Modi's government reveals pro-poor, farmer-friendly budget for India

New Delhi has promised to spend billions to boost infrastructure, help poor farmers and increase rural employment. The budget comes as years of economic growth have done little to improve conditions in rural India.

Deutsche Welle, 29 February 2016

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley outlined the "nine pillars" of a "transformative agenda" for India's economy on Monday. These included boosting education, increasing investments in infrastructure and improving the country's tax rules.

Ram Vilas Paswan, the union minister for food and public distribution, tweeted the plan:

Budget 2016 - Nine pillars of VikasKaBudget, for transforming India pic.twitter.com/0vbZui8fbv

— Ram Vilas Paswan (@irvpaswan) February 29, 2016

Jaitley described India's 120 million farmers as the "backbone of the country's food security," and pledged to spend $5.2 billion (4.8 billion euros) on the agricultural sector. "We need ... to give back to our farmers a sense of income security," he told members of the parliament in New Delhi.

"We plan to double farmers' income in five years," Jaitley said.

The plan foresees introducing crop insurance schemes to boost farmers' incomes, increasing access to markets and funding village councils. "For rural development as a whole I have allocated 877.6 billion rupees (11.8 billion euros/$12.7 billion) in this budget," Jaitley said.

The government would also increase spending for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which offers 100 days of employment in public companies to village households.

The government would also work toward ensuring electricity for all villages in the coming years. "The government is committed to achieve 100-percent village electrification by May 1, 2018," Jaitley said.

Jaitley's 'nine pillars' aim to transform India

A test for Modi

Despite the increased spending, Jaitley said the government would continue to try to reduce its fiscal deficit to 3.5 percent of its gross domestic product in the next year.

India, the world's fastest growing major economy, is expected to grow at 7.6 percent this fiscal year. But attempts to overhaul manufacturing have not been as successful as intended, and farming remains the major source of employment. Years of drought and falling crop prices led more than 12,000 farmers to commit suicide in 2014 alone.

The pro-farmer budget could also be an indication that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to attract more supporters after its members performed dismally at local elections in Bihar last year.

State elections are scheduled to take place in farming states such as West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh later this year. Modi's victory in the polls could help him get a majority in the upper house of the parliament in New Delhi, making it easier for him to pass stalled economic reforms.

mg/kms (AP, AFP, Reuters)

World Day Against Child Labor highlights conditions on US tobacco farms

An estimated 500,000 children are working on tobacco fields in the United States, most of them in extremely hazardous conditions. World Day Against Child Labor, on June 12, aims to highlight the plight of the children.

Deutsche Welle, 13 June 2015

Celia Ortiz was only 11 when she started working on tobacco fields in North Carolina. When most children were sleeping late, watching television, or riding their bicycle during spring breaks, Celia would wake up each morning at five to harvest crops for 10 or 12 hours in extremely dangerous conditions. She worked on tobacco fields for seven years.

"When you're a child, you're out there because you need the money," she said. "It's not like you're looking for fun."

Celia is taking part in the World Day Against Child Labor on June 12 with members of the Child Labor Coalition - a group of nonprofit organizations including Human Rights Watch. The coalition gathered in Washington DC to raise awareness and discuss problems and possible solutions for the country's child labor issue.

There are four states that produce 90 percent of the country's tobacco - North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee - and in these states children as young as 7 are working 50-60 hours per week harvesting and cultivating tobacco plants, in most cases with severe repercussions. Human Rights Watch estimates nearly half a million such children work on these fields.

"This is perfectly legal in the US," says Zama Coursen-Neff, executive director of the children's rights division at Human Rights Watch. "[It is legal] because of a loophole in child labor laws that makes it legal for children to work in agriculture at far younger ages, for far longer hours, under far more hazardous environments."

June 12 is World Day Against Child Labor

Nicotine exposure

Coursen-Neff took part in an initiative that spoke to over 140 child workers across the United States. "Three-quarters of them reported frequently feeling dizzy, nauseous, or vomiting in the fields," she said.

