INDIA – India blamed Islamic militants based in Pakistan and Bangladesh for twin bombings that killed at least 42 people in the south, and a top government official acknowledged that his country was struggling to stop terror attacks. 

“Our country is so big that even if we have the information that something is planned we do not know where or when,” Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said.

He did not say if authorities had any advance warning of Saturday’s blasts, which killed 42 people in Hyderabad. They were the latest in a series of deadly bombings in India in the last two years that have killed hundreds in India’s capital, its financial center and Hinduism’s holiest city, among other cities.

Officials blame the attacks on foreign militants with ties to Pakistan or Bangladesh, saying the extremists want to foment tension between India’s Hindu majority and its Muslim minority.

The argument has been used even when the victims were Muslim, as was the case in the May bombings of a historic mosque in Hyderabad that 11 killed people.

Authorities have provided little evidence linking Islamic militants to the blasts, and many Muslims here blame Hindu extremists.

With the investigation into the latest bombings — which targeted areas frequented by both Hindus and Muslims — just getting under way Sunday, officials were again pointing the finger at foreign Islamic militants.

“Available information points to the involvement of terrorist organizations based in Bangladesh and Pakistan,” Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state, where Hyderabad is located, told reporters after an emergency state Cabinet meeting.

Reddy did not name the groups or provide proof, saying “it is not possible to divulge all this information.”

However, Indian media reports, quoting unnamed security officials, said the Bangladesh-based Harkatul Jihad Al-Islami group was behind the attack. Harkatul, which wants to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh, has been known to attack non-Bangladeshi targets, including Western diplomats.

Bangladesh condemned Saturday’s bombings and rejected the allegation that Bangladeshi groups were involved.

Pakistan also reacted angrily to Reddy’s comments, characterizing them as an “irresponsible” knee-jerk reaction.

“They have been making these allegations and nothing ever came out of those allegations and yet they continue maligning Pakistan,” said Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam.

“Only the Indians have this kind of some supernatural powers that as soon as some terrorist act takes place they know how it happened and who is responsible,” she told The Associated Press in Islamabad.

Indian officials have blamed other bombings over the past two years on Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, or Army of the Pure, an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan that has fought India forces in New Delhi’s part of contested Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim Himalayan region.

We condemn the attacks,” U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Sunday. “India has shown great resolve and courage in the face of extremist threats. We continue to stand by the Indian people in the fight against terror.”

Much of India’s Hindu-Muslim animosity is rooted in disputes over Kashmir, divided between Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan but claimed in its entirety by both countries. More than a dozen Islamic insurgent groups are fighting for Kashmir’s independence or its merger with Pakistan.

More than 80 percent of India’s 1.1 billion people are Hindu and 13 percent are Muslim. But in Hyderabad, Muslims make up 40 percent of the population of 7 million.

INDIA: A string of blasts tore through the Indian city of Hyderabad late Saturday, killing at least 36 people and injuring 60 in what officials called a terrorist attack.

Three explosions rocked a packed auditorium where a laser show was under way in an amusement park jammed with weekend crowds, while two others ripped through a busy street eatery minutes later, police said.

“To be precise, a total of five explosive devices were used. We now have at least 36 people killed and 60 people injured,” Balwinder Singh, Hyderabad police chief, told reporters.

At least 15 of the injured were in serious condition, officials said, as police chief Singh said a sixth bomb was recovered from a cinema theatre and defused.

Federal Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said the explosions in the city, which has a large Muslim population and is considered communally sensitive, were the handiwork of “some terrorist group.”

“One terrorist group or the other, which is bent on destroying the unity of the country, is certainly involved in the blasts in Hyderabad,” Jaiswal said.

About 40 percent of Hyderabad’s 6.5 million population is Muslim.

Saturday’s explosions came three months after 11 people were killed in a bombing at the city’s famed 17th-century Mecca Mosque. Police have still not named any group or individual as suspects for the mosque blasts.

Ten days ago, when India was celebrating the 60th anniversary on August 15 of its independence, authorities stepped up security across the country after new threats by Al-Qaeda and separatist rebels.

Police chiefs said then that, while there was nothing specific, they were taking the terror threat very seriously.

The Hyderabad city administrator said Saturday that police “already have some leads” but did not elaborate.

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy called on “everyone to be calm.”

“Bomb blasts are the cruelest acts against humanity. The perpetrators of such an act could have no religion, ideological or national identity. They at best could be described as traitors of humanity,” said Reddy.

Dismembered limbs, clothes and shoes of people watching the laser show in Lumbini Park lay scattered on the ground and there were pools of blood where victims had fallen.

“People were running away, some who were hurt had blood streaming from their bodies,” a private security guard said.

Injured people were rushed to hospital in three-wheel scooters and cars.

The chief minister said about 500 people were in the auditorium at the time of the explosion.

The federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil said he would visit Hyderabad on Sunday.

Explosive experts visited the blast sites to collect samples of materials used, while police evacuated the areas where the explosions occurred.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts and expressed his deep concern.

