Oily assault for the polar bears

Sounds like US are venturing to jeopardize the balance of Nature and its possession.
The US administration has given acquiescence to seven oil companies to drill oil in the Chuckchi Sea, which is the habitat of a large number of polar bears. Sounds like what President Bush told in his 2006 State of the Union address now finds the way to actuality- “ we have a serious problem, America is addicted to oil.” Now this addiction becomes an obssession and is poised to destabilize the existence of polar bears. At this juncture, one point that comes first in mind is why the US companies are targeting the Chuckchi Sea. According to the Mineral Management Service, Chuckchi Sea is one of the few frontier areas where oil and gas deposits could amount to 30 billion barrels of oil (more than Prudhoe Bay). At the same time, Chuckchi sea is also the owner of another rare natural vanity- 10 percent of the world’s polar bear population.
Polar bears are the first creature that was enlisted as the first creature to be affected by the climatic change. The huge loss of ice in summer in 2007 has lead many scientists to believe that Arctic could be ice-free in summer as early as 2012. Though the polar bears were declared as endangered species, the official announcement of which was supposed to come on January 9th ,silence reigned in the US Fish and Wildlife Department. This portentous silence, as it might be called, facilitated the auction of 30 million acres of area in Chuckchi Sea, worth $2.6 billion in spite of 670,000 comments in support of protecting the polar bear under Endangered Species Act including letters from eminent polar bear experts and more than 60 members of Congress. The loss of habitat for the polar bears, lack of food might be fatal. Also melting of ice due to oil operations will affect the polar bears as they might drown in the water. At this stage, what comes at the top of the mind is that, had the polar bears been declared endangered on January 9th, the auction of Chuckchi Sea would not have occurred so effortlessly. Adds to this is the productive game of hunting poar bears which is a 2-million dollar per years income for the people of northwest Canada.
Such kind of drill is likely to affect not only the polar bears, but also bowhead whales and gray whales. Though the industry claims that it has good records of maintaining the safety measures, it might not be the case everywhere. Oil drilling cannot be done safely in the Arctic offshore ecosystem. There is also a chance of an oil spill which might cause ecological debacle. The Inupiat people’s maritime culture will be hampered. Besides this, normal industry operation like seismic survey, vessel traffic, aircraft, pipe construction will have to bear the impact of the lease. However, the US government showed its furtive attitude to set the auction for only $2.6 billions as several lawsuits are still awaiting. So , there is a feeble possibility that might nullify the sale altogether and the Government has to return the money to the bidders and stop petroleum operation there completely.
At the end of the day, as it seems now, President Bush is correct about how addicted US is to oil, inviting their grief themselves- climatic change, pollution and hence pillaging the resource. The situation is alarming. Keeping in view the battle royale in November, its time to relook into the matter with political intercession.

