On rural health care

In response to an article by Arvind Panagriha in Economic Times discussed on another blog.

I would like to throw out a different way of thinking about this. My point is that this issue has nothing to do with “socialized medicine”. Let me elaborate.

Panagriha’s main contention is:
…it is time to accept the fact that the government has at best limited capability to deliver health services and that a radical shift in strategy that gives the poor greater opportunity to choose between private and public providers is needed.


(i) Number of doctors:
He further makes a point:
With a population of 1.1 billion, this implies approximately 1,700 people per doctor. In comparison, there are just 400 people per doctor in the United States and 220 in Israel.

Why compare to US and Israel? Considering they are one of the richest in the world.

Why not compare to Cuba, a much poorer country? And a much more “socialist” country to boot. Cuba has higher proportion than both US and Israel (in fact one of the highest in the world).

(ii) India actually has one of the lowest spending on health in the world (proportional to total govt. spending) (3% of total expenditure). Compare this with 19% for US, 12% for Israel, 11% for Cuba and 5% for Vietnam. The private spending (of an individual) on health is 5 times the govt. expenditure. In this sense, India has one of the most privatized health care system in the world.

If you compare apples with oranges, you’ll get absurd results.

Self-Defence

These words by Bertrand Russell are uncannily true and hence, very funny:

The next kind of war to be considered is the war of self-defence. This kind of war is almost universally admitted to be justifiable, and is condemned only by Christ and Tolstoy. The justification of wars of self-defence is very convenient, since so far as I know there has never yet been a war which was not one of self-defence.

Bhopal on KBCS

In December 1984, one of the worst industrial disasters in modern times occurred in Bhopal, India, killing tens of thousands of people. The survivors are still seeking justice, more than 23 years later. Aquene Freechild works with the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and the Dow Accountability Network. She was in Seattle recently to talk about the effects of deadly chemicals in Bhopal and the United States to an audience of volunteers with AID and Asha among others. This is a short, 3 min edited version of the interview.

It would be funny if it weren't so sad

From Democracy Now!

Majeed al-Alawi: “Secretary of Defense thank you very much for the excellent speech. I was wondering whether you think the Israeli nuclear weapon is a threat to regional security or not?”

Robert Gates: “No, I do not.”

The statement by Gates was greeted by laughter from a room filled with government officials from Middle Eastern countries.

Just the right response to this nonsense.

Indo-US nuclear deal and Iran

Here's one of my letters published in Eat the State!, a local newspaper.

Allan Nairn on Guatemala

The courageous Allan Nairn calling for Elliot Abrams to be tried for crimes against humanity.

Invasion Newspeak

See this: INVASION - A COMPARISON OF SOVIET AND WESTERN MEDIA PERFORMANCE, a comparison of Soviet and American invasion newspeak.

Nikolai Lanine examines Soviet propaganda during Afghanistan war. Change a few names and lo' and behold! You get the American propaganda during Iraq war!

One of the snippets which would resonate with events today:

n 1988, Pravda reported that Afghan president Najibula had criticised this ”interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan”. (Pravda, February 9, 1988) The newspaper failed to mention that the Soviet Union was itself guilty of illegal external “interference“. Instead, journalists blamed the West for ”pouring oil onto the fire of the Afghan conflict”. (Pravda, February 22, 1987) Ignoring the fact that much of the fighting in Afghanistan was in +response+ to the Soviet occupation, the media were also heavily critical of Iran and Pakistan.

Iran was criticised for “supporting the armed Islamic opposition” and for “sending its political emissaries and agents into the territory of Afghanistan”. (Spolnikov, 1990, pp.104-105) Russian journalist Andrei Greshnov, who worked as a TASS correspondent in Afghanistan for eight years in the 1980s, describes in his book “Afghanistan: Hostages of Time” (2006) how for several years, starting in the early 1980s, he was tasked with collecting information on Iranian Shia infiltration across the Afghan border near Herat. Iranian influence was very tangible in Western Afghanistan and widely confirmed by the testimony of Soviet soldiers interviewed (by Lanine) over the last 20 years.