( Environmental groups and NGOs in India ...)Treaty With Japan may Legalize Dumping Toxic Waste in India,Health

Environmental groups and NGOs in India are up in arms against a coming India-Japan treaty regarding the export of old Japanese ships and toxic chemicals to Indian shipyards.

The India-Japan Economic Agreement is in the final stages of discussion and is due to be formalised in October.

Another contentious issue is the amount of electronic and machinery waste that comes into India from Japan.

Currently, soft loans to India from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and grants from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) range between $25 million-$33 million a year.

JICA is in the process of finalising ways of implementing collaborations and utilising Japan's Special Terms for Economic Partnership (STEP) scheme with Japanese technology and expertise.

Imports from Japan stand at about $4 billion a year. India has been one of the largest recipients of Japan's Overseas Development Assistance totalling about $1.2 billion.

Activists here say that Japan, on the pretext of "expertise in recycling", is dumping its toxic waste into countries like India.

Chennai-based campaign groups, the Corporate Accountability Desk and Exnora International, say Japan exported nearly 2,000 tonnes of trash to India between 2003 and 2006.

This does not include the e-waste that comes in from Japan.

"If the agreements negotiated by Japan with the Philippines and Thailand are anything to go by, the India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that is being worked on by the two governments will open the floodgates to Japan's municipal, medical and hazardous wastes," said Nityanand Jayaraman, a member of the international coalition Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA).

"The Economic Agreement is bad news. The Indian commerce ministry has refused to part with any meaningful information regarding the ongoing
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