DRC- Dilemma of Resources for Congo

Democratic Republic of Congo, the third largest country in the world, almost the size of Western Europe is grasping after the noose of poverty and hunger has strangled its economic throat. Gaining its independence in 1960, DRC has been put into frying pan from fire.It has since then been witnessing ethnical riots and pseudo-colonial aggression from countries like USA and EU who have been vying desperately to grab the natural resources of the country which is the largest exporter of cobalt and fourth largest exporter of diamond, DRC has suffered from ethnic scuffle. Carrying a huge resource for bio-fuel, Congo is also carter of an odd 56% mal-nourished people and 70% of people suffering from hunger, Congo is baffled how to use the natural resources at its disposal.
According to UN reports by economist Dr. Schmidhuber, there are 85- 115 millions of hectares of land of which only four millions can be irrigated. Yet after having such land resources which can cultivate food for 2-3 billion of people, the country has to import food from European Union. The blatant reason lies in the fact that only 5% of land in Congo is cultivable.
So, if DRC has such potentiality, doled out by Nature, for its people why it is so lowly placed? The greedy Goliaths of the world are eyeing DRC as their prime prey. Of these economic giants, China has successfully forayed into territory of bio-fuel resources in DRC. According to a report by John Farmer and Ann Talbot China has established itself in Congo by providing US$ 8 billion dollars for infrastructure projects and mining operations. This will give China control over several important copper and cobalt mines. This is just the beginning with mines. Still Congo has eerie 85- 115 hectares of land left and tropical forests. These forests can be planned to be used for palm plantation to meet the spiralling need for agro fuel for European and US cars as well as China’s demand for palm oil.
UN economist Dr. Schmidhuber says that Congo can use the maverick expanse of land for cultivation of palm oil. He says that the palm oil can help the poor farmers in Congo who live earning less than half US$ per day to produce their own fuel and limit food production. But there is a possibility that it might lead to ecological imbalance. If palm oil plantation wrack those people who are dependent on the forests for their livelihood, it is certain that it will disturb equilibrium between economy and ecology. Palm oil plantation will be possible when the forest will be accessed. This means forest will be logged, timber will be sold and revenue will result.
Already a Chinese company has signed a billion-dollar contract to start cultivation of palm oil in 3 million hectare of land which means a huge loss of forestry. Congo’s fuel price problem has reached nadir point resulting in hunger problem. Dr. Schimidhuber stresses too much on the cultivation of fuel crop. But if fuel crop is cultivated at the cost of food crop how the productive land will help to eradicate hunger, one of the burning problems of the country? If most of the farm land is used for cultivating palm oil, 145,000 small-scale farmers will finally migrate to cities which will aggravate the agro-based problems.

Karza maafi

Maharashtra- the state which carved a special place in history with the largest number of farmer suicides in a span of one year also witnessed another important event along with the rest of the country- ‘the world’s richest cricket tournament’- Indian Premier League (IPL). We cannot call this govt. to be a biased govt. who mainly works as a ‘pro-poor people’ or is an ‘aam aadmi’ govt. if the Govt. gives a Rs.9, 310 crore Loan waiver for the poor people of Maharashtra, then the IPL also gets a waiver of Rs.10 crore. Mumbai will host 10 IPL matches including the final. The govt. of Maharashtra is said to have given a waiver of Rs.10 crore in revenue only. The direct recipient of this loan will be the rich businessmen and the film stars of Mumbai who found pleasure in auctioning teams and players. According to law, any event of amusement, whether be it a cricket match or any cultural event has to pay the entertainment tax. Though the IPL will hold 10 matches in Mumbai, it will not pay the tax. This is not for the first time that tax is being written off by the Govt. The BCCI always had political blessings. But it is also not for the first time that tax is being exempted by the govt- whether state or union. If we look at the period from 2000-2004, we will see that the nationalized bank wrote off Rs.44, 000 crore. Most of this went to a small number of affluent people. The most glaring example was the write off given to a company owned by Ketan Parekh group. The write-off in this case was Rs. 60 crore. However, those waivers were given mutely.
In 2004, the last reigning year of the NDA, the write-off percentage went up to 16% and has never come down since then. If this is the figure with the rich people, then how much a poor can expect? Behold. The number of farmers in Maharashtra owning less than one hectare land is 7.2 million and a like number of them have accounts in banks. The total outstanding against the accounts is Rs.20,499 crores. If we take a closer look we will see that it is the same amount the bank writes-off as bad debt in the manufacturing sector. Now, the number of farmers owning land between one to two hectares is 5.9 millions. Similarly, a like number if them have accounts in banks and the amount outstanding in their name is Rs. 20,758 crores, which makes that some 13 million people have outstanding of less than Rs.44,000 crores which has been written-off, by almost Rs.3,000 crores. The NDA govt. can give the waiver to the rich people but what did the poor get? Yet after such a budget by UPA, which gave farm loan waiver analysis of which was done by CEOs of companies and stock brokers, and business editors (what a pity!!), some attractive face on the TV screen will say –“now some budget bad news. India Inc.’s plea for a cut from the corporate tax went unheeded.”
The Union budget this year carried a loan waiver of Rs. 60,000 crore for the farm people. But there was also a spoil game played by Union Agriculture Minister Mr. Sharad Pawar (also known as ‘cricket minister’). Regardless of, why the waiver came in 2008 only, let us have a look how it was distributed.
The most crisis area of Maharashtra was Vidarbh and Yavatmal. But why more loan was given to the farmers outside Vidarbh? Why more loan went to West Maharashtra- Mr. Sharad Pawar’s strong foothold? The sugarcane farmers of Vidarbh outside Rs. 13,000 per acre as average crop loan. Apart from this, Rs.18, 000 per acre was given to the farmers for drip irrigation. And the grape growers outside Vidarbh saw the pinnacle- Rs. 80,000 per acre as average loan. But, Vidarbh farmers got average loan of Rs.4,440 per acre.
The IPL reports came shortly after CAG reported on ‘Farmer’s Packages’ in the state. Though, the report carried the information that the number of suicides increased to 1414 in 2006-07, the MLAs did not pay any heed. The CAG said that no proper attempt was made for the evaluation of distress. Tens of crores of rupees for farmers in the state were never spent; cheques given to people were dishonoured because of ‘want of cash.’ The self-help groups were given subsidies in excess. Parts of farm loans were not released at all. A major part of the loan went under-utilized. This how a fund of Rs.4, 825 crore was utilized by the Govt. so why is this 10-crore loan for IPL? The CAG also reported that the when the farmers of Maharashtra wanted some assistance for real price, the Govt was busy. giving waiver to IPL. Matters like seed requirement were dealt indifferently.
In the state this year, there have been over 360 farm suicides and 200 of them pre-waiver with 153 in January and February, then calculate how many in post-waiver? Though, the Govt. regarded only 18 of them as eligible, it did not forget to give waiver to IPL, the real people who need ‘waiver’.

