Inter Press Service - December 19, 1999
Ranjit Dev Raj

India, which completed the first phase of the NACP with 83 million dollars of Bank funds, embarked on a more ambitious second phase with loans worth 191 million dollars, last week.

"Helping to avert an HIV/AIDS epidemic in India is of immense importance to all of the South Asia region," says Mieko Nishimizu, vice president, South Asia Regional office of the World Bank.

Total project costs estimated by the Bank to be 229 million dollars with the government contributing 38 million dollars and the rest coming from several bilateral agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Department for International Development (DfID).

But the Joint-Action Front for Women of independent groups has demanded immediate suspension of the second phase and a review and reformulation of the government's National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) through which the World Bank loans are channelised.

Following meetings with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Front convenor, Ranjana Kumari told IPS that NACP strategies violated the dignity of women and legitimised the "commodification" of women.

"The Prime Minister said he was not aware of the details of the NACP which was promoted by the bureaucracy but immediately instructed his office to re-evaluate the NACP," Ranjana said.

Joint secretary in the Prime Minister's office, Auiditi Mehta confirmed that the NACP was being reassessed and wider consultations with the Front and voluntary groups would be held.

Simultaneously, the Joint Action Council Kannur (JACK), a human rights organisation made presentations at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) showing how the strategies were based on "fraudulent" data and studies using questionable methodology.

Conceded Mehta, "A lot of information, education and communication hides more than is revealed ... apparently there is a huge AIDS scare."

Mehta said as a person who can make a difference she wanted to make a positive difference to the approach of the NACP and make it more responsive to the real needs of all sections of the people rather than the so-called high-risk groups. "The high-risk group approach is claimed to have had successes in other parts of the world such as Thailand but you are looking at different epidemiologies and social realities."

According to the declared strategy for the second phase, NACO will shift focus from awareness creation and capacity building to changing behaviour in targeted groups through door-to-door campaigns on sexual health and the use of "low-cost medicine."

A large 10 million dollars of the World Bank loans are to go into vaccine development which activist groups suspect will include drug trials in this country.

"The medicalisation and vaccine trials can only help major pharmaceutical companies which are already investing heavily in this country," said JACK convenor Purushothaman Mulloli.

In his representation to the PMO, Mulloli pointed out that while there is no cure for HIV yet expensive medicines are being promoted by NACO which are far beyond the reach of ordinary Indians and are known to have devastating side-effects.

Unofficial trials of such drugs as AZT, funded by foreign research instituions, have been conducted in various parts of India since the eighties on poor pregnant women causing spontaneous abortions and deformed babies, according to JACK.

But such has been the publicity blitz for AZT that a Parliamentary committee has demanded to know why the government has not done anything to import and promote its use.

The Joint Action Front for Women has taken serious objection to the 124 million dollars of World Bank loans earmarked for such "high-risk groups" as commercial sex workers (CSWs), truck drivers, migrant workers .

According to Ranjana Kumari, what is considered the most important component of the project is all about buying and selling sex which is in fact promoting illicit activity and "woman-destructive."

According to the Front's representation, massive funding from bilateral agencies helped mobilise CSWs in Calcutta which in turn resulted in a tripling of new entrants into the profession and a lowering of their age.

On the other hand, no funds have been set aside for rescuing and rehabilitation of CSWs or the strengthening of legal and administrative systems to reduce commercial sex, the Front said.

"We acknowledge that HIV/AIDS is a major public health and social concern. But we question the efficacy and appropriateness of the strategic intervention, choices and the size and scale of public investments legtimising illegal arrangements."

Signatories to the Front's representation included Suman Krishan Kant, leader of the Mahila Dakshata Samiti (Women's Empowerment Committee) and wife of India's Vice President, Krishan Kant.

The JACK has objected to the planned "pradigm shift" towards "decentralisation" of the centrally sponsored schemes which it says would bypass local bodies while giving foreign government departments a major role. World Bank loans will, under the new plan, be routed directly from NACO to project management units of the DfID, USAID and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). (END/IPS/rdr/an/99)
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