, executive
summary, index
rolled into one.
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POLITICAL ECONOMY OF
DISASTER
Indian
'slaves' toil in US Gulf
Coast
The
company recruited more than 500
workers from India for the reconstruction of areas damaged by
hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
About
100,000
migrant workers, mostly
Hispanic, black and Asian, have been brought to Louisiana,
Mississippi and Texas after the devastating hurricanes for rebuilding
work, which regular American workers will not do.
Migrant
labourers can be employed
cheaply by companies on the Gulf Coast, many of which have profited
immensely from the largely chaotic and poorly supervised relief and
reconstruction efforts.
What
is shocking
about this situation
is that the Indian embassy here has given $5 million (Rs 20 crores)
for hurricane relief to the Americans, but is now unable to prevent
the exploitation of Indian workers by companies which may be
profiting from some of that Indian money.
by
K.P. Nayar, The Telegraph,
08/03/2008
Managing
climate
change
This issue
is
often
portrayed as a
battle between the developed and the developing worlds; between
countries like Britain and India. Wrong. It is something which
affects us all and which we need to address together. The origins of
climate change lie principally in the
developed economies . But, unjust though
this may seem, its impact will be at least as great in the developing
world. In India probably greater: the
retreat of the glaciers; rising sea levels; new difficulties facing
those farming in arid regions; a less predictable monsoon — on
which the lives of so many Indians depend.
by
Richard Stagg, The Hindu, 13/03/2008
Rich,
poor nations clash at climate
talks
Disagreements
between rich and
developing countries came into open today as the world's top 20
greenhouse gas-emitters, including India, worked to lay the
groundwork for a new deal on climate change. The developed and
developing countries, whose greenhouse gas emissions account for
about 80 per cent of the global total, were wrapping up two days of
talks and hoped to jump-start negotiations on a successor to the
Kyoto Protocol. But developing countries voiced scepticism about the
meeting, saying they should not be considered in the same league as
major industrialised countries when deciding on future cuts to gas
emissions blamed for global warming. "India, for example, has an
emission of one tonne per capita.
The
Business Standard, 17/03/2008
.