Two-thirds of them displayed symptoms of Green Tobacco Sickness, or nicotine poisoning. This occurs when workers are exposed to wet tobacco plants, through either rain or morning dew, and contact with the plants causes their skin to absorb the toxins. This is extremely hazardous to the younger workers. "Nicotine exposure during adolescence leads to mood disorders, attention deficit, lasting cognitive disorders," Coursen-Neff explained.

For Celia, this was all too familiar. She recalls feeling the symptoms of nicotine exposure. "You get dizzy and nauseous," she said. "The world is closing in on you and you feel like you're going to die. I can't even explain it properly."

Celia says she only learned of the hazards of her work last year. "From all the years that I worked, they never informed us of the dangers and hazards. When you're young you don't know what to do."

Child workers were not given proper protection against the nicotine exposure or frequent usage of pesticide sprays on the crops, which would also fall on their clothes and skin. They were left to find their own ways of protection.

"We would put on garbage bags and put holes in them for our head and feet," Celia said. "And we didn't have rain boots so we put grocery bags over our shoes."

Humiliation and danger

The conditions grew worse as Celia worked over the years. Eventually the farmers stopped providing water to the workers. The children brought their own to stay hydrated, but that led to more complications. "Going to the restroom is another problem. You would have to go to the other side of the field just so nobody could see, just to get some privacy. It's dangerous, especially being a young lady." These lengthy trips for solitude were often met with harsh demands for faster and harder work.

"I knew it was wrong that we didn't get water," she remembered. "I knew it was wrong we didn't get restrooms. I knew it was wrong they sprayed pesticide while we were working." Even then, Celia said, there was too much fear to say anything.

"It was hard for me to speak up and say, 'Hey I'm sick please take me off the row.' Because you want to prove to adults that you can work like they can, and you want to be paid. That's the fear factor about speaking up."

The environment also presented psychological stresses of insecurities and self-doubt. "In one instance I was humiliated and belittled because I didn't do the job as well [as an adult]. I started to think, 'If I can't do this job what makes me think I can do an office job?'"

But even that office job is usually a pipe dream. "Unfortunately," explained Coursen-Neff, "the interference of their education and the negative health effects of working in agriculture in the United States perpetuates a cycle of poverty that ultimately leave children often without any other options except to continue working in the fields."

She says it's time to break the cycle. "This is a solvable problem. Children are too young to buy cigarettes, and yet right now children are working in fields in the United States being poisoned by nicotine in the fields, and these bills that are in Congress right now can do something about that."

The Child Labor Coalition is hoping to lobby for changes to the law, amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that would prohibit child employment in tobacco-related agriculture by "deeming such employment as oppressive child labor."

As for Celia, she will return to work. Not in the fields, though - she did get that office job, in a bank. The hope is to turn her exception to the rule into a more common occurrence.

India's new PM Modi slams rape shame, communal violence

Yahoo – AFP, Abhaya Srivastava, 15 Aug 2014

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivers a speech from the Red Fort

 to mark the country's 68th Independence Day in New Delhi on August 15, 2014

(AFP Photo/Prakash Singh)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned a spate of rapes as a source of shame for India and urged an end to communal violence Friday as he vowed to improve the lives of the nation's poor in his first Independence Day speech.

Modi, the son of a tea vendor who won a landslide election in May, also delivered a withering assessment of the ruling establishment from the ramparts of New Delhi's 17th century Red Fort.

While insisting India had much to be proud of, Modi addressed sometimes taboo subjects such as sexual violence, religious unrest, farmer suicides and a lack of toilets which he said was intolerable in the 21st century.

Schoolchildren wave as Indian Prime

 Minister Narendra Modi's convoy leaves

 the Red Fort after a ceremony marking

 Independence Day in New Delhi on

August 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/Prakash

Singh)

The right-wing Hindu nationalist also restated his solidarity with the wider South Asian region but held back from mentioning India's great rival Pakistan which is also celebrating its independence 68 years ago.

"We have to improve our national character and we have to put selfish thinking to one side," said the 63-year-old who steered his Bharatiya Janata Party to a first parliamentary majority for three decades.

