In India, dominoes lead from farmers to box delays

In India, dominoes lead from farmers to box delays One might ask how affirmative action and a group of nomadic farmers hundreds of miles from the ocean might inhibit the normal movement of cargo containers at India’s busiest port.
   Well, in India, everything is truly linked.
   A report Tuesday in the Economic Times said that the Gujjars, the nomadic tribesmen who are mostly located in the northwest of the country (more specifically in the desert state of Rajasthan, near the Pakistan border), have blocked rail lines out of Jaipur, Rajasthan’s capital.
   Some 700 miles away, in Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai, that’s locked up container movement at the gateway where more than 60 percent of the country’s containers are handled.
   For more than a month, the Gujjars have been protested in every way imaginable, though mostly in India’s capital, New Delhi. They are seeking to actually be classified as lower down the class hierarchy in India than they currently are, as that would allow more of them to get government positions and places in universities. India runs an aggressive affirmative action program to rectify centuries of rule under a strict caste system. In some cases, that means up to half of places are held for people on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder.
   Their protests have been no joke. At the end of May, they virtually shut down Delhi by blocking roads and entry to office buildings throughout the city. Now, their blockage of the rail line in Jaipur has caused the delay of 15,000 containers, a commerce ministry official told the Economic Times. The ministry is trying to divert boxes around the trouble using different rail routes, but delays will be inevitable. What’s worse for exporters and importers in India, the Gujjars are persistent and determined in their plight. That means no one’s really sure when this disturbance will end or when the next one will begin. ' Eric Johnson