The rail systems in India carry coal, but are too small and slow to bring in the quantity needed to make the kind of difference that Adani can. Photo: degahk (flickr)

When the government fails to provide, the savvy entrepreneur fills the gaps—but not without criticism.

India’s government has long failed to keep up with its own rapid development, leaving rural regions without electricity despite abundant coal reserves. Gautam Adani, an Indian entrepreneur, stepped up to develop the much-needed electrical infrastructure that encourages India’s growth, says a recent New York Times article.

His operation is far from homegrown. His coal mines are based in Indonesia and Australia and his transport ship is Korean-made. His ability to tap into the global market allows him to do what the government can’t, faster and cheaper than it could.

This global approach allowed Adani to circumvent logistical and political barriers within India. The rail system is ill equipped to transport coal, the New York Times reported, and mining requires uprooting protected forest areas and tribal groups, something politicians are hesitant to permit.

But despite the development, local fishermen argue that Adani may have done more harm than good. He has brought in few jobs and is blamed for the depletion of sea life essential to the region's economy.

India’s rural poor may have electricity now, but many remain skeptical that it came at too high a cost.

Tobacco Farm. Photo: norsenut (flickr)

One of the most ambitious attempts to control tobacco in the world is being ignored.
The World Health Organization’s tobacco control treaty entered into effect almost exactly three years ago today. It was an unprecedented move by global leaders to target the harmful public health outcome of increased tobacco use, notable especially in the developing world.

According to the World Health Organization, if current trends in the expansion of tobacco use worldwide continue, especially in the developing world where currently half of the deaths due to tobacco occur, “seven out of every ten deaths due to tobacco will occur in the developing world by 2020.”

Three years from the day the treaty went into effect, many countries have made no progress toward minimizing this potential public health disaster, according to the editorial board of the New York Times. "With tobacco use declining in wealthier countries, tobacco companies are spending tens of billions of dollars a year on advertising, marketing and sponsorship, much of it to increase sales in these developing countries." This inundation, as well as the tax revenue governments in developing countries can obtain from tobacco companies, have discouraged many of the countries most crucially affected by tobacco use from pushing any harder to promote the changes of this treaty.