In one of the most eye-catching passages of a 45-minute speech, Modi said that the levels of rape had shamed India, and he urged parents to take responsibility for the behaviour of their sons rather than put the onus on their daughters.

"When we hear about these rapes our heads hang in shame," Modi said.

"The law will take its own course but as a society every parent has a responsibility to teach their sons the difference between right and wrong."

Anger among Indians over sexual violence has been steadily rising in the last two years, fuelled by a series of high-profile assaults including the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi in December 2012.

And there was widespread outrage in May when two teenage cousins were found hanging from a mango tree after they were gang-raped in their village in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

'No dignity'

The girls, who were aged 14 and 15, were attacked while going to the toilet in fields after dark as -- like hundreds of millions of Indians -- they did not have a toilet in their own home.

Former Indian prime minister Manmohan

Singh (L) listens to a speech by new Prime

 Minister Narendra Modi during a ceremony

 marking the country's Independence Day in

 New Delhi on August 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/

Prakash Singh)

"We are in the 21st century and yet there is still no dignity for women as they have to go out in the open to defecate and they have to wait for darkness to fall. Can you imagine the number of problems they have to face because of this?" Modi told the assembled ranks of VIPs.

"People may criticise me for talking about toilets from the Red Fort. But I am from a poor family, I have seen poverty first hand. For the poor to get dignity, it has to start from here."

Modi said India should strive to ensure that every household should have a toilet within the next four years and pledged to ensure that all schools had separate toilet facilities for girls and boys.

Uttar Pradesh, which is India's largest state, has also been the scene of several recent flare-ups in communal violence between Hindus and minority Muslims.

Modi said that communal violence was "stalling the growth of the nation" and had gone on for "too long".

Before becoming prime minister, Modi was the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat where he was in charge in 2002 during one of the India's deadliest chapters of communal violence since independence.

While Modi was accused by his opponents during the election of being too business-friendly, he said his government would take action to allow even the poorest members of society to open a bank account.

Hundreds of farmers have committed suicide in the last decade in a trend that Modi attributed to their inability to pay back private loans.

India celebrates its Independence Day with a ceremony at the Red Fort

in New Delhi on August 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/Raveendran)

"It's because they have to take money at huge interest rates from the money-lenders," he said.

"We will have a prime minister's people wealth scheme so that even the poorest of the poor can have a bank account of their own."

Modi said the government would set up a scheme to provide farmers with special guarantees in exceptional circumstances worth up to 100,000 rupees (around 1,650 dollars).

Modi, who has long stressed his "outsider" status, said that since becoming premier he had been taken aback by the departmental infighting and discord between ministries.

"Government should be an organic entity, moving in one direction with a common aim goal. I am trying to break down these walls," he said.

"We have to strengthen the systems in order to realise the dreams of the people."

Related Articles:

India's Modi makes landmark visit to disputed Kashmir

India's Modi seeks to win hearts of Kashmiri people

World Bank's ethics under scrutiny after Honduras loan investigation

Private lending arm lent millions to palm oil company accused of links to assassinations and forced evictions, audit reveals

theguardian.com, Nina Lakhani, 13 January 2014

Members of the Peasant Unified Movement of Bajo Aguán, in Tegucigalpa,
 carry mock coffins bearing pictures of people murdered in land clashes.
Photograph: AFP/Getty

The verdict could not have been clearer: the World Bank's private lending arm failed to comply with its own ethical standards when it lent millions of dollars to a Honduran palm oil company accused of links to assassinations and forced evictions.

This was the damning verdict by the World Bank's Office of the Compliance Adviser/ Ombudsman (CAO) on Friday. It had investigated whether a $30m (£18.2m) loan by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Corporation Dinant, an agribusiness owned by one of Honduras's richest and most powerful men Miguel Facussé, was made after proper environmental and social due diligence.

The investigation was triggered by local NGOs accusing Dinant of direct and indirect involvement in a campaign of terror against campesinos, or peasant farmers, in the fertile Bajo Aguán valley in the north. Dinant claimed any violence was either unconnected to the company or legitimate self-defence.