INFLATION IN U.S — THE LOOSING WORTH OF ECONOMY

Inflation in a developed country or in a developing country is an inevitable menace. Some nations try to rein the vicious spiral by enforcing strict fiscal measures. Inflation in US has been relatively steady. Though, there have been occasional cases of erratic high inflation, US have maintained a steady inflation rate of 3% for the last 30 years. In India, inflation has escalated to 8% on 30.05.2008.
If we scrutinize the reason for inflation in recent US, we will see that increasing cost of business plays an imperative role. The reason for inflation in US being significantly low is that the people have relied too much on the stock market rumble of the 90s for the supply superfluous cash. US economy says that even 3% inflation has a momentous role to play. US economists say that after 30 years of 3% inflation, one million dollar will buy about $400,000, that means 3% of inflation has already devoured 60 % one million dollar. Though 3% inflation is considered to be manageable, rate of inflation will rise once again, when the majority of the US middle-class will get saturated with debt. This will create an impasse in the sense that it will stagnate the economy until some of the debt is paid.
The recent inflation in US has brought to focus one obvious factor- no stock- even a commodity stock is resistant to inflation. Though gold has managed to make a come back to deal with a price above $700/oz , oil-and- mining put a halt in its drop, resource stock are getting over-heated. This is the case especially with the precious metals like gold and heavy stocks. This calculated fall of dollars is likely to turn into a fiasco. If this is not controlled in time, it will adversely affect the economy. US economists fear that it will eventually take gold near $ 1000 and oil near $100. Gasoline prices have hit up to $3.8 a gallon and diesel price by 64% from a year ago.
Inflation, as Peter Schiff puts it, is America’s ‘greatest export’. The substantial increase in prices of domestic consumer goods is created by the growth in money supply. This is a direct effect of the artificial demand of inflation, which has put more dollars in the hands of the US consumers. In USA, there are two ways open to the US citizens to use up the excess dollars. One- to buy US financial assets and two- to exchange the dollars with commodities like gold or oil. If they exchange it, then it comes back once again to the economy without adding any extra value.
But in the end, let us concentrate on the fact whether low inflation has any effect on the mechanism of business. Though low inflation increases the chance that at some point, the business mechanism will generate deflation, the danger is not great. In fact, deflation and low inflation revolves round the same point somehow. All economists put their belief in the Fisher theory which states that if one can change the average trend rate of inflation and then wait long enough, nominal interest rates will adjust point-to point to the change in the rate of inflation and real rate of interest will return to equilibrium. There is no reason that we cannot rely on this theory since the failure of this theory (if it happens) will only cause a certain degree of wealth to be redistributed from creditors to debtors.

