your power Use it

In section 49 -O

Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, as per the 1969 act, in section "49-O" that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he doesn't want to vote anyone! Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it.

This is called "49-O". Why should you go and say "I VOTE NOBODY"... because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received "49-O" votes more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the Candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them.

This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way, of our whole political system... it is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public.... Please spread this news to as many as you know...

Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India... show your power, expressing your desire not to vote for anybody, is ven more powerful than voting... so don't miss your chance.

So either vote, or vote not to vote (vote 49-O) and pass this information. .. "Please forward this to as many as possible, so that we, the people of India , can really use this power to save our nation" use your voting right for a better INDIA .

My orkut profile:

http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=17576758083621372830

India: Poverty Retreats with Globalization’s Advance

Economic dynamism spurred by global connections helped an impoverished nation to overcome crises

	Shopping spree: As India's "Hindu rate of growth" gives in to globalization's fast clip, shopping malls sprout

MONTREAL: As the driving force of the world economy since the mid-1970s, globalization has become a lodestone for a wide-ranging attack across a large expanse of the developing world for its alleged malign consequences. Reduced to its essentials, the attack posits the impact of globalization to be economic stagnation, deindustrialization, economic destabilization and growing inequality.

Marked by vigor, the critique lacks in empirical rigor. Whatever the merits of this critique for the rest of the developing world, the empirical evidence from India, both quantitative and qualitative, constitutes an emphatic refutation. India forms a valuable test case by virtue of its vast size, huge population and rampant diversity. Put simply, India has been a significant beneficiary of globalization despite its rather modest integration into the world economy.

After a stringent regime of “autarky and command and control economy,” from 1956 to 1975, India started on a slow path of reintegration into the world economy, albeit in nascent form. Interestingly, India’s reintegration coincides with the onset of the larger process of globalization. However, carried out in stealth, economic liberalization, the national policy counterpart of globalization, remained tentative and minimal in India. Not until 1991 did India, amidst enormous economic crisis, make a paradigm shift to liberalization, though still limited.

Empirical comparison of the period before and after liberalization demonstrates that, instead of economic stagnation, India achieved a marked acceleration in economic growth after liberalization. Indeed, India broke the barrier of stagnation that had been the lot of the country before globalization. India’s rate of growth from 1975 to 2007 has been over 5.5 percent, compared to the derisively termed “Hindu” rate of growth of 3.4 percent over the period 1956 to 1975, and especially to the pathetic 2.6 percent over the decade prior to the nascent liberalization in 1975. In the dozen years from 1995 to 2007 the growth rate has been over 6.5 percent; during the last four years India has sustained an unprecedented average growth rate of over 8 percent.

It is difficult to exaggerate this accomplishment in growth acceleration. It has provided additional resources not only for investment in human capital but also for expenditures on the social sectors and poverty alleviation. Besides, the economic dynamism associated with this growth has imparted a self-confidence for successfully building a consolidated nation-state. It has indeed transformed a country that had been mocked as “the sick man of Asia” – an inveterate supplicant for foreign aid – into a credible contender for a major role in the balance of power in Asia.

Similarly, far from the specter of deindustrialization held out by the critics, foreign imports have not swamped Indian industry after tariffs were lowered as part of India’s reintegration into the world economy. Rather, Indian industry has grown at a higher rate than it had prior to liberalization of the economy. The growth rate of manufacturing has been around 6.5 percent since 1975 and close to 7 percent during the dozen years up to 2006. At the latter rate, the value of manufacturing doubles about every 10 years – not exactly deindustrialization. The advance in manufacturing has been broad-based and not limited to consumption goods.

As regards denationalization, industry in India initially faced serious challenges from the entry of foreign multinationals. Yet foreign investment has served to supplement, not supplant Indian industry. India remains master of its economic destiny. Besides, under the invigorating impulses imparted by increased foreign competition, Indian industry reoriented its horizon beyond the domestic market to the wider world economy in terms of not only exports and establishment of subsidiaries but also of substantial, some indeed spectacular, purchases of foreign firms abroad. More recently, India has been on a course of “reverse imperialism” with its firms on a buying spree abroad. India is now the third largest investor in the UK.

As for economic destabilization, the autarkic period prior to the initial and nascent opening to globalization in 1975 was ridden with grave economic crises. Indeed, throughout that entire period, India labored under an enormous and debilitating foreign-exchange constraint, which both retarded and distorted its development. The period of intermittent, incremental liberalization, 1974 to 1991, still saw some crises but the leadership used the occasions creatively to advance liberalization. After the paradigm shift to economic liberalization in the early 1990s, India has not yet seen another economic crisis and no longer faces a foreign-exchange constraint because of its accumulating reserves, currently at some $170 billion. The absence of a foreign-exchange crisis has boosted the self-confidence of the nation. The reserves had sunk to $1.2 billion during the 1991 crisis.

As for impoverishment, the globalization period has seen welfare enhancement through a long-term decline in poverty. The proportion of population below the poverty line was 55 percent in 1973, after which there has occurred a secular decline. By 2000 it stood at 26 percent. Although the last figure is disputed because of changes in survey design, there can be no doubt about the long-term decline. The line of causality here clearly runs from globalization and liberalization to acceleration in the growth rate and then to poverty reduction – a remarkable testimony to the robustness of the much-maligned “trickle down theory.”