The audit, one of the most critical issued by the Bank's internal watchdog, was unequivocal. The IFC failed to spot the serious social, political and human rights context in which Dinant operates, or if it did, failed to act effectively on the information; and failed to disclose vital project information, consult with local communities, or to identify the project as a high-risk investment.

The CAO also said staff were incentivised "to overlook, fail to articulate, or even conceal potential environmental, social and conflict risk". They warned that such incentives could lead to, as indicated by the loan to Dinant, the IFC taking "uninformed risks with serious consequences for people, the environment and/or the Bank Group's reputation". The CAO refers to allegations that 102 campesino leaders have been murdered since 2010 in Bajo Aguán, 40 of which were linked to Dinant properties or security guards. This is vigorously denied by Dinant.

Strong stuff from the CAO, but the IFC's written response, also published on Friday, was predictably weak.

In the first paragraph the IFC rejects some of the CAO findings, though fails to specify which ones or provide evidence to support its rebuff. The IFC states that at the time it approved the loan to Dinant in 2008 the project risks were manageable and there was no evidence of land claims. But this is not correct. The Bajo Aguán land disputes date back two decades to another World Bank-funded land modernisation programme, when campesinos claimed thousands of acres used for subsistence farming were transferred fraudulently and coercively to Facussé and other palm oil industrialists.

The IFC goes on to say that it could not have foreseen the coup d'état in June 2009 that toppled president Manuel Zelaya, days after he ordered an investigation into the land conflicts, nor the social unrest, arms and drugs trafficking, and violence that have since plagued the region.

But the IFC gave Dinant its first instalment of $15m in November 2009, when there was already evidence of worsening security problems relating to the land disputes in Bajo Aguán.

Add to that the US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks, which suggests Facussé backed the 2009 coup, which he denies. What's more in 2011, by which time Honduras was officially the most murderous country in the world, the Bajo Aguán had been militarised by US-trained troops, and allegations of human rights abuses perpetrated by Dinant security guards in conjunction with state security forces were piling up – the IFC approved a $70 loan to one of Dinant's biggest creditors, Banco Financiera Comercial Hondureña.

This loan, which gave the IFC a 10% stake in the bank, is subject to another CAO investigation, due to report before the end of June. The IFC's pattern of investing in financial intermediaries over the past decade is criticised by some observers as a way of circumventing its own safeguard policies.

Dinant, whose lucrative African palm plantations dominate the Bajo Aguán, issued a statement rejecting some of the CAO findings. The company, which pointed to multiple killings of its security guards since 2010, said it would continue working with the IFC to comply with its performance standards. The problem is, according to the CAO audit, in practice these standards are not very high.

Many civil society organisations believe continued support from the World Bank is grossly negligent and endorses violence with impunity. The IFC generally prefers to effect change from within, and says it will steer Dinant to collaborate with the authorities if credible allegations emerge against its security forces.

But across Honduras state authorities are implicated in countless human rights abuses, especially in the Bajo Aguán, where operations are reportedly conducted jointly between state and private security forces. Impunity is the norm; the justice system is broken.

The CAO has pledged to keep the case open until it is satisfied the IFC is compliant with its own ethical standards. The only lever it has for exacting change is through reporting its findings to the World Bank president, board and public. The president, Jim Yong Kim, has pledged that the Bank will learn from past mistakes. Half of the IFC loan, $15m, is yet to be paid to Dinant. Now is the time for Kim to put his money where his mouth is.

'This is the time!’ Connecticut gov signs first GMO labeling law in US

Russia Today, December 12, 2013

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (Christopher Capozziello / Getty Images / AFP)

The governor of Connecticut hosted a ceremonial signing outside an organic restaurant in the city of Fairfield on Wednesday to commemorate the state’s passing of what could be the first GMO labeling law of its type in the United States.

Voters in Connecticut decided back in June to approve a bill requiring that all foods meant for human consumption that contain genetically-modified ingredients be properly labeled. Unless some neighboring states in the region follow suit, however, the status of that law remains in limbo.

