Social & cultural | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

04/07/2012

* China vows to improve food safety in 3 years

China Daily: “The State Council on Tuesday announced a decision to markedly improve food safety, aiming to effectively solve prominent problems in three years.

According to a State Council statement posted online, the government also aims to establish a better regulation mechanism, legal and standard system as well as technical support for food safety and improve the overall food safety management level of the food industry in around five years.

Food safety will become a measure of local governments’ performance in their annual assessment for the first time, the statement said.

A database of food safety records of food companies will be established and those on the black list will be disclosed and punished, it said.

Authorities must prevent expired food products from returning to the market, while consumers will be rewarded in cash for reporting illegal acts.

The Chinese public has become increasingly concerned over food safety after a slew of scares — from melamine-tainted baby formula products to pork contaminated with clenbuterol — exposed the vulnerability of the country’s food sector.

Authorities detected 15,000 cases of substandard food and shut down 5,700 unlicensed businesses during their inspections on food businesses across the country since the beginning of 2012, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce said last month.

Dairy products, edible oils, seasonal foods and alcoholic beverages were among the major food categories targeted during the inspections.”

via China vows to improve food safety in 3 years |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

This follows on from the defeat of the Chinese volleyball team due to having to subsist on vegetarian dishes due to concerns about tainted meat: http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=158271eb42848310VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=HK+%26+China&s=Sport

Posted in China alert, Food safety, Good news | 1 Comment »

Tags: China, foodsafety, Infant formula, State Council of the People's Republic of China

27/06/2012

* China punishes officials over late-term abortion case

BBC News: “A Chinese official has been sacked and others punished over the case of a woman forced to have a late-term abortion, state-run media report.

A relative said the couple were being harassed, with banners apparently calling them traitors in Shaanxi

An investigation showed that officials “used crude means” to persuade Feng Jianmei to agree to the abortion, Xinhua news agency reports.

Ms Feng’s pregnancy was terminated at seven months because she had violated the one-child policy law.

Photos of her with the foetus caused widespread condemnation online.

China’s one-child family planning policy aims to control the country’s population, which now stands at around 1.3bn. Rights groups say the law has meant women being coerced into abortions, which Beijing denies.

Ms Feng’s case has come to symbolise the extreme measures some officials take in order to meet population targets, reports the BBC’s Martin Patience in Beijing.

Officials punished

Officials in China’s north-west province of Shaanxi were punished for having “violated the laws of central and local government on family planning”, Xinhua reports.

The head of the family planning bureau in Zhenping county, Jiang Nenghai, had been sacked. Another family planning official had also been given “administrative demerits”, Xinhua said.

Other officials in connection with the case had also been punished, Xinhua said, without elaborating further.

“According to the investigation, while persuading Feng to receive the abortion, some staff of the township government used crude means to violate her intentions,” Xinhua says.

“There was also no legal basis for the township government’s demand that Feng and her family pay a deposit of 40,000 yuan [$6,300] for a certificate allowing her to have her second child,” it added.

Ms Feng will be given compensation, Xinhua adds, without providing the details.”

via BBC News – China punishes officials over late-term abortion case.

Posted in China alert, Good news, Illegal practices, One-child policy, Rule of law, Social & cultural | 3 Comments »

Tags: Abortion, China, Family planning, one-child policy, politics

22/06/2012

* China adds more trains for holiday travel rush

Xinhua: “China’s Ministry of Railways said Friday it has put more trains on to ease transportation pressure during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday from June 22-24.

The ministry added 196 provisional passenger trains for the travel rush Thursday, one day ahead of the holiday, 70 more than the eve of last year’s holiday, it said in a statement.

China’s railways are expected to carry 6.75 million passengers on Friday, the travel peak of this holiday, up 4.7 percent from the holiday travel peak last year, the ministry has said.

It estimated a daily average passenger flow of 6.1 million from June 21 to 24, up 5 percent from that during last year’s holiday travel rush.

The Dragon Boat Festival, also called Duanwu Festival, is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar.

The festival commemorates the famous ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan. Chinese people prepare and eat zongzi, or leaf-packed glutinous rice dumplings, drink wine and race dragon boats on the day.

The festival falls on June 23 this year.”

via China adds more trains for holiday travel rush – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

Although the festival commemorates a historic Chinese event – see http://mandarin.about.com/od/chineseculture/a/dragon_boat.htm – over recent years it has become an international sporting event http://www.dragonboatcalendar.com/ . Not dissimilar to the Greek Marathon now an international sport.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Good news, History, international sport, Transport | Leave a Comment »

Tags: ancient chinese poet, dragon boat festival, transportation, travel

18/06/2012

* China publishes books on officials’ morality

Xinhua: “A book series expounding the moral issues of officials, the first-ever publication on the topic in China, was released for sale Monday in Beijing as part of government-backed efforts to promote integrity among civil servants.