Still, it would be heartless, indeed cruel, to make the performance on poverty reduction an occasion to celebrate liberalization, as much poverty still remains, even when defined minimally in caloric-intake terms. Indeed, the persistence of poverty for massive numbers, inherited from the past, underscores the passion that goes into critiques of globalization. However, the conclusion that flows from a comparative analysis of the trends since the beginning of liberalization in 1975 – when set against the condition prior to it, of staggeringly high poverty and economic stagnation – is different. Higher rates of economic growth, facilitated by periodic doses of liberalization, pushed forward poverty reduction. The policy implication therefore is that more, not less, liberalization fosters and sustains rapid economic growth.

Meanwhile, there has been no marked increase in inequality in terms of hard data; distribution of consumption expenditure to the lowest 20 percent of the population has remained substantially stable. However, there is no doubt that the top 20 percent of the population has benefited enormously from globalization. At the same time, widening of regional disparities in poverty reduction from the Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to the booming provinces in the South is of deep concern. On the other hand, the earlier situation of relatively smaller regional disparities was associated with economic stagnation in contrast with the current economic dynamism. Meanwhile, the greater advance by some states should serve as a stimulus to the laggard states to set their own house in order to promote growth.

In short, contrary to the position of the critics, globalization has served as the agent of deliverance for India from economic stagnation and perpetual economic crises even as it has reduced poverty. However, India continues to be dogged by deep-seated societal problems that persisted throughout the autarkic period. But it is precisely the accelerated growth generated by globalization that has provided the additional resources to alleviate, if not yet to remove, them.

Baldev Raj Nayar is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at McGill University, Montreal. This article draws on his heavily documented monograph “India’s Globalization: Evaluating the Economic Impact,” (Washington, DC: East-West Center, 2006), which is being republished by Sage India in 2007.

EFFECTS OF GLOBALISATION

Globalization of the economy and the resultant liberalization within the economic system of the country cannot any longer be reversed. These forces have emerged due to the complex nature of the interaction between the growth of economies of most countries, the resultant trade and market patterns which are unfolding. Both of these (i.e. economic growth and trade and market patterns) which, to a great extent, have been shaped by the nature of scientific and technological changes. Increasingly in all the products and services, the scientific and technological intensity will continue to increase and the rate of change will be such that the elements of scientific and technological contents will continue to change. This means more and more investments in technological innovation and the market processes. Which, in turn, means that within a short period, business organizations have to reap the benefits of their investments as otherwise the technological changes introduced by the competitors would displace them out of market and therefore business. Therefore their aim is: More and more investments in technology and innovation in shorter and shorter periods and reaping the benefits within the shorter product cycles. This process necessitates a much larger market size than what business organizations use to be content with in earlier years. In other words, every firm in the world has to think in terms of reaching a global market even though it may be producing only a part of a product or a service. This is what is called an integration of the production process.

Figure 1 in this paper describes how globalisation and market forces are linked to rural sector in India. The right hand side of the figure shows the global market which transacts business through export and import. It involves most of the people of the developed countries, and most of firms and business houses of developed countries, as well as a part of people from many other developing countries and firms and business entities which deal with export and imports form these developing countries.

The green circle with right hand end of Figure 1 (in side there are few dots representing rich Indians) represents the global market. A few rich Indians have already fully integrated themselves with global market because their day-to-day consumption material including cloth, food and even drinks let alone the equipment/machinery/technology for their businesses come from abroad. Given the "free foreign exchange" situation now, their transactions with the global markets are highly simplified. (Even in the earlier times, it is used to be through various forms of legal and not so legal methods.)

The rich Indians controls many businesses in the cities and metropolis. Some have investments in foreign countries as well. From the lower economic levels of India, they get labour, raw material, space to operate etc. going towards the left side of the figure, one can note that the reach of the global market as connection within the country is with the bulk of the upper and lower middle class through the business operations in the city and urban nuclei which include the metropolis and other big cities not so declared still (about 10 to 12 of them still qualified to be called as big metropolis such as Bangalore, Hyderabad etc.) and many smaller cities and towns. All these will number to above 5000 in all. The business operations in metropolis, big cities and big towns receive imported materials equipment and services; they also export goods abroad. Many foreigners come to these cities stay in the hotels and also transact business. There is a reasonable tow way flow between global markets and these city nuclei through many of them feel the competitive pressure – loss of jobs, closure of inefficient businesses etc. Other small towns compete to do business and get integrated with these market forces by offering cost advantages such as low cost labour, lesser rentals for office spaces etc. In the IT fields and for some manufacturing sectors, this is particularly relevant. These small towns etc. make at least some low value added items to be consumed in Indian cities (thus providing them cost competitive inputs) which in turn maintain the link with the global markets. Such linkages with these smaller towns (with the low value addition to products & services) help to maintain a large workforce in the cities and the metropolis thus helping them to continue with their competitive advantages in the global market through cheap labour content and therefore lower costs. Thus people in smaller towns and rural areas (we will expand on this later) still " subsidise" Indian cities with cheap inputs. A part of this "cheapness" of the Indian labour and Indian cities and the resultant cost advantages to Indian business in big cities comes by virtue of the fact the urban slums absorb a large amount of human misery about which we have discussed before. They supply the very cheap labour force in terms of house servants, hawkers, cleaners, casual workers etc. who in turn maintain the "competitive advantages" of the work force of bigger businesses and the firms to face onslaught of global markets. We need to recognize the fact that since the technological sophistication of Indian industry in general (though there may be a few exceptions) is still poor, much of the competitive advantages in the global market are coming from very low wages of Indian people. How long such a situation can be sustained is a serious question. The author has addressed these in his book noted as Ref.3 and also in the book Ref.5 "India 2020: Vision for the Millennium" by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam with the author. In the Figure 1 under discussion, the global markets and the urban integration with the global market are now largely sustained by urban poor, smaller towns and the misery of the rural poor.