The grotesque attendance

Imagine one typical bucolic scene. Cows and cattle, trees and sheds, vast green stretch of land that concur with the horizon. Now imagine something bizarre - a cluster of young boys and girls amidst these going to school. What drives poor rural students en route for school? If you think that these poor creatures have made up their mind to become ‘Mohan’ (the role played by Shahrukh Khan in the film ‘Swadesh’) of their village, then its high time to ask anyone of them a simple question- why they are going to school in large numbers? The only common rejoin that you will get is that it’s the mid day meals that impel them towards school.
Mid-day meal, the landmark decision taken by the apex court to increase the attendance in school. But how far the decision has been fruitful to drive the students towards school? Let’s take a closer look. The scheme of mid day meal has been on the cards in Madhya Pradesh since 1990s, but was materialized in 2001 with two main objectives- providing nutritious food to school children and increasing the attendance in schools. But almost after eight years of implementation it’s high time to dissect the performance of this. The only trustworthy people who can be banked upon are the students of the school. Let’s go there and ask them.
According to government sources there are some 78,000 government primary schools in 203 backward blocks of all the 45 districts of the state, reports indiatogether. But if you ask the students, the common rejoin you will get is that the food provided to them is neither good nor ample. However these students are lucky enough so as to get at least some crumb of food as government compassion which Kharwahi panchyat of Rampur block doesn’t get even, indiatogether reports. Here the picture has been worst even as the meal here has been stopped since January 2007 due to dispute between teachers. Another thing that fans the flame of disgruntlement is the fight between the teachers to clinch the post of secretary of the schools. This chronic fight creates an annulled post. Adds to this is the shortage of food materials, while the PDS shop cuts a sorry figure with dearth of food supply. Another problem is that the teachers have to spend time from the school schedule to buy stuff for midday meals. In an interview to indiatogether Madhya Pradesh Shiksha Abhiyan (Education Campaign) State Coordinator Avinash Jhade says, "You can get many such cases where mid-day meal was stopped in schools. Mostly due to differences between the teachers. We get many such complaints from all over the state.” More than that the officials play a spoil sport as they always demand a cut from the school they give for the mid day meals. As a result the students suffer. But teachers also sometimes play spoil game. The Block Resource Coordinators who work for the Government’s panchayat give coupons to the teachers at Rs. 2 per students. The teachers then pick up the ration from a local shop but such ration never enters the kitchen and even in some place the teachers sell the mid day supplies in the market and thus earn money. But taking a inclusive vision we get a view - the attendance has really increased. The poverty level has risen to such an extent that even after such a murky experience the students progress towards school. One question arises- if such a scrap of neglect drags the students to school, what do they get at home? Who will say? Who knows?

