Norton India Trip Brimming with International Revelations, Excitement, and Surprises (3/28/08)

Washington, DC- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) just back from a congressional trip led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, today, said that the focus of the trip to India, London and Barcelona on climate change was shared by pressing international concerns and events. Among the highlights were the delegation's visit to the Dalai Lama in Darsalama, India; doubts about the pending U.S India nuclear agreement passed by Congress in July 2006; progressive climate change initiatives underway, although India is a non-signatory to the Koyote Treaty; and dangers to India of an HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Norton said that "fatefully, but coincidentally," the delegation visited the Dalai Lama, exiled for close to 50 years from Tibet, just as protests against China developed with that country preparing for the Olympic games this summer. The congressional visit heightened attention to continuing cultural genocide and brutality in Tibet. Norton said that she was "incredibly moved by the visit, particularly with accounts from a monk and a Tibetan exile describing monstrous torture during their many years of imprisonment for asserting their rights peacefully," and by Tibetan children, monks and exiles who lined the streets to greet the delegation and to thank the American people as the delegation rode into the mountain town of Darsalama. The delegation had a meeting and lunch with the Nobel Prize recipient and his government-in-exile. "The Dalai Lama and his people have nothing to fight with except their own non-violent determination and the willingness of free people to raise their voices on their behalf," Norton said, "His holiness told our delegation that he supports the Olympic Games as an opportunity for China to join other nations in embracing freer practices. In turn, the nations of the world, who will go to the games in August, must make the road to Beijing become a signpost of protest to free Tibet."

Parliamentarians in New Delhi who met with the Pelosi delegation appeared skeptical about approving the nuclear agreement that would allow India to receive fissile nuclear material for peaceful uses, according to Norton, although India has not signed the non-proliferation treaty, Although the majority Congressional Party-led government favors the agreement, the strong opposition of communists, who are the critical minority party in the coalition government, probably ends chances for approval at least, until a new government is formed, said Norton. "The five-year term of the present government ends in 2009, and we met no one who believed the government will risk the collapse of its governing coalition in order to obtain the nuclear agreement," Norton said.

The Congresswoman noted that the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, who entertained the delegation at a lunch, had assigned the same man, as his special envoy for both the nuclear agreement and for climate change. After meeting with the envoy, Shyam Saran, Norton said she was not surprised at the dual assignment. The tough but elegant Saran made clear that India felt under no compulsion to move on a climate change agreement before the United States and other western nations, who are responsible for the lion's share of harmful carbon emissions. At the same time, the Minister of External Affairs said that India will never exceed the average worldwide emission of CO2 and has a better energy density than western nationals, such as Germany, for example. All the Indian officials agreed that there can be no climate change agreement without India, however, and Norton is optimistic that what one scientist called a "fair and equitable agreement to India" can be achieved.

"India knows well that she is far more vulnerable to the most devastating effects of climate change particularly, on indispensable matters, such as water and food supply, which could stop economic growth itself," said Norton. "At the same time when one third of the population lives on less than $1.00 a day and four fifths on less than $2.00 a day, the imperative for growth too is irresistible." Nevertheless, the Congresswoman was encouraged by figures showing that India, often called "a brains sweat shop," garners 60% of all U.S. visas worldwide, many for HV-1 visas and for higher education. Norton suggested at one meeting with Indian officials that because India has the intellectual, but not the economic capacity to lead in climate change technology, perhaps funding India's human capital might be exchanged for India's agreement to negotiate climate change targets.

Norton was less encouraged by India's HIV/AIDS record, but gratified that the country has moved from denial to action, such as encouraging testing. Although no epidemic is apparent, migration in and out of the country and drug use in some parts of India could rapidly spread the virus. "Most disturbing," Norton said, "is Indian law that criminalizes sex between men, adding to the cultural stigma and reinforcing the denial that can spread the virus." Testing is done with populations such as pregnant women, for whom the appropriate drugs are available. AIDS workers and physicians, with whom the delegation met in Mumbai (Bombay), believed there is a fair amount of bisexual contact and that the reported AIDS rates does not reflect the true incidence of the virus, considering that few Indians have been tested.