Now comes the question of what happens to the poorly connected villages shown in the Figure 1. At the left end, which are about 600,000 in number. Mostly people in these poorly connected villages live on a low productivity agriculture, cattle rearing , and related casual work. These are more or less primary products which find their one way to smaller towns and cities going as more of less as a very low value added commodity items. Paddy is collected and milled in towns; in cities higher value addition takes place. Honey is collected in villages and moved to bigger towns in villages and cities where it is bottled and marketed. Low value artisanal goods are purchased in villages and marketed in towns/cities as value added products. Same with milk. Thus most of the villages are always at subsistence levels. Poor people in villages do not have the capacity to hold their products to get better returns. They often do distress sale. Of course, there are a few rural rich farmers who can afford to hold their produce; they have in many ways integrated themselves with towns and cities. Many such rich farmers have now started to live in towns or are having at least second homes in towns or cities. Some of these rural rich farmers are themselves under economic pressure which are exerted on agriculture by the global economy. They are trying to get out of agriculture and get into other businesses as is happening in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh etc. But bulk of the rural poor, and the marginal farmers cannot afford this alternative. They continue to struggle in the villages and get whatever seeds or fertilizers, they can get access to within the constraints, and produce whatever they can and sell the produce on whatever prices are offered to them by the markets of the small towns or the middlemen. The same applies to artisans who produce crafts and other products from villages. The situation of landless labour in villages is still worse. Many of them tend to migrate to cities as unskilled work force. Occasionally a few tourists may go to some of the villages which have some tourists’ attraction or have some other forms of archaeological and historical importance. Again at these places tourist industry develops. But they mostly thrive on products produced in cities: potato chips, beverages, every food products and bottled water come from cities. Occasionally some tender coconut may be bought from these villagers! Of course a few villagers get jobs selling their products as hawkers. Some small shops may come up which sell these products and may have a clientele from low income Indian tourists. But by and large these trickle down effects to villages to villages are very minimum.

To recapitulate Figure 1 the global markets are exerting the pressure for economic efficiency on businesses and operations in the city and urban nuclei. They can face these pressures only with high intake of science and technology; either they have to generate them themselves or allow a foreign investor to be a partner or buy from foreign technology suppliers. In this way ( i.e. by technological inputs thus obtained) they can maintain their position in economic competition or even improve themselves. A few 100 million Indians perhaps around 300 million Indians can some how find their way to survive or even flourish against these competitive pressures or even take advantage of global opportunities by learning to live through this competition. On the longer term, though, they themselves may be endangered if Indian S&T systems and Indian firms do not become technologically & organizationally sophisticated, with at least some of their own internal S&T strengths and organizational strengths. A perennial dependence on foreign technology through purchase or through investment partners would erode their competitive business advantages. In such a case (of perennial dependence) only a few rich Indians (may be about 50 million) may be able to survive global competition because of the strength of their financial capital and trade linkages. And to a certain extent in the educational system which will tend to produce young boys and girls form India to serve foreign markets and some of these surviving businesses, there could be some vitality. But most persons in the city who are now able to survive global competition, may not be able to sustain with S&T and other organizational strengths.

As far as the villages are concerned they are poorly connected even now. They are one way source of cheap primary products, crafts etc. on which further value addition is done in town and cities to get some export earnings to survive global competition. (Note that agricultural products and crafts still are good net foreign exchange earners.) So what will happen to the villages if this process of exertion of global pressure continues for sometime and the drive for economic efficiency through market forces aiming at international standards continue. It may mean complete depression of villages because at some point of time, it may even be difficult for villages to produce agricultural products and crafts to meet the international / global standards of phyto sanitary conditions or designs in crafts etc. World is not static. Countries like China, a number of countries from south east Asia, central Asian countries etc. may produce products which will sell in India (already happening). Then there may be a few corporates who may buy their (i.e. poor farmers’) lands in the villages and introduce modern farming. Then only a few of them may be employed at economically efficient levels to produce competitive products. Similarly, many of the traditional crafts with "new look" may be produced by investors from cities or foreign countries with more knowledge, skill and investment. Again only a few villagers may be employed. All these employments and payments will be driven purely by market forces. What happens of the residue of the Indians whose number will not be small. If now in villages and towns / cities there are 700 million with poor conditions, with population increase to say 1.4 billion by 2020 and with cities not able to absorb more than 300 – 400 million for reasons described before, they will be about 1 billion who will suffer; or it may be 700 million. It is still large number. (See Reference 6 as to why I state that there are 700 million Indians who are in poor conditions now and not the official figure of 26%)

Thus it is very clear that the villages and the people there cannot be left to the forces of global market forces and the resultant internal market forces through liberalization and economic reforms. In fact even for the city people (middle & lower middle class and urban poor) there is a case that they cannot be left to these forces alone and large focused efforts need to be done to empower them and Indian industries with S&T strengths and the necessary organizational and business management skills. But for rural India which already suffers from severe poverty, situation is already serious. Also their expectations through TV and other media are going to go up and they can legitimately aspire for more. It is a human volcano getting ready. Such a strong language is used to draw attention to the serious situation.