My sanitized country

What paves the way for reaching the MDG? Lets turn a few pages and behold. One of the parameters that were regarded obligatory was the supply of improved drinking water sources and sanitized facilities. By achieving the MDG 7, which aims to supply safe drinking water to all, 2015 was set the target. But how much of that has been achieved? Take a present look. As per the State of the World 2007, a household of five needs at least 120 litres per day to meet the daily activities, but to our utter distress, we find that these people are compelled to walk a long distance to fetch water. But lets have a look at the picture of India. India’s rural picture cuts a sorry figure. The UN cynicism about India’s success in reaching the goals by 2015 now seems to have some true base. With only seven years left to reach the golden goal, its time to scrutinize India’s achievement in regard of sanitation and providing clean water. By the MDGs, the UN set the target that by 2015 they should reduce to half the number of people living without access to pure water and sanitation. According to the UN, the number of people living without access to water is 1.2 billion and that the number of the people living without access to sanitation is 2.4 billion. But the way, India has progressed, it seems that this goal has a long way ahead. For example 30% of the total population in Kolkata lives in slums.
If you open the television, at one time or the other you will see that the Indian government is showing that they have built toilets in villages, then take a second look. They will show if only one toilet has been built- no matter whether it functions or not. WaterAid India , Delhi based NGO found out that the toilets that were built in the villages were sometimes put to other uses- “ …often as the best-built, only tiled structure in the village homes. In many Indian villages , they have been used to tether cattle.”
So what lies at the core is the problem with the fund. Sanitation schemes have been dependent on subsidies, which are not reaching the people. The World Bank has criticized the Indian government because the sanitation programme doe not take into its purview the good of the general people however the problem is not only with the fund, but also with the spirit. Today we allege the Government of not doing anything, what we have done ourselves? Today we ridicule Bangaladesh, call Pakistan as our worst foe. But how many of us has ever taken a look at the sanitation figure of Indian and compared it with Bangaladesh and Pakistan ? If done, we will see that less than five percentage of the total Indian rural populace has access to sanitation, while Bangladesh has 40% and Pakistan has 45%. The status of India at present is just a margin above Cambodia. Out of 28 Indian states , only seven has launched ‘Swajaldhara’ and only Tamil Nadu has completed a project.
So at this juncture what we need to do is to and what we lack is integrity. Availability of water has every time been a hindrance to a road to development. The strategy should be multi branched for assembling resources. We need to empower the NGOs and need to support the local active groups. We need to build toilets more in numbers especially. The frenzy of privatizing should be shed and more effort to promote the rural groups should taken for the advancement of rural folk.

My sanitized country

What paves the way for reaching the MDG? Lets turn a few pages and behold. One of the parameters that were regarded obligatory was the supply of improved drinking water sources and sanitized facilities. By achieving the MDG 7, which aims to supply safe drinking water to all, 2015 was set the target. But how much of that has been achieved? Take a present look. As per the State of the World 2007, a household of five needs at least 120 litres per day to meet the daily activities, but to our utter distress, we find that these people are compelled to walk a long distance to fetch water. But lets have a look at the picture of India. India’s rural picture cuts a sorry figure. The UN cynicism about India’s success in reaching the goals by 2015 now seems to have some true base. With only seven years left to reach the golden goal, its time to scrutinize India’s achievement in regard of sanitation and providing clean water. By the MDGs, the UN set the target that by 2015 they should reduce to half the number of people living without access to pure water and sanitation. According to the UN, the number of people living without access to water is 1.2 billion and that the number of the people living without access to sanitation is 2.4 billion. But the way, India has progressed, it seems that this goal has a long way ahead. For example 30% of the total population in Kolkata lives in slums.
If you open the television, at one time or the other you will see that the Indian government is showing that they have built toilets in villages, then take a second look. They will show if only one toilet has been built- no matter whether it functions or not. WaterAid India , Delhi based NGO found out that the toilets that were built in the villages were sometimes put to other uses- “ …often as the best-built, only tiled structure in the village homes. In many Indian villages , they have been used to tether cattle.”
So what lies at the core is the problem with the fund. Sanitation schemes have been dependent on subsidies, which are not reaching the people. The World Bank has criticized the Indian government because the sanitation programme doe not take into its purview the good of the general people however the problem is not only with the fund, but also with the spirit. Today we allege the Government of not doing anything, what we have done ourselves? Today we ridicule Bangaladesh, call Pakistan as our worst foe. But how many of us has ever taken a look at the sanitation figure of Indian and compared it with Bangaladesh and Pakistan ? If done, we will see that less than five percentage of the total Indian rural populace has access to sanitation, while Bangladesh has 40% and Pakistan has 45%. The status of India at present is just a margin above Cambodia. Out of 28 Indian states , only seven has launched ‘Swajaldhara’ and only Tamil Nadu has completed a project.
So at this juncture what we need to do is to and what we lack is integrity. Availability of water has every time been a hindrance to a road to development. The strategy should be multi branched for assembling resources. We need to empower the NGOs and need to support the local active groups. We need to build toilets more in numbers especially. The frenzy of privatizing should be shed and more effort to promote the rural groups should taken for the advancement of rural folk.