The Connecticut bill requires at least four other Northeastern states with a combined population of no fewer than 20 million to approve similar acts before it can officially go on the books. And while so far proponents of a GMO labeling initiative have found allies in one adjacent state, it could very well be a long-time coming before the proper support is rallied.

Voters in Maine have already elected to pass a near-identical measure, but residents in a region that includes Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont must come together to do the same in at least three other locales.

Outside the Catch A Healthy Habit restaurant in Fairfield on Wednesday, Gov. Dannel Malloy implored his counterparts to consider joining in their fight.

“I am proud that leaders from each of the legislative caucuses can come together to make our state the first in the nation to require the labeling of GMOs,” Malloy said, according to Fairfield’s Daily Voice. “The end result is a law that shows our commitment to consumers’ right to know while catalyzing other states to take similar action.”

Tara Cook-Littman, the director of GMO Free Connecticut, applauded the efforts by advocates in the state and country working towards new laws.

“As the catalyst for GMO labeling in the United States, Connecticut residents should feel proud,” she told reporters. “We are hopeful that legislators throughout the Northeast will follow the lead of Governor Malloy and all our legislative champions by passing laws that give consumers transparency in labeling. It is a great honor for all of us to stand with Governor Malloy as he signs the first in the nation GMO labeling law.”

More than 60 countries across the world have approved mandatory labeling laws for GMO foods already, and polling suggests that the vast majority of Americans are in favor of doing the same. So far, in fact, almost half of all US states have introduces bill that, if approved, would either require labeling of GMO foods or prohibit them altogether.

"Surveys have always found 80 to 95 percent of people wanting labeling," Consumers Union senior scientist Michael Hansen told the Rodale News health site back in April. "People are paying attention to food, and because of that they're more interested in GMO issues and buying food that's more local and food without pesticides and other added ingredients."

Now with Connecticut taking the lead, Gov. Malloy hopes other states will do the same.

"This is a beginning, and I want to be clear what it is a beginning of," he told the Fairfield Citizen before Wednesday’s event. "It is a national movement that will requiring (food) labeling."

"People need to demand GMO labeling," Malloy told WFSB News on the day of the ceremonial signing. "Some companies are doing this and we need to move in that direction."

"This is the time," he said to the Citizen. "You better get ready; people are coming and this is not a movement you are going to stop."

Malloy was flanked by state lawmakers from both the right and the left at Wednesday’s event, and Republicans and Democrats alike are now aligning themselves in the fight.

“This bill moves forward and reinforces our fundamental right to know what is in our food so we can make informed choices about what we feed our families,” said Rep. Tony Hwang (R-Fairfield-Trumbull), according to reporter Christina Chiarelli. “Consumers may or may not wish to purchase foods that they know to be genetically modified, but they need the information made available to them to make those informed choices.”

“Passing this bill is courageous and monumental,” added Rep. Philip Miller (D-Essex). “It is an affirmation for healthy, sustainable agriculture and responsible stewardship of our food supply. The ever growing grassroots efforts of Connecticut citizens has come to fruition with the passing of this legislation. I thank Governor Malloy for being a champion of our right to participate in building our economy as fully informed consumers and citizens.”

Currently 15 nations in the European Union require labels on GMO products, and Zambia, Benin and Serbia have all instated prohibitions against products. Just earlier this week, China for the fifth time blocked a cargo shipment of US corn from entering the country, citing concerns of GMO contamination.

Related Articles:

Taiwan to tighten rules on GM product labeling

EU court bans BASF's 'Amflora' GM potato, annuls Commission approval

Without A Word This 6 Minute and 2 Second Video May Leave You With a New Perspective

Related Articles:

Temple Grandin's story on overcoming autism in her mother's words

Temple Grandin's Mother, Eustacia Cutler,
 talked to KTVO's Vanessa Alonso about
 how her daughter came over autism
 and how they are helping others.

National Turkey Federation, American Meat Institute present Temple Grandin-Hosted Video of Turkey Farm and Processing Plant

"Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channellingby Lee Carroll)

"..  Animals and Reincarnation

On a lighter note, we interrupt the life and death discussion of Humans to talk about animals. There are the questions not asked, but laying there, of which you are more than curious. "Dear Kryon," it has been asked, "do animals reincarnate?"...

