What would be post polls US foreign & trade policies? + BIRD FLU + BIOPIRACY

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NEWS Bulletin from Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture And Rural Development ********************************** 1. 'Post polls US policy to undergo change' 2. BIRD FLU IN INDIA - Govt says no to zoning of poultry areas 3. ICAR moves to curb theft of Indian germplasm -- 'Post polls US policy to undergo change' http://www.financialexpress .com/news/Post-polls-US-policy -to-undergo-change/268902/0 ASHOK B SHARMAPosted online: Monday , February 04, 2008 at 1954 hrs IST New Delhi, February 4: Aftermath of the Presidential polls would usher in a change in the US foreign and trade policies. The country would not pursue aggressive market-oriented policies, it would become more

protectionist in trade and it would go slow in its proposed bilateral and free trade agreements with other countries and regional groups, according to a senior fellow in the US-based Council on Foreign Relations, Charles A Kupchan. The US would try to come closer to India and would expect more cooperation from India. In disbursement of foreign aid it would be bullish to win over many developing countries, he said. Addressing a session on – After Bush: The Collapse of Bipartisanship and the Implication for US Foreign Policy – organized by the apex industry body, CII in collaboration with The Aspen Institute-India in Capital on Monday, Kupchan said: "US is facing a serious downturn in the Economy, regional divide is increasing, the wages of the middle class employees is stagnant since 15 years. Globalisation has created problems for the US Economy. All these will make it difficult for the new president to

operate." Kupchan further said that the overall global situation would be fluid aftermath US presidential polls. "With the wars with Iraq and Afghanistan, the US has lost its legitimacy. The world now stands divided. It would be difficult for the US to come back to its bipartisanship policy after the presidential polls. Rather it may revisit its political and economic policies that existed in pre-Pearl Harbour days." He blamed George Bush for creating "a mess in global Politics", by following an ideology-based foreign policy. He said that India benefited by Bush's foreign policy as it wanted to win over India to its side after the 9/11 terrorist attack on US and China also benefited from the policy by default as US lost its focus of containing that country. Kupchan said that John MacCain would likely to emerge as the Republican presidential candidate, but have only 20% chances

of winning the Presidential election. Both Obama and Hillary Clinton have 50-50 chances of becoming the Democratic Presidential nominee. A democrat was likely to be the next US president, he said. He termed George Bush as an accident in the US Politics and alleged that he overrode the Senate and the Congress and pursed his militarized and unsustainable foreign policy. "I hope that the next president would respect the democratic institutions in the country and pursue a pragmatic policy," he said. He slammed Bush for creating division within the Republican Party and pushing it to right conservatism. "Bush was motivated to preserve US conservatism and a uni-polar world, which evidently did not work," he said. He differentiated two terms of Bush presidency, by terming Bush 1 and Bush 2 and said Bush 1 foreign policy was a debacle. In the second term there was some revival, he said.

He said that the Bush administration made some flow of foreign aid to developing countries like India and African countries, only to revive its sagging image. Kupchan said that the new president would have a difficult task ahead and there may be a period of retrenchment as was witnessed aftermath Vietnam war. US would no longer try to thrust the uni-polar concept but would try to work with nations irrespective of ideologies, with a view to boost its sagging image. On proposed signing of the India-US civilian nuclear pact, he said that if the deal lapses, the Democrats may revive the pact but may remove some aspects from the original deal which might have proved beneficial to India. BIRD FLU IN INDIA Govt says no to zoning of poultry areas http://www.financialexpress .com/news/Govt-says-no-to -zoning-of-poultry-areas /267069/ ASHOK B SHARMAPosted online: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 2016 hrs IST New Delhi, January 30: The Government has turned down the industry suggestion for zoning of poultry areas in the country and a ban on exports of corn and soybeans. But it would consider a financial package for bailing out the poultry

industry, which is affected by the recent incidence of bird flu. The poultry industry at a meeting with the Union agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that it has suffered a loss of Rs 1000 crore since the first confirmation of the incidence of bird flu in two districts of West Bengal. They have said that the loss would increase further if the situation did not improve. "The poultry industry has demanded zoning of poultry areas in the country based on geo-climatic conditions so that exports from bird flu-free zones can be business as usual, ban on export of corn and soybean to augment feed availability, 7% central government's interest subvention on loans and two-year moratorium on repayment of loans, " Anuradha Desai, chairperson of the National Egg Coordination Committee. However Pawar on being questioned about the industry's demand said: "Zoning of poultry

areas would not help. The OIE, FAO and other international bodies treat the country as one zone. But I would work on a financial .package in consultations with the finance minister, P Chidambaram and the West Bengal chief minister, Buddhadev Bhattacharya." He assured that the financial package would be an improved one over that announced in March 2006 on account of the outbreak of bird flu. The March 2006 package contained 4% interest subvention, one-year moratorium period for repayment of loans, conversion of working capital into loans and extension of fresh loans for working capital. The industry opposed the US offer to provide vaccines for vaccination. Desai said: "Vaccination by foreign vaccines against the local H5N1 strain would not help to contain the spread of the virus, but would complicate the problem. Such vaccination did not resolve the problem in Thailand, Vietnam and China."

-- ICAR moves to curb theft of Indian germplasm http://www.financialexpress .com/news/ICAR-moves-to-curb -theft-of-Indian-germplasm /268636/ ASHOK B SHARMAPosted online: Sunday , February 03, 2008 at 2321 hrs IST New Delhi, Feb 3 The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is set to mobilise forces, to prevent the further theft of Indian germplasm. It noted cases of such thefts; called biopiracy, like varieties of Indian chickpeas

grown in Australia or some form of Indian wheat landrace; Nap Hal, which was accorded patent rights. The ICAR in an official document has noted, "There are many examples of elite Indian germplasm without any national identity number being sent out to other countries, where it was released and commercialised without any benefit to the country. Some chickpeas varieties released in Australia are of Indian origin. Nap Hal wheat transferred to the US many years ago was exploited for developing other varieties, for which applications for patent rights were filed. India had to file an opposition to the grant of the patent." In this context, ICAR suggested, "the use of national identity from a centralised database at the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) for each germplasm accession should be mandatory, and it should be used in all publications and future correspondence to avoid naming the same

accession with different identities. This creates prior art as required by international law and helps to stake claim of national sovereignty and benefit sharing." It has been noted that some state agriculture universities (SAUs) were signing MoUs for sharing Indian genetic resources with foreign agencies, without prior consent of the National Biodiversity Authority and the department of agricultural research and education (DARE) at the Centre. The ICAR has issued circulars to all SAUs to seek prior consent from NBA or DARE before signing any such MoUs. It has also sounded a note of caution to scientists and breeders of SAUs not to undertake germplasm exploration without the consent of NBPGR. ICAR has initiated germplasm registration mechanisms since 1996 for all germplasms identified and developed, and set up a committee of experts for the purpose. So far 553 germplasm lines have been registered by this

committee at NBPGR. Similar registration process has been initiated for animal,fish and microbial genetic resources.------

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