In order not have such serious outcome, the solution is to generate linkages of knowledge and skills and investments into the villages not merely as small doles or as something which is given in the name of appropriate technology keeping them in subsistence level, but in substantial manner with a new approach so that larger value addition even within the limited investment level affordable by them is done at villages themselves. Such activities need not be connected with agriculture or their traditional activities alone. They should be value adding and sustainable economically. Our villagers are very quick to adapt to new skills. Today, such linkages are absent or very minimal as shown as red arrow in the figure. Providing such two way linkages cannot happens in a vacuum. It will require initial public investment in terms of economic connectivity and also in terms of knowledge and skills which are described in Ref. 2, 3, 4 and 5. If this is done with a strong will and steadily over a period of 10 years then the economic levels of the villagers will grow to a good level. Then they will not be merely people eking out an existence at subsistence levels (i.e. "drawers of water and hewers of wood") but will be those who can produce products and services of good competitive quality with each one having their own niche in a global chain of production but without being at a disadvantaged position of one way extraction currently in vogue. In other words, they can master the market forces of liberalization and globalization with adequate tools with them to participate as equal partners. The win-win situation which is being talked in general terms for others in the global forums should also include these people rapidly. It cannot be win-win for others at the cost of these large number of poor people. To equip these people with the tools briefly described above becomes at essential necessity for India to become as a developed country. They will be crippled in economic terms if the present approach that is "to extract cheap labour / goods when available and to dump them at difficult times" with occasional populist doles thrown in to win votes. How to do this i.e. equipping rural areas with necessary tools with minimum necessary public investment are described here with a few examples from the TIFAC.

It is also important to point out that equipping people with these tools and related investment is far more crucial than the political and legal initiatives of the Panchayati Raj for villages. The rates of changes due to globalisation are fast. And time periods between opening and closing of windows of new opportunities are small. Therefore actions of equipping people with tools and investments have to be done speedily. Otherwise there may be irreversible damages.

why are so many Indians poor

The overwhelming impression? Poverty. Two recent 24 hour journeys in second-class compartments on trains, and I came home stunned -- I mean this, I was simply stunned -- at the number and variety of people who streamed through the coach asking for coins. Or who did so from the stations we stopped at. Or who were obviously destitute and desperate even if they did not beg.

Eunuchs; blind men; blind couples; men on their behinds with a leg draped around their necks, one with a bag of grapes hanging from his toes; young kids doing some little act; young girls singing tunelessly; boys and men and women sweeping the compartment, some with the shirts off their backs; filthy mothers with a seemingly lifeless kid lolling in their arms; a bearded midget who didn't say a word; men without one or more limbs; men on crutches; a young man who picked up discarded watermelon rinds from under the train and chewed on them; a smiling old man who switched from Tamil to English to Tamil again, asking for money all the while; assorted others. From early in the morning, all through the day, well into the night. On and on.

I've travelled second-class for over 35 years now: short journeys, long ones, in every part of the country. For the sense it gives you of what India is about, it is indisputably the best way to travel. It occurred to me that on none of those journeys, over all those years, did I see so many beggars, so much poverty. All of which, like always, gave me a sense of what my country is about, circa 2005.

Yes, this is 2005. We are a decade-and-a-half into reforms and liberalisation and the tearing down of socialism that, we have been told, is addressing India's gargantuan problem of poverty in the most efficient way possible. The proponents of this great exercise will quote arguments and figures at length to make that case, to persuade us that poverty is on the wane. And if you look at their figures, you will indeed be persuaded. Figures are like that.

But then I do this second-class journey, and I am left with fumbling, groping questions: Why can't I see it, this dramatic decrease in poverty that's supposed to be chugging along so nicely? Why, in all the years that I've noticed and been aware of realities in my country, have I not felt there is a perceptible drop in the number of poor people? And on this one journey, why do I see more beggars -- many more -- than I ever have on such a trip?

Anecdotal evidence, those proponents will say, supercilious smile spreading on their faces because they believe they know better. Anecdotal evidence doesn't count. You have to look at the numbers. If you do, you will understand what we've been saying: the move to free markets is bringing more people out of poverty faster than anything else ever has, at any time in our history. In fact, it's a proven fact that free markets are the only mechanism there is to truly address poverty.

So just give it some time.

Oh yes, time. After all, who would expect an end to widespread poverty overnight? It must and will take time.

Then again, the reforms have been in place nearly 15 years. That's over a third of the time from 1947 till liberalisation began. By any standards, that hardly qualifies as "overnight" any more. By any standards, after 15 years during which droves of people escaped from being poor, I should see around me some perceptible decrease in poverty.

On this trip, I didn't.

Look at it this way: let's say I've been piling our household trash outside my front door for a year. Let's say I've steadily ignored my wife's pleas to clean the godawful mess that's now built up there. Until today, when I finally tell her I'm going to clean up. It's a huge job, but I do get started on it. Every day, I show my wife figures of the number of truckloads of dirt I've carted off from our door to the city dump.

Four months from now -- one-third of the year that I dumped garbage uncaringly at our front door -- would she be entitled to expect that the rubbish pile has visibly diminished?

And if she doesn't see this -- if she instead sees it looming just as large, perhaps even larger -- would she be entitled to think, this husband of mine is doing something wrong. If he's doing anything at all. What's more, would it make sense for me to smile superciliously at her worries and whip out my figures again? Tell her that her fears about the non-decreasing pile amount to just so much anecdotal evidence, and that doesn't count?

Absurd, of course. By themselves, figures mean nothing. The anecdotal evidence gives them heft and credibility.

Again, look at it this way: If I never had seen Indians defecating on the tracks, on the rocks at low tide, by the side of the road -- yes, if I never had seen such sights, it would be difficult to believe the troubling statistic that nearly seven of every 10 Indians lack access to reasonable sanitation. But I have seen them. That's why I have a sense that the figure is likely to be true. What's more, it's the only way I have of judging the truth in the figure.

In much the same way, our encounters with poor Indians are the anecdotal evidence that allows us to judge the truth about levels of poverty; about claims that those levels have decreased. What's more, they are the only way we have to judge those claims.