Again, the Human Being looks at animals as one word that covers trillions of entities on the planet. You believe that all of them either do or don't reincarnate, and you want one answer for them all. What if I was from another planet and communicated to you this question: "What color are animals? I want one answer, please." You'd laugh, and wonder what kind of singular consciousness I might have in my reality to ask such a thing.

So I say to you regarding your reincarnation question: Which ones? "You mean there's a difference, Kryon?" Oh, yes! We've already gone over the purpose of animals on the planet. We've told you many things about animals. We've told you that some of them are actually designed to be eaten, and they come for this very purpose. We've indicated to you what's wrong with the way you're treating them, and that you don't honor them in their death, or even as you extract their resources while they're alive. And that, my dear friends, is the reason there's disease in the meat. When you start honoring these animals in their death so that they can create the food that's needed for you, then you'll see the disease disappear.

This is a factor that has yet to be named in your language or your culture - the idea that there's an energy that the Human creates even in the appropriate slaughter of animals for food, the results of which change these animals and the health of the Human who consumes them. Why is it that the indigenous knew about it and you don't? It's an energy that addresses the consciousness of Gaia and the animal kingdom. It addresses the way animals are honored in death.

Animals don't all reincarnate, but some do - if it's appropriate for the Humans around them. Most of the animals on the planet don't reincarnate, but there are a select group and individuals who do, and even a "rule of thumb" that you can apply to those who do and those who don't. When I tell you about the ones who do, you're going to understand a little bit more about the process of who you are. Blessed is the Human Being who walks this planet in lesson: Everything revolves around you! It may not look like it, but it does. Gaia knows who you are when you walk on the dirt! You have a light that you can strike [create] and carry with you that will change the very elements around you. Matter will respond to what you do because you are the angels disguised as Human Beings.

Some of you have selected various animals on earth to be your partners or friends, and you call them pets. Even some of the ones to be slaughtered, if they have a Human who loves them, are pets... if only for a while. These are the ones who reincarnate.

"Why should such a thing be, Kryon? How does that work? Do they have souls? What's the ‘rule' you speak of?" In a way, they do have souls, but not as your souls are structured - not with the lessons your souls carry, or the multiple aspects you have. They're not angels, but they're support entities to those who are [Humans]. When they reincarnate the reason is in honor of the Human Being, you see? Animals, in general, don't last that long on the planet. You might have this beautiful partner, this love essence that you have with an animal pet-friend. Then that animal-friend disappears in death, for again, they don't live that long. The rule of incarnations is, therefore, "If the Human needs it, it happens." So there is a scenario created within the system that helps Humans temper the loss of this love, and we'll give it to you.

When your precious animal-friend dies, go look for another one right away. Don't wait. Don't wait! I'll tell you why. Immediately go looking in places where animal babies are. Make no presuppositions about the kind of animal or the gender. Don't necessarily try to match the one you lost. Instead, go to the places where you intuitively believe the young animals are, and look into their eyes. One of them will be the one... because it - and the Universe - knows intuitively where you're going to look!

This is the system that honors you. Many know this and have said, "I know this is so because when I found this other animal to be my partner and my pet, it started doing the same things that my former animal did - it even responded the same way to me." It's a beautiful system in honor of you. It's an acknowledgment of a broken heart, you see? So you can pick up where you left off.

Some may now ask, "What size animal are we talking about, Kryon? Is there a limit?" We say, there you go again [Kryon smile]. What size do you want? An elephant or a mouse? It doesn't make a difference. If they're loved by you and part of your karmic energy, they'll reincarnate. However, it might be prudent of you to intuitively look for the size of animal that meets your living needs. God doesn't give you an elephant when your mouse dies [laughter].

China to pour US$1 trillion into African investments

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-11-22

China-Africa Cooperation held the 4th Round Table Meeting in Hainan,
Nov. 20. (Photo/CNS)

The Chinese government and state-run banks will offer loans of up to US$1 trillion to Africa until 2025 as the continent emerges as China's newest top destination for investment, according to an analyst with the state-owned Export-Import Bank of China.