Et tu Orissa!!

Having provided a job security to the rural people, at least for a few stipulated days, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has made a strong presence in rural India. According to the information available from the NREGA factsheet, this scheme has assured 43 days of employment to the households employed in the NREGA. The share of the marginalized groups in total NREGA employment gives a happy picture. It says that 40% of woman folk, 36% of Scheduled Tribes, 26% of the Scheduled Tribes have been facilitated by the NREGA. But don’t be allured by what has been said so far, in fact what we have seen is the bright side of the moon. Lets take our rocket on the other side and land on a dark ground. One such dark ground is Orissa. Here a survey was conducted Social Science Institute of Allahabad in October 2007. this study brought to light the spoil play going on in the name of NREGA. The results of the study shows that only 60% of the days of employment recorded in the Muster Role (MR) were confirmed, with the rest 40% unaccounted. The flawed Job Card (JC) adds to the woes of the poor people. No where in the cards are written what amount of wage is to be paid to the labour. In some cases it has also been seen that the worker himself does not fill the JC, in most of the cases it is filled by the Village Level Leader (VLL) in the presence of the worker. Also, the name of the worker is entered in the code format, and in English. So, mostly it is impossible for the workers to read the document. Further, the VLLs become the master of the manipulation game. There are two kinds of MRs maintained by the state- ‘kaccha’ (unofficial) and ‘pucca’ (official). The ‘kaccha’ MR is the official and valid and the ‘pucca’ is the unofficial and influenced. The VLLs consider the ‘kaccha’ as the official and conduct the official work in them. They later enter the names in the official documents. Not only that, most of the people involved in the whole process demands a share. The study reveals that the BDO claims two to three percent, the block chairman has three percent, junior engineer has five percent, auditor has one percent, cashier has one perecent, and above all the Panchayat Officer has and the executive officer has 20-22 percent. Imagine how much the poor man gets after a hard days work. More than that the Zilla Parishad wants their people to get into some job because they can get more shares from that. Lack of enforcement fans the flames of problem. The Social Audit and Muster Roll Verification by the Gram Sabha are not carried out in the proper way, they are only done to follow the direction of the Government and that only in the name. The Civil Society Organization has been kept out of the Social Audit, in spite of earlier decision to include them.
However, the National Institute of Rural Development has come forward to help them in conducting the social audit which in turn may keep the transparency of NREGA and pave the way for a fair play.

Dams of Distress

Dams of Distress

The road to overall development is not so easy; in fact the word ‘overall development’ is a blurred concept. To materialize a larger goal one should keep in mind that ‘ Rome was not built in a day’. But perhaps the Government of India perhaps wants to build Rome in day- not one brick after the other. By laying the foundation stone for the hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh, the Government of India has laid a firm foundation for an ecological grieve in this area. First of all the project is to come up not at Itanagar but at Roing, some 600 kilometers in the north-eastern region of Arunachal Pradesh. If we put the project under microscope, then various traits will come out- all ready to upset the ecological balance of the area.
Let us have a look at the dams in Arunachal Pradesh and the power generated by the state. The 50,000 MW Hydroelectric Initiative, which was installed in India in 2003, aimed to generate 50,000 MW of electricity in India by 2017. It was supposed to be done through 162 projects. Of this 162 projects 72 are in north east and out of this 72 , 42 are in Arunachal Pradesh with a capacity of 27,293 MW. But while the government is trying to be a powerhouse, the local people feel the brunt. The Subansiri project in west Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh will generate 2000 MW of electricity, but the effect is more than 2000MW of electricity. This project has already displaced 38 families and is all ready to give a fatal blow to the livelihood of the people. About 4000 hectares of forest is likely to be taken by this project, lion’s share of it to be submerged. More than that, the damming has adversely affected the marine life and hence fishing is affected. But perhaps the worst affected are the people living there.
Rehabilitation is a difficult task there. We must keep in mind that in these areas people have ownership even for land and forests and the clans and the tribal have a major claim on the lands there. An attempt to resettle the tribal people will further fan the flames of disgruntlement, as it will result in a mixture of two communities. Idu-Mismi is one of the tribal that are going to be slaughtered where the Dibang project will come up. This tribal has a population of 11,021 and already the Government of India has already declared the race as endangered. If the expected project comes up then there is possibility of the influx of some 6000 people who will come to work there. There remains a good possibility of a brawl between them, which will put the Idu-Mismi tribal in a danger. Discrimination to the tribal has been routine feature. A grim picture emerges out of Gerukamukh. NHPC runs a school here, but the local peopledoesn’t get a chance in this school, because they cannot meet the criteria for entrance. Even in hospitals discrimination is also to be seen. These tribal people when need to go to hospital, have to first go to the police station and convince the police that they are really ill. Then only they get the permission to visit the hospital. At this juncture, one important question is that how cost effective will be the electricity generated? The answer is distressing. The electricity that is generated will mostly be used by the other parts of the country, which means long range transmission lines and hence enhanced cost. At the end of the day those private hosts will harvest all the crop of this slaughter of environment and people. Lets have an empowered future not overpowered.