There's no doubt in my mind: reforms must happen. But 15 years after the process began, I can't help feeling that something is wrong about the way we are pursuing them. For I am yet to see the one effect they must have, first and above all: a visible lessening in the level of Indian poverty. Fewer poor Indians around us. I can't see that.

This train journey, in which Indian poverty streamed past me as if we were t some surreal alternate Republic Day parade, showed me as much

A Synopsis about Indian poverty

• Even more than 50 years after independence from almost two centuries of British rule, large scale poverty remains the most shameful blot on the face of India.

• India still has the world’s largest number of poor people in a single country. Of its nearly 1 billion inhabitants, an estimated 350-400 million are below the poverty line, 75 per cent of them in the rural areas.

• More than 40 per cent of the population is illiterate, with women, tribal and scheduled castes particularly affected.

• It would be incorrect to say that all poverty reduction programmes have failed. The growth of the middle class (which was virtually non-existent when India became a free nation in August 1947) indicates that economic prosperity has indeed been very impressive in India, but the DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH has been very uneven.

• The main causes of poverty are illiteracy, a population growth rate by far exceeding the economic growth rate for the better part of the past 50 years, protectionist policies pursued since 1947 to 1991 which prevented large amounts of foreign investment in the country.

• Poverty alleviation is expected to make better progress in the next 50 years than in the past, as a trickle-down effect of the growing middle class. Increasing stress on education, reservation of seats in government jobs and the increasing empowerment of women and the economically weaker sections of society, are also expected to contribute to the alleviation of poverty.

• Eradication of poverty can only be a very long-term goal in India.

Chronic poverty in India: overview study

This paper tries to summarise the current state of knowledge about chronic poverty in India and identify the agenda for further research. An overview of the trends in incidence of income poverty in India is provided so as to place chronic poverty in context.

It views chronic poverty in terms of severity, extended duration and multidimensional deprivation. It tries to identify the states and regions that have a high incidence of people with incomes severely below the poverty line so as to focus attention on areas that are spatial poverty traps. Those unable to access even two square meals a day are considered to be the most severely deprived and hunger exists even in the supposedly better parts of India. Attention is also drawn to the importance of identifying those who are vulnerable to extreme poverty due to inability to absorb the impact of shocks.

The incidence of chronic poverty in the duration sense is studied on the basis of analysis of panel data sets in the literature. Casual agricultural labourers are the largest group and cultivators the second largest among the chronically poor. The bulk of the chronically poor depend on wages. Poverty is the sum total of a multiplicity of factors that include not just income and calorie intake but also access to land and credit, nutrition, health and longevity, literacy and education and safe drinking water, sanitation and other infrastructural facilities.

The paper presents and analyses estimates of multidimensional indicators of poverty that reflect human and gender development and empowerment as also infant mortality estimates and female literacy. An attempt is made to see if areas suffering from a high incidence of severe income poverty also suffer deprivation in access to literacy, knowledge, nutrition, voice and infrastructure. The disproportionately high incidence of chronic poverty among historically marginalised groups such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, the elderly, women and the disabled is analysed. The multiple deprivations suffered by these groups make it harder for them to escape from poverty.

The paper tries to examine the extent and nature of chronic poverty within the spatial poverty traps or remote rural areas. Two sets of remote rural regions are considered: dryland regions characterised by frequent failure of crops and employment opportunities leading to high level of unprotected risks of livelihood security among the poor; and secondly, the `forest based' economies, especially in hilly regions with predominance of tribal population with limited access to natural resources on the one hand, and information as well as markets on the other.

Factors affecting chronic poverty in these regions are analysed, the relationship between chronic poverty and agro-climatic conditions, agronomic features, human capabilities, social structure and infrastructure studied and variations in the dynamics of poverty across the two sets of regions are identified.

The paper briefly looks at policy interventions in the context of poverty reduction as also attempts by communities to demand accountability and transparency in government spending in the name of the poor. It concludes with a summary of the key findings and agenda for further research.

Facts about India

	India

Introduction

India

Background:

The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto Indian lands about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkish in the 12th were followed by those of European traders, beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Indian armed forces in the British army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU brought independence in 1947. The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. Despite impressive gains in economic investment and output, India faces pressing problems such as the ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, massive overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife.

Geography

India

Location:	Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan
Geographic coordinates:	20 00 N, 77 00 E
Map references:	Asia
Area:	total: 3,287,590 sq km land: 2,973,190 sq km water: 314,400 sq km
Area - comparative:	slightly more than one-third the size of the US
Land boundaries:	total: 14,103 km border countries: Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km
Coastline:	7,000 km
Maritime claims:	territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
Climate:	varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north
Terrain:	upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north
Elevation extremes:	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m
Natural resources:	coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land
Land use:	arable land: 48.83% permanent crops: 2.8% other: 48.37% (2005)
Irrigated land:	558,080 sq km (2003)
Natural hazards:	droughts; flash floods, as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoonal rains; severe thunderstorms; earthquakes
Environment - current issues:	deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions; water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potable throughout the country; huge and growing population is overstraining natural resources
Environment - international agreements:	party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:	dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important Indian Ocean trade routes; Kanchenjunga, third tallest mountain in the world, lies on the border with Nepal