At a recent conference in Hong Kong on investments in Africa, Zhao Changhui said his bank would provide between 70% and 80% of the US$1 trillion in loans to Africa.

"For many enterprises in China, Africa is poised to become China's top overseas destination for commercial activities and investments over the next two decades," Zhao stated.

"With US$3.5 trillion in foreign reserves, China should not only buy US debt but should inject its funds into other overseas investments," Zhao said.

The analyst said his bank is seeking cooperation with Africa's infrastructure projects, including transnational highways, railways and airports. He estimated work on a railway network linking various states in Africa would cost US$500 billion.

Jeff Gable, head of the unit of non-equity research in Africa for Barclays Africa Group, hinted at an area that investors might be interested in examining, saying there is a huge need for the electrification of the railway in Africa. The infrastructure is far from complete in Africa, he remarked.

Another area that might draw funding from the Chinese government is the agriculture sector, according to Zhao.

With fertile lands on the African continent, Zhao said he believed cooperation between China and Africa on agriculture may help alleviate starvation in the continent over the next 10 to 15 years.

This view was echoed by Gable, who pointed out that Africa has the potential to grow into a leading global exporter of grains in the next 20 years, with output likely to climb from US$280 billion to US$880 billion during the period.

According to media reports, China Machinery Engineering signed a deal with the government of Equatorial Guinea in October to develop electric grids in the central African state.

Under the agreement, inked on Oct. 14, the Chinese company will build six new grids and expand existing grids in Equatorial Guinea for US$127 million, with construction expected to be completed in 21 months, according to the reports.

14 year old girl picks fight with bully TV host - and WINS!

14 year old Rachel Parent debates Kevin O'Leary on the issue of Genetically Modified Food. Rachel's website: http://www.gmo-news.com/

Canadian Biotechnology Action Network: www.cban.ca petition for mandatory GMO food labelling: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Brin

Rachel Parent

Related Articles:

Seeds Of Death - Full Movie

Monsanto and Genetically Modified Crops - Is there a cover-up?

The Large Families that rule the world (Vanguard ...)

New Chapter sells out to Procter & Gamble, part of the global corporate elite (Vanguard ...)

Monsanto set to halt GM push in Europe

RT, May 31, 2013

The march against Monsanto, Germany. (Image from twitter user@@HarvestPM)

Monsanto plans to halt lobbying for its genetically modified plant varieties in Europe due to low demand from local farmers, a representative from the US agricultural giant told a German daily.

"We are no longer working on lobbying for more cultivation in Europe," Brandon Mitchner a representative for Monsanto’s European branch, Tageszeitung, said in an interview set to be published on Saturday.

"Currently we do not plan to apply for the approval of new genetically modified crops. The reason is, among other things, low demand of the farmers,” he continued.

A spokeswoman for Monsanto Germany, Ursula Luttmer-Ouazane, admitted that Monsanto recognizes that GMO crops were currently not embraced on the European market.

"We've understood that such plants don't have any broad acceptance in European societies," Luttmer-Ouazane said. “It is counterproductive to fight against windmills," she added.

A spokesperson for the German Ministry of Economy and Technologies described the move as an “entrepreneurial decision” which needed no further comment. The ministry added, however, it has long made its opposition to gene modification technologies known.

"The promises of the GM industry have not come true for European agriculture, nor have they for the agriculture in developing and emerging economies," the ministry said in a statement.

Eight national governments in the European Union have already banned Monsanto's MON810 maize and other forms of GMO cultivation in their countries under an environmental protection provision known as the 'Safeguard Clause'.

Particularly fierce protests in Germany prompted the government to introduce the measures in 2009 due to concerns that such cultivation could lead to ecological degradation.

Monsanto’s rivals, such as Bayer CropScience, BASF and Syngenta, had by and large pulled out of the German market because of large-scale public opposition, the German daily reported.

Austria, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg and most recently Poland are among other EU member states enforcing the ban. In April, Italy joined the ranks of EU states looking to ban the cultivation of GM crops on its soil.