India has suffered a series of recent terrorist attacks.

In July 2006, seven bomb blasts ripped through financial hub Mumbai’s rail network killing some 186 people.

“We’re seeing a pattern of attacks every two to three months somewhere or other in the country on soft targets,” said Ajai Sahni, head of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management.

“They appear to be linked to what we call Pakistan-backed Islamic terrorist groups.”

The Mumbai attack was blamed on militants seeking to upset a slow-moving peace process between India and Pakistan and provoke Hindu-Muslim violence.

India has frequently accused Islamic militant groups fighting its rule in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir of being behind attacks. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and both nuclear rivals claim the region in full.

The neighbours have fought two wars over the Himalayan territory where at least 42,000 people have been killed in the separatist revolt since 1989.
Pakistan denies any involvement in attacks on Indian soil.

INDIA: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s independence-day speech yesterday should come as a huge disappointment to investors. 

The country’s 60th anniversary of independence from Britain was a perfect opportunity for Singh to make up for lost time and announce bold, new economic freedoms, something that his government has shied away from granting the people in the three years that it has been in power.

He missed the chance.

Singh uttered the word “reform” — India’s official shorthand for all plans that seek to modernize the economy and loosen state controls — just once in his speech, and that too in the context of fixing university education.

By contrast, Singh’s predecessor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had used the word 13 times in 2000.

The only tangible takeaway for investors from Singh’s uninspiring address is that his government already has the 2009 polls on its mind.

Why else would the prime minister of the world’s second- fastest-growing major economy celebrate a proud and unique moment in the nation’s history with a lament that included as many as 15 references to poverty?

One hates to be a cynic, but a simple analysis of independence-day speeches seems to suggest that concern for the plight of the downtrodden follows a cyclical pattern in India.

It rises when general elections are near and ebbs once they are out of the way.

Gloomy Speech

On the six occasions Vajpayee had addressed the nation from the historic Red Fort in Delhi, he used the words “poverty” and “poor” a combined 27 times. Out of these, as many as 24 mentions occurred in the three independence-day speeches immediately preceding the May 2004 election, which he lost.

Singh isn’t taking any chances.

“Even after years of development and rising growth rates, why have we not been able to banish mass poverty and provide employment to all?” Singh asked his countrymen yesterday, adding that the purpose of his rhetorical question was “not to make you feel dispirited, but to enthuse you to march forward.”

It isn’t the people of India who need to be prodded into action; it’s the politicians that need to wake up. Almost everyone outside of the political and administrative establishment is already marching forward as best they can.

The creative solutions invented by people to make a living are visible on every street corner, though they may not always make for a pretty picture.

State-Sponsored Penury

In smaller towns of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, it’s common to find pushcart vendors who will replace — even repair — your soiled, torn currency note for a fee. They call themselves “money exchangers.”

Why do the people of India have to be engaged in such desperate, hopeless businesses 60 years after the end of colonial exploitation? Why can’t the world’s biggest democracy, which has done an incredible job of nation-building, find better uses for its people’s enterprise?

Official estimates suggest that between 22 percent and 28 percent of Indians live below the poverty line, which is defined as per-capita consumption expenditure of about 40 U.S. cents a day in urban areas.

While the ratio of poor people in the population has steadily declined for three decades, there’s no denying that 28 percent of 1 billion people translates into a huge challenge.

It’s not that Indians have chosen to live a life of penury; impecuniousness has been thrust on them by an uncaring state that isn’t even now willing to give them the freedoms they need to find a job or run a business.

Endless Wait

Take the country’s overly restrictive labor laws, which discourage hiring by making it extremely difficult and expensive to fire workers. As a result, a majority of workers have to toil in informal, extralegal businesses where they have no rights.

Based on a survey of about 2,000 retail stores across India, World Bank economist Mohammad Amin recently concluded that scrapping the country’s rigid labor laws would boost employment by 22 percent for an average store.

With retailers employing 9 percent of the workforce, the gains in employment would surely be significant for the economy as a whole. Yet, a plan to amend the labor laws has awaited political consensus since 2001.

Similarly, large-format global retailers are being prevented from investing directly in Indian stores, out of a misplaced concern for the small local shopkeeper, curtailing yet another opportunity for employment creation and economic growth.

Finance Suffers

Change is perhaps the slowest in the financial sector, where the opportunity for India is probably the largest.

Insurance, pensions and banking remain heavily state-owned, state-controlled and, therefore, tiny compared with what an economy the size of India’s really needs.

A committee established by the government has come up with a bold road map for turning Mumbai into an international financial center. The least Singh could do was to endorse the strategy in his speech so that it would be taken seriously as part of the executive’s political agenda.

But then, in his speech, Singh even forgot to claim credit for what may well become the single-biggest victory of his political career: the recently concluded civilian nuclear agreement with the U.S. That deal may be getting the Indian prime minister brickbats from politicians of all hues, but it’s also winning him praise from businessmen who are impatient for an end to the country’s acute shortage of electric power.