People

India

Population:	1,095,351,995 (July 2006 est.)
Age structure:	0-14 years: 30.8% (male 173,478,760/female 163,852,827) 15-64 years: 64.3% (male 363,876,219/female 340,181,764) 65 years and over: 4.9% (male 27,258,020/female 26,704,405) (2006 est.)
Median age:	total: 24.9 years male: 24.9 years female: 24.9 years (2006 est.)
Population growth rate:	1.38% (2006 est.)
Birth rate:	22.01 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Death rate:	8.18 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Net migration rate:	-0.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Sex ratio:	at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.07 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 1.02 male(s)/female total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2006 est.)
Infant mortality rate:	total: 54.63 deaths/1,000 live births male: 55.18 deaths/1,000 live births female: 54.05 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:	total population: 64.71 years male: 63.9 years female: 65.57 years (2006 est.)
Total fertility rate:	2.73 children born/woman (2006 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:	0.9% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:	5.1 million (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:	310,000 (2001 est.)
Major infectious diseases:	degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis are high risks in some locations animal contact disease: rabies note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified among birds in this country or surrounding region; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2007)
Nationality:	noun: Indian(s) adjective: Indian
Ethnic groups:	Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (2000)
Religions:	Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)
Languages:	English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language
Literacy:	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 59.5% male: 70.2% female: 48.3% (2003 est.)

Government

India

Country name:	conventional long form: Republic of India conventional short form: India local long form: Republic of India/Bharatiya Ganarajya local short form: India/Bharat
Government type:	federal republic
Capital:	name: New Delhi geographic coordinates: 28 36 N, 77 12 E time difference: UTC+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Administrative divisions:	28 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Puducherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, West Bengal
Independence:	15 August 1947 (from UK)
National holiday:	Republic Day, 26 January (1950)
Constitution:	26 January 1950; amended many times
Legal system:	based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations; separate personal law codes apply to Muslims, Christians, and Hindus
Suffrage:	18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:	chief of state: President A.P.J. Abdul KALAM (since 25 July 2002); Vice President Bhairon Singh SHEKHAWAT (since 19 August 2002) head of government: Prime Minister Manmohan SINGH (since 22 May 2004) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister elections: president elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of both houses of Parliament and the legislatures of the states for a five-year term (no term limits); election last held July 2002 (next to be held 18 July 2007); vice president elected by both houses of Parliament for a five-year term; election last held 12 August 2002 (next to be held August 2007); prime minister chosen by parliamentary members of the majority party following legislative elections; election last held April - May 2004 (next to be held May 2009) election results: Abdul KALAM elected president; percent of electoral college vote - 89.6%; Bhairon Singh SHEKHAWAT elected vice president; percent of Parliament vote - 59.8%
Legislative branch:	bicameral Parliament or Sansad consists of the Council of States or Rajya Sabha (a body consisting of not more than 250 members, up to 12 of whom are appointed by the president, the remainder are chosen by the elected members of the state and territorial assemblies; members serve six-year terms) and the People's Assembly or Lok Sabha (545 seats; 543 elected by popular vote, 2 appointed by the president; members serve five-year terms) elections: People's Assembly - last held 20 April through 10 May 2004 (next must be held before May 2009) election results: People's Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - INC 147, BJP 129, CPI(M) 43, SP 38, RJD 23, DMK 16, BSP 15, SS 12, BJD 11, CPI 10, NCP 10, JD(U) 8, SAD 8, PMK 6, JMM 5, LJSP 4, MDMK 4, TDP 4, TRS 4, independent 6, other 29, vacant 13; note - party seat composition as of December 2006
Judicial branch:	Supreme Court (one chief justice and 25 associate justices are appointed by the president and remain in office until they reach the age of 65 or are removed for "proved misbehavior")
Political parties and leaders:	note - India has dozens of national and regional political parties; only parties with four or more seats in the People's Assembly are listed; Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP [MAYAWATI]; Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP [Rajnath SINGH]; Biju Janata Dal or BJD [Naveen PATNAIK]; Communist Party of India or CPI [Ardhendu Bhushan BARDHAN]; Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M) [Prakash KARAT]; Dravida Munnetra Kazagham or DMK [M. KARUNANIDHI]; Indian National Congress or INC [Sonia GANDHI]; Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) [Sharad YADEV]; Jharkhand Mukti Morcha or JMM [Shibu SOREN]; Lok Jan Shakti Party or LJSP [Ram Vilas PASWAN]; Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or MDMK [VAIKU]; Nationalist Congress Party or NCP [Sharad PAWAR]; Pattali Makkal Katchi or PMK [S. RAMADOSS]; Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD [Laloo Prasad YADAV]; Samajwadi Party or SP [Mulayam Singh YADAV]; Shiromani Akali Dal or SAD [Prakash Singh BADAL]; Shiv Sena or SS [Bal THACKERAY]; Telangana Rashtra Samithi or TRS [K. Chandrasekhar RAO]; Telugu Desam Party or TDP [Chandrababu NAIDU]
Political pressure groups and leaders:	numerous religious or militant/chauvinistic organizations, including Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh; various separatist groups seeking greater communal and/or regional autonomy, including the All Parties Hurriyat Conference in the Kashmir Valley and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland in the Northeast
International organization participation:	AfDB, ARF, AsDB, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIMSTEC, BIS, C, CERN (observer), CP, EAS, FAO, G- 6, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU, ISO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), ONUB, OPCW, PCA, PIF (partner), SAARC, SACEP, SCO (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMEE, UNMIS, UNMOVIC, UNOCI, UNOMIG, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US:	chief of mission: Ambassador Ranendra SEN chancery: 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008; note - Consular Wing located at 2536 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 939-7000 FAX: [1] (202) 265-4351 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco
Diplomatic representation from the US:	chief of mission: Ambassador David C. MULFORD embassy: Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021 mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [91] (11) 2419-8000 FAX: [91] (11) 2419-0017 consulate(s) general: Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay)
Flag description:	three equal horizontal bands of saffron (subdued orange) (top), white, and green with a blue chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band; similar to the flag of Niger, which has a small orange disk centered in the white band