The march against Monsanto, Germany. (Image from twitter user@Julia_etc)

The announcement comes amidst a series of recent public relations battles that have brought the US firm considerable worldwide attention.

On Wednesday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it had conducted genetic tests on wheat from an 80-acre farm in Oregon this past April. The tests revealed the wheat was an experimental variety created by Monsanto that had never been approved for sale.

The discovery prompted Japanese authorities to cancel part of a tender offer to buy US western white wheat and have suspended imports of both that variety and feed wheat, while several other large importers of US-wheat throughout Asia said they were closely monitoring the situation.

The European Union for its part said it will test any incoming shipments, with plans to block those containing GMO wheat.

The USDA announcement followed a massive, global "March Against Monsanto" held on Saturday that saw demonstrations against the Missouri-based firm in 52 countries.  Organizers for the global protest said around 2 million protesters showed up at rallies being held in 436 cities to protest against the seed giant and the genetically modified food.

The march against Monsanto, Munich. (Image from twitter user@nasimjo)

Protesters make their point to Monsanto in Los Angeles, California,

May 25, 2013. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Related Articles:

Millions march against GM crops

Washington County Bans Growing of GMOs

Russia suspends import and use of American GM corn after study revealed cancer risk


Monsanto and Genetically Modified Crops - Is there a cover-up?

Greenpeace warns EU off herbicide-tolerant GM crops

France24 - AFP, 22 October 2012  

Herbicide is sprayed on a soybean field in 2011. Global environmental watchdog
 Greenpeace launched a new report Monday warning the European Union against
 authorising herbicide-tolerant genetically engineered (HTGE) crops, saying they
would lead to herbicide-resistant super-weeds.

AFP - Global environmental watchdog Greenpeace launched a new report Monday warning the European Union against authorising herbicide-tolerant genetically engineered (HTGE) crops, saying they would lead to herbicide-resistant super-weeds.

"When herbicide-tolerant crops are relied on heavily, they trigger the spread and emergence of resistant weeds, which has now happened throughout the United States," said Oregon-based agricultural economist Charles Benbrook, who was commissioned by Greenpeace to study the issue.

"Then farmers have to spray much more heavily, turning to older, higher-risk herbicides which increases risk to both their cost of production as well as the public health problems associated with herbicide use," Benbrook told AFP, adding: "We're solidly in that phase in the US."

The launch of the report in Warsaw, Poland comes as the 27-member EU considers authorising 26 genetically engineered crops, including 19 that are tolerant to herbicides, Greenpeace said.

Benbrook has predicted EU farmers risk using up to 15 times more glyphosate-type herbicides on HTGE corn, soy and sugar beet crops to stem the growth of super-weeds over a 14-year period (2012-2025), as well as inflated prices for genetically modified seeds, should Brussels allow them.

Greenpeace commissioned Benbrook to complete a study on glyphosate-tolerant crops in the EU based on data on use of the herbicides in the US.

US biotech giant Monsanto brought glyphosate to the market in the 1970s under the Roundup trademark, but it is now off-patent and has become the most commonly used herbicide in the US.

While its producers claim glyphosate has relatively low toxicity compared to other herbicides, concerns persist about its environmental and human impacts.

"If EU farmers take up HTGE technology as quickly as in the US, glyphosate use in maize crops -- the most important and widely grown crop in Europe -? will increase by over 1,000 percent by 2025 over current use, and total herbicide use will double," Greenpeace warned in a Monday statement quoting the Benbrook study.

Benbrook and two US farmers are on an 18-day Greenpeace tour of Europe to meet farmers, local communities and politicians to share their concerns about HTGE crops.

Greenpeace campaigner Lasse Bruun also unveiled the YouTube launch of "Growing Doubt" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNxhw2jiDtA&noredirect=1), a Greenpeace documentary focused on the experience of farmers in the US and Argentina with HTGE crops and glyphosate-based herbicides.

It comes on the heels of the "Bitter Seeds" documentary focused on an epidemic of farmer suicides in India among peasants who have lost their land after falling into debt using genetically modified crops.