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NEW YORK, Oct 28: It is all about corruption, graft, abuse of official position to reap political and monetary gains and about cows receiving more financial help than the wretched poor human beings and how the wealthy nations are wresting the best brains from impoverished nations and leaving them in a lurch.
First about cows getting more financial aid than the poor people. It has been recently disclosed that a cow in the European Union (EU) receives from the governments a subsidy of $2.20 per day. This is in degrading contrast to over 1.2 billion people across the globe living under poverty line that is with an income less than $2.0 a day. The expert opinion is that the industrialised nations could retrieve 140 million people from the abject poverty they are submerged in.
Lot of noises will be made prelude to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Hong Kong to help the farmers of the poor countries. The United States which has been stiffly resisting any cut in farm subsidy has now agreed to slash the subsidy by 60 per cent provided the EU and Japan agree to withdrawal of agricultural subsidy by 83 per cent. The rich countries pay subsidies to farms to the tune of $1.0 billion a day. Ironically, the multilateral donor agencies harass the developing countries to cut subsidies to core sectors like energy and agriculture.
Britain and other EU nations asserting to make ' poverty a history ' is like playing to gallery, analysts say. There are allegations that giant US pharmaceutical companies have close links with officials of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -- the agency that regulates marketing of drugs. There are complaints about pharmaceutical companies greasing the palms of the FDA officials for prompt approval of drugs that always do not meet prescribed standard. Dr. Lester Crawford, former commissioner of the FDA or his wife sold shares in companies regulated by the agency in 2004. The value of sales ranged from $1001 to $100,000. Dr. Crawford remained only two months as the chief of the FDA.
His sudden departure surprised many. Dr. Crawford did not furnish all his financial accounts to the US Senate before his confirmation to the position. After the World Bank (WB) report that educated workforce from poor countries is making a beeline for rich nations thus putting into jeopardy all development works in their own country comes the news of the exodus of physicians from Africa and West Indies. One fourth of the doctors and nurses employed in the US, Britain, Australia and Canada are immigrants.
There is allegation about rich nations weakening the health system in poor countries. Ghana has lost three out of ten doctors it has educated to rich countries.
Meanwhile, US Republican Party Representative Tom DeLay who was forced to step down from the office of the House majority leader after mocking the court for framing him for political reason has finally conceded that he did not disclose all contributions to his legal defense fund as required by the rules of the Congress.
The fates of the two influential White House officials Karl Rove, political guru of president Bush and Lewis Libby, chief of staff of Dick Cheney are also hanging in balance. Both could be indicted on charges of obstruction of justice or perjury or violation of law by disclosing the identity of the agent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Their indictment could put the White House into huge embarrassment.
In another development, more than half of 4500 companies were reported to have been involved in the United Nations (UN) sponsored oil for food programme in Iraq and bribed Saddam Hussain, a study conducted on the programme under the leadership of Paul Volcker, a former Chairman of US Federal Reserve, concluded. The report has detailed how outside companies from more than 60 countries were able to duck the UN regulations and make money for themselves as well as for Saddam. He received $1.8 billion. The total outlay for the programme was $64 billion. Russian and French companies are reported to have reaped rich dividends.
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