The four-book series embodies the results of research conducted by experts with the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences at the request of Beijing authorities two years ago, according to a report published by the Beijing Daily.

The books record the development of theories about officials’ morality through Chinese history and provide case studies, as well as highlight the importance of raising officials’ moral standards in modern society, an official with the Beijing Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was quoted as saying in the report.

The major difference between good and bad officials simply lies in whether they perform duties with a conscience, says the prologue of the series.

Nowadays, the CPC, as the ruling party, must value virtues of officials and it is a general trend for officials to abide by professional ethics, according to a passage in one of the books.

The book also points out a moral official in modern China should always serve the people as well as be loyal, pragmatic, fair-minded and incorruptible, while always improving oneself.

The series will serve as anti-graft reading material for all Communist Party cadres in Beijing, according to the report.”

via China publishes books on officials’ morality – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

Let’s hope the cadres take this book as seriously as their forebears took Mao’s Red Book.

Posted in China alert, corruption, Good news, Illegal practices, Rule of law | 2 Comments »

Tags: Beijing, China, Communist Party, National Natural Science Foundation of China, politics, Social science

15/06/2012

* Toilets Become a Battle Cry in India

NY Times: “You could be forgiven for thinking that safety is the top concern for travelers brave enough to venture on Indian railways. It’s not. Unclean toilets appear to be their main grouse, according to a recent survey.

Across India, toilets appear to be the new battleground on which wars are being waged, whether it’s about hygiene, austerity, gender equality or corruption.

On India Ink, we’ve previously written how sanitation is a dump in India, with more than half of all households having no toilet facilities.

Even Bill Gates, one of the world’s richest people, has made his new mission to “reinvent the toilet.” “One of my ultimate dreams now is to reinvent the toilet — find a cheaper alternative to the flush toilet that does not require running water, has smell characteristics better than the flush toilet and is cheap,” he told the Times of India newspaper.

But it’s mostly the women in India who are paying a price for toilets -– literally. On Thursday Jim Yardley wrote in The New York Times that unlike men, many women in Mumbai often have to pay to urinate –- an injustice that has started a “Right to Pee” campaign.

Toilets have also been flushed into the austerity debate last week, when India’s Planning Commission ran up a 3 million rupee, or $54,100, bill for renovating the toilets at its headquarters, a move viewed by some as lavish and a drain on public funds. That was followed by news that the western state of Goa had given 2 million rupees, or $35,700, to build a single air-conditioned toilet in the constituency of the former chief minister of the state.

Think that raises a stink? In India, where the government is reeling with corruption scandals, the innocuous toilet made a brief swirl when many reportedly went missing. According to an April report in an Indian daily, the Telegraph, the federal government says it delivered about 87.1 million toilets to households across villages over the last decade. But the census shows that only about 51.6 million had toilets in 2011. That’s a case of 35 million missing toilets.”

via Toilets Become a Battle Cry in India – NYTimes.com.

Another example of discrimination against women in India. See: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/06/14/india-the-worst-big-country-to-be-a-woman/

Posted in corruption, Economics, India alert, Inequalities, Politics | 3 Comments »

Tags: Bill Gates, environment, Flush toilet, India, mumbai, Toilet

15/06/2012

* Chinese officials apologise to woman in forced abortion

BBC News: “City officials in China have apologised to a woman who was forced to have an abortion and suspended three people responsible, state media reports.

This came after photos showing a foetus and the mother, Feng Jianmei, shocked web users.

She was made to undergo the procedure in Shaanxi province in the seventh month of pregnancy, local officials said after investigating.

Chinese law clearly prohibits abortions beyond six months.

The Ankang city government said it decided to suspend three officials in Zhenping county following initial investigations. It also urged the county government to conduct a thorough review of its family planning operations, said Xinhua news.

China has long denied that its vast army of local family planning officials are using abortion to enforce the country’s one-child policy.

In this case, though, there has been a rare admission that her pregnancy was terminated against her will, and now action will be taken against certain officials.

What has made the difference appears clear.

Minutes after the abortion, a family member posted on the internet a photograph of Feng Jianmei’s aborted foetus, clearly formed at seven months, lying next to her on a hospital bed and the image went viral.

It is a classic illustration of the challenge posed to China’s one party system by the internet.

On Thursday night, the city officials apologised to Ms Feng, 27, and her family, the report said.

She was ”forced to terminate her pregnancy” at a hospital in Zhenping on 2 June, said Xinhua.

Officials in Zhenping county claimed she agreed to the abortion because she was not allowed to have a second child by law. She already has a daughter, born in 2007.

But activists said she was forced into the abortion as she could not pay the fine for having a second child.”

via BBC News – Chinese officials apologise to woman in forced abortion.

Posted in One-child policy, Politics, Rule of law, Women's rights | 2 Comments »

Tags: aborted foetus, Abortion, China, one-child policy, rare admission, seventh month of pregnancy

14/06/2012

* Chinese State Council improves food safety

China Daily: “The State Council laid out measures to improve food safety on Wednesday, including tighter supervision and harsher punishment for violators.