If only Singh had strived for a great speech, instead of a safe one.

Commentary by Andy Mukherjee in Singapore

INDIA: The 2006 estimates released by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), supported by UNAIDS and WHO, indicate that national adult HIV prevalence in India is approximately 0.36%.

As part of its continuing effort to know its epidemic better, the Indian Government has greatly expanded and improved its surveillance system in recent years and increased the population groups covered. In 2006, the government created 400 new sentinel surveillance sites and facilitated National Family Health Survey-3, which is a population based survey.

Launching the third phase of the National Programme, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare said, “Revision of estimates based on more data and improved methodology marks a significant improvement in systems and capabilities to monitor the spread of HIV, a sign of the progress we have made in understanding the epidemic better. This is welcome progress. Unfortunately, the new figures still point towards a serious epidemic with the potential to trigger off if the prevention efforts identified in the NACP III are not scaled up rapidly and implemented in the desired manner. We must remember that India has nearly 301 lakh people living with HIV. These are people facing stigma, discrimination and irrational prejudice everyday of their lives and need all our support and understanding.” The Minister called upon his colleagues in the medical profession and civil society organizations to fight stigma and discrimination.

Resulting from a more robust and enhanced methodology, the revised estimates will be used to improve planning for prevention, care and treatment efforts. “While it is good news that the total number of HIV infections is lower than previously thought, we cannot be complacent. The steady and slow spread of the HIV infection is a worrying factor. The better understanding of India’s epidemic has certainly enabled us to have more focused HIV prevention and treatment strategies and more effective deployment of resources,” said Mr. Naresh Dayal, Secretary Health and Chair of the National AIDS Control Board.

The new methods developed for the revised estimates has also been used to “back-calculate” the prevalence for years since 2002 based on the new set of assumptions and measures. These figures allow a fair comparison of year-on-year trends in HIVprevalence. They show an epidemic that is stable overtime with marginal decline in 2006.

Commenting on the new estimates and guarding against their misinterpretation, Sujatha Rao, Additional Secretary and Director General, National AIDS Control Organization said, “The calculation of figures for several years, using the new model helps us understand that the new lower estimates do not mean a sharp decline in the epidemic.” Cautioning against an easing off the momentum of the HIV response she added, “Using a similar methodology led to downward revision in estimates in some countries such as Zambia and Rwanda. We will convince all stakeholders to stay energized and to retain the hard-fought gains of the last decade”

Showing confidence in the commitment of the Indian leadership, Dr. Denis Broun, UNAIDS Country Coordinator said, “The trends evident from the latest estimates validate India’s national AIDS strategy. Taking encouragement from the new lower estimates the national authorities should increase the strength of their HIV programmes. We must scale-up efforts to reach universal access to HIV prevention, care and treatment. Though the proportion of people living with HIV is lower than previously estimated, India’s epidemic continues to be substantial in numbers. Despite the lower prevalence estimate the cost of prevention efforts required to control the epidemic remains the same.”

WHO Representative, Dr. Salim Habayeb commended the vision of the Government of India in the last 15 years for addressing the HIV epidemic. He also commended the efforts of the states, civil society, partner agencies as well as the valuable role of the media in facilitating the creation of an enabling environment. “The HIV burden remains substantial. India’s efforts, especially those in prevention, are noteworthy and should be further scaled up along with provision of Universal Access to treatment for those who need it.”

HIV prevalence shows signs of slight decline among general population

While overall, the HIV epidemic shows a stable trend in the recent years, there is variation between states and population groups. The good news is that in Tamil Nadu and other southern states with high HIV burden where effective interventions have been in place for several years, HIV prevalence has begun to decline or stabilize.

New pockets of high HIV prevalence identified

HIV continues to emerge in new areas. The 2006 surveillance data has identified selected pockets of high prevalence in the northern states. There are 29 districts with high prevalence, particularly in the states of West Bengal, Orissa, Rajasthan and Bihar.

HIV prevalence continues to be high among vulnerable groups

The 2006 surveillance figures show an increase in HIV infection among several groups at higher risk of HIV infection such as people who inject drugs and men who have sex with men. The HIV positivity among Injecting Drug Users (IDU) has been found to be significantly high in metro cities of Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh. Besides, the states of Orissa, Punjab, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala also show high prevalence among IDUs.

While data does suggest that HIV prevalence levels are declining among sex workers in the southern states, overall prevalence levels among this group continue to be high, necessitating a scaling up of focused prevention efforts among these groups.

“Only by controlling the epidemic among the vulnerable groups can the dynamic of the epidemic be broken,” said Sujatha Rao, Additional Secretary and Director General, NACO.

Regulatory Authority on Safe Blood being established

Underscoring the priorities, the Minister of Health called for the need for strong measures to regulate the blood collection and distribution system in the country to make it world class. He stated that the Ministry of Health is establishing a regulatory authority which will regulate access to safe blood at affordable prices.

WHO Southeast Asia