Trade Networks and the Management of the Combat Frontier

This chapter fleshes out the causal mechanisms motivating the results of Chapter 5 with interviews of traders who cross the Maoist territorial border. It contends the hierarchical form of the caste-based Indian society gives rise to trade networks in which a caste-based division of labor arises: lower-castes engage in local trade, higher-castes in long-distance trade. By enforcing the caste bar on tribal people in long-distance trade, long-distance traders ensure that trade taking place between Maoist-held hinterlands and government-controlled cities remains in the hands of an elite few. Those elite long-distance traders can then strike deals with Maoist cells for trade access, thereby incentivizing Maoists to firmly hold onto their own territory, while discouraging them from taking over such profitable towns. Moreover, this mechanism helps explain why well-connected towns are less violently targeted by rebels: they tend to have more upper-caste traders, limiting their bargaining power vis-à-vis Maoist cell leaders.

Perspective From the National Association for Sickle Cell Disease

It has been documented that infants with sickle cell disease are at risk of death in early infancy and that with appropriate services this risk can be minimized. Therefore, it should be a societal goal to give every infant with sickle cell disease in this country an opportunity to avoid a preventable death associated with the disease. I wish to present what, in my judgment, is required to achieve that goal and a brief rationale for each provision. These judgments are based upon 18 years of experience in designing and administering sickle cell service programs and 13 years of serving as president of a national sickle cell organization. Every state must have a program designed to achieve the goal (currently only 13 states do) and the program must be underwritten by the state. Traditionally, the provision of personal health services has been considered a governmental responsibility when the following three conditions are met: the lack of services has dire consequences, effective services can be provided, and the solution requires a population approach. Sickle cell disease in infancy meets these criteria. The Government's responsibility is to provide or require the service and to provide or ensure financial support. Each state's plan must require by state law that all at-risk newborns are tested. The various voluntary programs have been initiated, implemented, and nurtured by committed experts in large communities and their experiences cannot be generalized to small communities where devoted and skilled sickle cell leaders are not present. It should be optional for the various states to decide whether the law requires all newborns to be tested.