*Every* one's a critic...

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Rights body says
India's tsunami relief efforts 'pathetic'
New Delhi, AFP

India, determined to take care of their own tsunami victims without foreign aid, is coming under fire from The Asian Human Rights Commission for their efforts.

It levelled a host of allegations including a lack of coordination between various agencies, aid mismanagement, caste discrimination in distribution of supplies, early shutting down of relief centres and a "meagre" quantity of relief being doled out to the thousands of survivors.

"The assistance in some areas is overlapped whereas other affected places are being completely ignored," it said.

"The AHRC is particularly concerned about reports that many remote villages are totally neglected due to caste discrimination and political allegiance. Such discrimination is absolutely inhuman and calls for international criticism."

In addition to lack of speed and perceived discrimination, the AHRC also charges that food provided to families was inadequate in volume, and that some of the food includes worm infested rice. Additionally the monies set aside for reconstruction fall short of the replacement costs.

In response, the Indian officials protest the rights groups' charges.

"We don't agree with this assessment," home ministry official Onkarmal Kedia told AFP.

"There has been all round appreciation of the relief operations," he said.

"The government got going from day one. We evacuated thousands of people and relief supplies have gone by ships and planes to far off places including many remote regions of the Andaman and Nicobar islands."

I'm finding it difficult to be so quick to judge the Indian gov't for their efforts.

I do admit that, while it is admirable they strive to be self-sufficient, proving their ability to function as a modern nation to the EU membership, much of this internal sniping could be avoided by having foreign aid in the mix.

And, if their needs are truly greater than what they can provide, they are shortchanging their citizens by refusing outside help in the interests of a perceived EU image.

But the critics get not pass from me and should also get a grip on reality. Taking pot shots at the gov't efforts does little to cure the problem. Criticism without constructive suggestions proffered is nothing more than unproductive bickering.

I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't admit the relief efforts and distribution efficiency could be better in *all* locations. But this is a disaster of unprecedented magnitude in our brief history here on the planet. We are all still trying to comprehend so many deaths, let along getting a handle on the best way to provide aid to those who need it without tripping over each other. This is not like a fire drill, practiced and honed down to a science.

So I think anyone on the sidelines who levels accusations such as this, without coming back with some constructive answer to the problem, should somehow be fined, popped in the penalty box... *something*. Everyone with access to a publication has become a guru in the best way possible to provide aid. I think, somehow, their money should go where their pen/mouth is!