It’s never too late to enjoy your future.

    William Blake wrote “London”  after seeing the plight of chimney sweepers in that city but today the chimney sweepers are found in Chennai, the ones we rarely notice, the children working in the kitchen of a Dhabba ,washing  cars or working in industries for over 13 hrs a day , the city had  reported 5192 child labourers  last year .Under the national child labour project (NCLP), the corporation of Chennai , raided 57areas and rescued 167 children all of whom are now in rehabilitation . Although the government is trying it’s best but its private schools like The  Olcott memorial school , with zero drop out rate, free education ,training and  a deep teacher student relationship . The Principal , Mrs Lakshmi Suryanarayanan , said that. “that the issue of child labourers has lack of understanding ,the problem does not get solved by merely sending the child to the school, there is a bigger task which lays ahead “. Her concerns about the students range from the hygiene conditions to their domestic chores which left them too exhausted to study .  Under the  article 37 of the Indian panel law children under 14 years of age are  to compulsorily  be enrolled in schools and not work even as domestic labourers. The violation of which can lead upto 20,000 Rs and upto 6 yrs of imprisonment. But the issue is not just of punishing the culprit but of rehabilitating the victim.

N.C.L.P	No. of children	N.G.O	Society	Total	NO. of children mainstreamed in formal schools
2005-06	926	16	4	20	738
2006-07	819	18	2	20	685(till now)

(the number of child labours rehabilitated , courtesy:  Chennai Cooperatiom)The NCLP  provides non formal as well as formal education to the children that are rescued from the raids ,there is also a vocational training to empower the children so that after growing they are skilled enough to sustain them selves . The ministry gives Rs. 5/- per person per day for nutritional supplements and a stipend of of Rs. 100/-per month , also keeping a  check on the health care facilities. But the web of child labourers  is more complex, the poverty driven children and the uneducated parents, don’t realize the psychological implications and the health hazards that the children later suffer the inevitable consequences are bound to create greater social problems. Need of the hour os for the ordinary man to step up and reform his contribution to this evil, the rest will fall in place .Deepak Chopra says ,”There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.” lets open the door.

High court denies Novartis Patent

Novartis has the patent in Glive beta in over 40 countries, 99% of cancer patients in India get the medicine free.  Today the Chennai high court heard the case of Novartis challenging the Indian panel law, the Swiss pharmaceutical company was seeking clarity in the patent law as a critical incentive for long –term R&D investments and better medicines. The appeals on patent laws was heard by intellectual property appellate board (IPAB). Earlier the board had dismissed a petition of Novartis for a new technical member instead of the office who was responsible for the original rejection of the Glive patent in 2006 . In its current form, the patent law in India does not protect incremental innovation and does not recognize that incremental innovation provide benefits bond efficacy. According to Novartis , “Section 3(d) fails to recognize that incremental inventions have utility and value not just in improving therapeutic efficacy, but also in providing significant benefits in terms of drug delivery, patient safety and compliance.” Breakthrough innovations are rare in medical research and incremental innovation therefore is hardly incremental in the pharmaceutical industry, in this particular case the difference in Glive or beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate for which the patent is seeked defines a cancer curing drug.But the section 3 (d) of the Indian patent law excludes these important developments . This convenient exclusion actually leads to the protection of vested interests of companies like Ranbaxy , Cipla etc.  Novartis has been awarded a patent for the beta crystal Glive form in nearly 40 other countries including China, in November 2003 India awarded Novartis  Exclusive Marketing Rights (EMR) for Glivec, The EMR protects the beta crystal form of the drug for five years, or until the review of the mailbox application , but at the time of patenting the Indian patent office said that the application did not satisfy its requirements for “ novelty and inventive step”.  Novartis ‘s social responsibility programs reached over 33 million patients in 2006 and valued at 755 US $ , 99% of patients who are prescribed Glive in India receive it free. One valid question is on the intent of Novaris in free distribution and then the legal arm wrestle over patent and public announcemnt s of no price increase after patent procurement. No action of Novartis is out of altruism; the free distributi on is to familiarize the masses with the medicine also the free distribution helps in the research and development of the company.  But as a whole the motives of the company effectively lead to cheaper medicines easily available to the Indian cancer patients, and the company holds the patent in 40 other countries then why did the high court dismiss its plea? Why was the section 3(d) of the Indian patent law not amended? Is it because the law and its technicalities left no space   for the larger issue or is it a way of buying time for the Indian pharmaceuticals?

Bihar; justice denied.