Economy

India

Economy - overview:	India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of India's output with less than one quarter of its labor force. About three-fifths of the work force is in agriculture, leading the UPA government to articulate an economic reform program that includes developing basic infrastructure to improve the lives of the rural poor and boost economic performance. The government has reduced controls on foreign trade and investment. Tariffs averaged 12.5% on non-agricultural items in 2006. Higher limits on foreign direct investment were permitted in a few key sectors, such as telecommunications. However, tariff spikes in sensitive categories, including agriculture, and incremental progress on economic reforms still hinder foreign access to India's vast and growing market. Privatization of government-owned industries remained stalled in 2006, and continues to generate political debate; populist pressure from within the UPA government and from its Left Front allies continues to restrain needed initiatives. The economy has posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since 1996, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India achieved 8.5% GDP growth in 2006, significantly expanding manufacturing. India is capitalizing on its large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language to become a major exporter of software services and software workers. Economic expansion has helped New Delhi continue to make progress in reducing its federal fiscal deficit. However, strong growth - more than 8 percent growth in each of the last three years - combined with easy consumer credit and a real estate boom is fueling inflation concerns. The huge and growing population is the fundamental social, economic, and environmental problem.
GDP (purchasing power parity):	$4.042 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):	$796.1 billion (2006 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:	8.5% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):	$3,700 (2006 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:	agriculture: 19.9% industry: 19.3% services: 60.7% (2005 est.)
Labor force:	509.3 million (2006 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:	agriculture: 60% industry: 12% services: 28% (2003)
Unemployment rate:	7.8% (2006 est.)
Population below poverty line:	25% (2002 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:	lowest 10%: 3.5% highest 10%: 33.5% (1997)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:	32.5 (2000)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):	5.3% (2006 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):	29.2% of GDP (2006 est.)
Budget:	revenues: $109.4 billion expenditures: $143.8 billion; including capital expenditures of $15 billion (2006 est.)
Public debt:	52.8% of GDP (federal and state debt combined) (2006 est.)
Agriculture - products:	rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry; fish
Industries:	textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software
Industrial production growth rate:	7.5% (2006 est.)
Electricity - production:	630.6 billion kWh (2004)
Electricity - production by source:	fossil fuel: 81.7% hydro: 14.5% nuclear: 3.4% other: 0.3% (2001)
Electricity - consumption:	587.9 billion kWh (2004)
Electricity - exports:	60 million kWh (2004)
Electricity - imports:	1.5 billion kWh (2004)
Oil - production:	785,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - consumption:	2.45 million bbl/day (2004 est.)
Oil - exports:	350,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - imports:	2.09 million bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - proved reserves:	5.6 billion bbl (2006 est.)
Natural gas - production:	28.2 billion cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:	30.83 billion cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - exports:	0 cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - imports:	2.63 billion cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:	853.5 billion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)
Current account balance:	$-26.4 billion (2006 est.)
Exports:	$112 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
Exports - commodities:	textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures
Exports - partners:	US 16.7%, UAE 8.5%, China 6.6%, Singapore 5.3%, UK 4.9%, Hong Kong 4.4% (2005)
Imports:	$187.9 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
Imports - commodities:	crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals
Imports - partners:	China 7.3%, US 5.6%, Switzerland 4.7% (2005)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:	$165 billion (2006 est.)
Debt - external:	$132.1 billion (30 June 2006 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:	$2.9 billion (FY98/99)
Currency (code):	Indian rupee (INR)
Currency code:	INR
Exchange rates:	Indian rupees per US dollar - 45.3 (2006), 44.101 (2005), 45.317 (2004), 46.583 (2003), 48.61 (2002)
Fiscal year:	1 April - 31 March

Communications

India

Telephones - main lines in use:	49.75 million (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular:	69.193 million (2006)
Telephone system:	general assessment: recent deregulation and liberalization of telecommunications laws and policies have prompted rapid growth; local and long distance service provided throughout all regions of the country, with services primarily concentrated in the urban areas; steady improvement is taking place with the recent admission of private and private-public investors, but telephone density remains low at about ten for each 100 persons nationwide and only one per 100 persons in rural areas; there remains a national waiting list of over 1.7 million; fastest growth is in cellular service with modest growth in fixed lines domestic: expansion of domestic service, although still weak in rural areas, resulted from increased competition and dramatic reductions in price led in large part by wireless service; mobile cellular service (both CDMA and GSM) introduced in 1994 and organized nationwide into four metropolitan cities and 19 telecom circles each with about three private service providers and one state-owned service provider; in recent years significant trunk capacity added in the form of fiber-optic cable and one of the world's largest domestic satellite systems, the Indian National Satellite system (INSAT), with six satellites supporting 33,000 very small aperture terminals (VSAT) international: country code - 91; satellite earth stations - 8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region); 9 gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras), Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, and Ernakulam; 6 submarine cables, including Sea-Me-We-3 with landing sites at Cochin and Mumbai (Bombay), Sea-Me-We-4 with landing site at Chennai, Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) with landing site at Mumbai (Bombay), South Africa - Far East (SAFE) with landing site at Cochin, i2icn linking to Singapore with landing sites at Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras), and Tata Indicom linking Singapore and Chennai (Madras), provide a significant increase in the bandwidth available for both voice and data traffic (2006)
Radio broadcast stations:	AM 153, FM 91, shortwave 68 (1998)
Radios:	116 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:	562 (1997)
Televisions:	63 million (1997)
Internet country code:	.in
Internet hosts:	1.543 million (2006)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):	43 (2000)
Internet users:	60 million (2005)