“It is an onerous task for the government to ensure food safety,” as China’s food industry is still suffering from nonstandard management and many hidden safety risks, according to a statement released after a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

Police officers examine decayed beans at an illegal food processing plant in Cangshan county, East China’s Shandong province, on June 1. The plant has been shut down. Initial investigation found its products, fried beans and peanuts, were mainly sold to rural market. [Zhu Wutao / For China Daily]

The government should enhance supervision by setting up an efficient mechanism that covers all links in the food industry and a rigid food recall system for destroying defective products, the statement said.

The State Council has vowed a “vigous crackdown” on those who endanger food safety.

Meanwhile, policies, laws and regulations should be revised to increase costs for violators, according to the statement.

The country will intensify a series of food safety supervisions, including strengthening enterprises’ accountability for their food products and streamlining current food quality testing standards .

The country will establish credit profiles for food enterprises, releasing quality information to the public in time, the statement said.

Also, the country will give prizes to people who expose substandard food products, it said.

China is facing increasing risks on food safety as some food enterprises have put too much emphasis on profits, negatively affecting sales, Pu Changcheng, deputy director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said at a news conference on Monday.”

via State Council improves food safety |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn.

China listens to and responds to citizens
Student’s food safety website fuels his fame (chinawatch.washingtonpost.com)

Posted in China alert, Food safety, Politics, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, China Daily, Food, foodsafety, politics, State Council, State Council of the People's Republic of China

14/06/2012

* India the Worst Big Country to Be a Woman

NY Times: ““India, a country best-known for its rising economic might, is the worst place to be a woman among the world’s biggest economies, and Canada the best, according to a survey of experts published Wednesday,” Katrin Bennhold wrote on The Rendezvous blog.

“The Group of 20 survey by TrustLaw, a legal news service of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, found that a combination of infanticide, child marriage and slavery left India at the bottom of the ranking, lagging even Saudi Arabia, where women are still not allowed to drive and only gained the vote in 2011,” she wrote.”

via India the Worst Big Country to Be a Woman – NYTimes.com.

See also: Women in India

Posted in India alert, Women's rights | 1 Comment »

Tags: Child marriage, G-20 major economies, India, Saudi Arabia

13/06/2012

* China football ex-chiefs Nan Yong and Xie Yalong jailed

BBC News: “Two ex-heads of China’s football league have been jailed for 10-and-a-half years each for corruption, making them the most senior football officials sentenced. Nan Yong and his predecessor Xie Yalong were both accused of accepting bribes. Nan was also fined 200,000 yuan ($31,400; £20,200) and Xie is set to have personal assets and illegal takings confiscated.

China has increased efforts to clean up the game, hit by a series of scandals.

Nan, charged with 17 counts of taking bribes, was sentenced by a court in Tieling in north-eastern China. Xie, who was sentenced in Dandong, denies the charges against him adding that he only confessed to the allegations under torture. More than 900,000 yuan in personal assets and illegal takings of his are set to be confiscated.

Several other verdicts have also been delivered in similar cases in other cities, Chinese media reported.

In Dandong, a former national team captain was also sentenced to 10 years and six months in jail and fined 200,000 yuan. Four former national team players were sentenced in Shenyang for to up to six years’ jail and fined 500,000 yuan for taking bribes and match fixing.

via BBC News – China football ex-chiefs Nan Yong and Xie Yalong jailed.

Ex-soccer chief Nan Yong begins bribery trial (wantchinatimes.com)
Report: Nike exec bribed Chinese official (upi.com)
Police deny torturing China’s former soccer chief (indiavision.com)

Posted in China alert, corruption, Good news, Illegal practices, Justice, Rule of law | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Bribery, China, politics, Prison, soccer, sports

09/06/2012

* India’s Failed Food System

NY Times: ““Spurred by agricultural innovation and generous farm subsidies, India now grows so much food that it has a bigger grain stockpile than any country except China, and it exports some of it to countries like Saudi Arabia and Australia,” Vikas Bajaj writes in The New York TImes. “Yet one-fifth of its people are malnourished — double the rate of other developing countries like Vietnam and China — because of pervasive corruption, mismanagement and waste in the programs that are supposed to distribute food to the poor. ”

The biggest gap is the inefficient, corrupt system used to get the food to those who need it. Just 41.4 percent of the grain picked up by the states from federal warehouses reaches Indian homes, according to a recent World Bank study. Critics say officials all along the chain, from warehouse managers to shopkeepers, steal food and sell it to traders, pocketing tidy, illicit profits. Poor Indians who have ration cards often complain about both the quality and quantity of grain available at government stores, called fair price shops.”

via Indias Failed Food System – NYTimes.com.

Posted in corruption, Economics, exports, Illegal practices, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Food, India

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