The border disorder

China have major claims on two major Indian territories—one is on the Aksai Chin in north-eastern Ladakh, the other one being India’s ‘land of rising sun’ Arunachal Pradesh. The problem started in 1914 when the British Government named the borderline – Mcmahon line, after British general Mcmahon.
The Simla convention was rejected by China as it regarded the Tibetan government incapable of concluding treaties being non-sovereign in nature. Also china pointed out that Lhasa’s declaration of independence in 1913 was not recognized by any Chinese Government. As a result Mcmahon line was not accepted by China. The Imperial Government of China did never agreed to it neither did the Chiang Kai –Shek Government. The first Chinese attack on India was on 20th October 1962, China unable to reach political accommodation along 3225-kilometer long Himalayan border. In the fight the Indian forces were swept away by the Chinese forces. In Karakoram Pass and from some places near Panong Lake the Indian forces were bulldozed as the Indian troop had no proper ammunition at that time and were not trained to fight at such high altitude. In eastern region problem germinated in Assam, where on the first day the Indian army fell completely to the mordant Chinese assail, on western side of north east region Tsang Dar fell on Oct 22, Bum La on Oct 23, and the Headquarter of the Seventh Infantry Brigade on Oct 24th . The official figure that New Delhi gives today is that China is illegally occupying 38000 square kilometers of Indian territory in Kashmir and claims that 90000 square kilometers of land in India-ruled Arunachal Pradesh belongs to China. After this capture the Chinese govt gave a negotiation offer which was discarded by the Indian Govt. Failing in this attempt the Chinese people’s republic made many efforts to achieve a settlement on the dispute.
The Chinese govt. made innumerable approaches to settle the dispute on some satisfactory ground but the Nehru Government turned it down, though the diplomatic notes that were sent to the Indian government were implied in a conciliatory language and were regarded as a catalyst to safeguard the territorial integrity of India and China. In this juncture it can also be mentioned that in neither of the proposal that the Chinese Govt. gave to made to India did contain any pre condition for the negotiations. The Chinese govt. also did not opt to the type of language that could be interpretative to be a threat to India. It was also reported by the World Press that Nehru was in favour of “fight a limited offensive operation.” But what lies under the crust is that the imperialist world particularly the U.S. would be relieved to see that the two leading powers of Asia are engaged in blood-shed, loosing life and resources and hence becoming economically dependent on U.S. monopoly. In 1988 Rajiv Gandhi tried to open a new chapter of India China boundary settlement. The 1993 and 1996 peace building measures were results of this phase. However confidence did not grow because China refused to move an inch from its occupied territories with Beijing showing a little interest. However with the problems simmering the Prime ministers of both the countries have decided to start ‘a strategic partnership for peace and prosperity’. This agreement for border dispute is expected to enhance the economic cooperation and settle the dispute over 3500 kilometers of common Indo-China border. In the meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries, Beijing has expressed its wish to develop a free trade zone and the PMs of both the countries have agreed to appoint a panel of experts to study the viability of the free trade zone.