Transportation

India

Airports:	341 (2006)
Airports - with paved runways:	total: 243 over 3,047 m: 17 2,438 to 3,047 m: 51 1,524 to 2,437 m: 73 914 to 1,523 m: 81 under 914 m: 21 (2006)
Airports - with unpaved runways:	total: 98 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 7 914 to 1,523 m: 42 under 914 m: 48 (2006)
Heliports:	28 (2006)
Pipelines:	condensate/gas 8 km; gas 5,184 km; liquid petroleum gas 1,993 km; oil 6,500 km; refined products 6,152 km (2006)
Railways:	total: 63,230 km broad gauge: 45,718 km 1.676-m gauge (16,528 km electrified) narrow gauge: 14,406 km 1.000-m gauge (165 km electrified); 3,106 km 0.762-m gauge and 0.610-m gauge (2005)
Roadways:	total: 3,383,344 km paved: 1,603,705 km unpaved: 1,779,639 km (2002)
Waterways:	14,500 km note: 5,200 km on major rivers and 485 km on canals suitable for mechanized vessels (2005)
Merchant marine:	total: 316 ships (1000 GRT or over) 7,772,313 GRT/13,310,858 DWT by type: bulk carrier 96, cargo 72, chemical tanker 13, container 8, liquefied gas 17, passenger 3, passenger/cargo 10, petroleum tanker 96, roll on/roll off 1 foreign-owned: 10 (China 2, Hong Kong 1, UAE 6, UK 1) registered in other countries: 46 (Bahamas 1, Comoros 1, Cyprus 5, North Korea 1, Liberia 3, Malta 1, Mauritius 2, Panama 19, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 6, Singapore 5, Venezuela 1, unknown 1) (2006)
Ports and terminals:	Chennai, Haldia, Jawaharal Nehru, Kandla, Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay), New Mangalore, Vishakhapatnam

Military

India

Military branches:	Army, Navy (includes naval air arm), Air Force, Coast Guard, various security or paramilitary forces (includes Border Security Force, Assam Rifles, National Security Guards, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Special Frontier Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Railway Protection Force, and Defense Security Corps)
Military service age and obligation:	16 years of age for voluntary military service (2001)
Manpower available for military service:	males age 16-49: 287,551,111 females age 16-49: 268,524,835 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:	males age 16-49: 219,471,999 females age 16-49: 209,917,553 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:	males age 18-49: 11,446,452 females age 16-49: 10,665,877 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:	$19.04 billion (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:	2.7% (2006 est.)

Transnational Issues

India

Disputes - international:	since China and India launched a security and foreign policy dialogue in 2005, consolidated discussions related to the dispute over most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, Indian claims that China transferred missiles to Pakistan, and other matters continue; various talks and confidence-building measures have cautiously begun to defuse tensions over Kashmir, particularly since the October 2005 earthquake in the region; Kashmir nevertheless remains the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas); India and Pakistan have maintained the 2004 cease fire in Kashmir and initiated discussions on defusing the armed stand-off in the Siachen glacier region; Pakistan protests India's fencing the highly militarized Line of Control and construction of the Baglihar Dam on the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir, which is part of the larger dispute on water sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries; UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) has maintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; to defuse tensions and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary, India and Pakistan seek technical resolution of the disputed boundary in Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in the Arabian Sea; Pakistani maps continue to show its Junagadh claim in Indian Gujarat State; discussions with Bangladesh remain stalled to delimit a small section of river boundary, to exchange territory for 51 Bangladeshi exclaves in India and 111 Indian exclaves in Bangladesh, to allocate divided villages, and to stop illegal cross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terrorists through the porous border; Bangladesh protests India's attempts to fence off high-traffic sections of the border; dispute with Bangladesh over New Moore/South Talpatty/Purbasha Island in the Bay of Bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; India seeks cooperation from Bhutan and Burma to keep Indian Nagaland and Assam separatists from hiding in remote areas along the borders; Joint Border Committee with Nepal continues to examine contested boundary sections, including the 400 square kilometer dispute over the source of the Kalapani River; India maintains a strict border regime to keep out Maoist insurgents and control illegal cross-border activities from Nepal
Refugees and internally displaced persons:	refugees (country of origin): 77,200 (Tibet/China), 50,730 (Sri Lanka), 9,700 (Afghanistan) IDPs: at least 600,000 (about half are Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir) (2006)
Trafficking in persons:	current situation: India is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced or bonded labor and commercial sexual exploitation; the large population of men, women, and children - numbering in the millions - in debt bondage face involuntary servitude in brick kilns, rice mills, and embroidery factories, while some children endure involuntary servitude as domestic servants; internal trafficking of women and girls for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage also occurs; the government estimates that 90 percent of India's sex trafficking is internal; India is also a destination for women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; boys from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are trafficked through India to the Gulf states for involuntary servitude as child camel jockeys; Indian men and women migrate willingly to the Persian Gulf region for work as domestic servants and low-skilled laborers, but some later find themselves in situations of involuntary servitude including extended working hours, nonpayment of wages, restrictions on their movement by withholding of their passports or confinement to the home, and physical or sexual abuse tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - India has been on the Tier 2 Watch List since 2004 for its failure to show evidence of increasing efforts to address trafficking in persons
Illicit drugs:	world's largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical trade, but an undetermined quantity of opium is diverted to illicit international drug markets; transit point for illicit narcotics produced in neighboring countries; illicit producer of methaqualone; vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through the hawala system; licit ketamine and precursor production