Bihar is among the least developed states of India it  has a per capita income of $155 a year against India’s average of $255. 30.6%  of people live below the poverty line against India’s average of 22.15%.  Its G D P in 2000 was a mere Rs.  469,430. Historically, a major centre of learning and home to the universities dating back to the fifth century. Present day Bihar has a grossly inadequate educational infrastructure creating a huge mismatch between demand and supply.  But this does not articulate anyhting about the law and order situation in Bihar.   A Cartoon in one of the leading national papers showed the goddess of justice , in a withered state, leave bihar. The state has seen it all, from police atrocities when prisoners were blinded by acid, to  mulktiple communal riots and public beating of theives and crooks. The  future of bihar is gloomy , despite the high number of IAS officers, IITans and IIM graduates it produces. We can blame lack of vision of the political classes, and inadequate investments in agriculture, infrastructure and education. In addition, mis-rule caste-dominated politics and rampant corruption by politicians & bureaucrats as the cause of the lack of development of the state. The media got  stirred up by a recent event, when Mohammed Aurangzeb snatched a gold chain of Shanti Devi, of Nathnagar in Bhagalpur, on her way back to her home from a temple and fled. Some people in the area gave a chase to the crook While the chain was recovered sometime later, the irate mob – bent on lynching the thief, Salim – continued to bash him up. Shockingly, the residents were encouraged and even helped by the local police. Together, they continued to thrash Salim on the streets of Bhagalpur, in full public view, for three hours. Salim was tied to a policeman’s motorcycle and dragged around town, leaving him critically ill in a hospital. The incident, however, enraged the local people who then attacked the police station demanding suspension of Constable L. B. Singh and inspector Ramchandra Rai and proof of Aurangzeb still being alive. A mere chain snatching could not have triggered off the incident it was more. It was a poor Muslim man, snatching the chain of a Hindu woman in front of a temple. It was the audacity of police who felt that they had the right to beat the life out of a man. It was the changed notion with which Bihar views violence and is comfortable with the new norms of the society. It was the evidence of lack of human right but worst is that it was hyped for few days and then forgotten. The public memory shifted from Salim to Salman and then to Sachin. However, Bihar kept reminding us of its lack of law in our “shining” country. After a few days, police blinded a teenager by poking iron rods in his eyes, and at another place, 10 people were beaten to death because they were suspected to have stolen, their bodies thrown into Ganga and left for dogs and vultures. It ’s not that we don’t have laws to deal with this situation the article 311 , 2 (b) states that Dismissal, removal or reduction in rank of persons employed in civil capacities under the Union or a State is only to be recorded by that authority in writing, if  it is not reasonably practicable to hold an inquiry i.e when the person is guilty beyond doubt. Nevertheless, dismissal of two constables solves no problem.  The word Bihar means, “abode”, but what once was a nest for education, knowledge, politics and culture is fostering the criminals, corruption and jungle raj. The solution lie’s neither in human rights commission sending notices nor in the dharana’s staged by many. Bihar faces not just violence but also it has accepted that violence is the way of life. A way of life, which has percolated in mind sets of a once civic society.

WAL MART; Ethical standards department, unethical stands.

Wal-Mart’s act of donating 1.2mn $ is seen as a spurious act of protecting self- interest.  Rajan Kamalnathan, Vice president of Wal-Mart Ethical standards department, very proudly announced that Wal-Mart has altruistically decided to grant 1.2 mn $ to the HOPE foundation to establish industrial centers for hope. These centers that will be brought up at Bangalore, Chennai, Moradabad, Mumbai and Panipat; are the areas where the large manufacturing base of Wal-Mart suppliers is expected. The act of philanthropy which has been given the name of Corporate Social Responsibility, makes the lay man wonder why will Wal-Mart, notorious for cutting short on employee’s pay, health care, insurance, pensions and basic rights, do an act of selflessness? The question is why does a company driven by profits actually need to donate money, is it for the sheer concern for their image and are donations actually economically viable? The answers are basic in nature, Wal-Mart views India as an untapped market, with easy to bend labour laws and less efficient labour especially in comparison to America. It needs to make an effort to increase the efficacy of future employees, so Wal-Mart has invested in their education and vocational training.Many economists have theorized that the role of the government for the profitable working of private sector is essentially to provide the initial fillip, which is usually by way of deficit financing. This deficit finance i.e intentionally created excess money is used in public expenditure, and thereby results in better productivity and efficiency. The job of doing this expenditure was of the government as it was considered that no single company would have the resources or the inclination to invest in such social overheads. But what the economists did not foresee was that very soon multi national giants would find this investment easier than the government.

 So a company like Wal-Mart, which does not give it’s employees the right to form unions, has over 500 cases of labour rights against it , over 57 wage related law suits, 1371 cases of minor employment, has paid the largest penalties for strom water violations in history ,for  over   $3.1 million  , many other  settlements , has paid over 500 mn $ in n the last 7 years(Arkansas Democrat Gazette,11/7/5)  ,perhaps is not promoting education or vocational training as a part of HOPE foundation’s hope to see a brighter future.

 It is only ensuring a better product out of the people of those specific manufacturing areas so that they can be used in the most effective manner by the unethical practices of Wal-Mart.

Bill Fletcher, director of International labour rights forum recently reported that Wal-Mart as a company has done nothing to improve it labour rights but has been forcing overtime, not giving access to drinking water, and curbing freedom to form association or union compensations. So when Mr. Mark Templer executive director of HOPE says that India enjoys a booming economy, but there is also another India where young people often never go to the school to support their families. And expresses his delight on Wal-Mart’s support to address the needs of inclusive development in India he does not realize that the donations are not a part of social responsibility but selfish realization.

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