· About 5.1 million people are infected with HIV in India, second only to South Africa
· Infected people make up less than 1% of population
· The first case of HIV in India was diagnosed among sex workers in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in 1986
· Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Manipur states account for three-quarters of the country's estimated HIV cases
· One sixth of all new Aids cases in the world occur in India, 30% of which are women
· Last year the World Bank warned that India could have 5m new HIV infections every year within 30 years if condom use does not increase
· Britain's international development department estimates that two adults become infected with HIV every minute in IndiaThe CIA predicts 25 million Indians could be infected by 2010.
The reason, say experts, is a historic indifference to public health - India spends less than 20 cents (11p) a head on HIV prevention and treatment, a third of the spending in Thailand and a ninth of that in Uganda - and weak political commitment to combating Aids. Although the new government, controlled by Sonia Gandhi of the Congress party, has increased public health spending by 25% and sports stars such as the cricketer Rahul Dravid are beginning to front condom campaigns, many worry that the country has passed a tipping point in infection rates.
Last year Richard Feachem, head of the UN-backed Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said he believed official statistics underestimated the prevalence of HIV. "The Indian epidemic is on an African trajectory," he said. "Today we are not making a difference. The virus is winning."The losers appear to be the country's youth. Children are first forced to leave school to care for sick parents. Once orphaned they are then consigned to work to replace their parents' income.
Sixteen-year-old Anjali Kolukapalla, whose mother, Rani, died last year of Aids, wakes up at four in the morning to sweep the streets of Vijayawada so that her nine-year-old sister, Kumari, can go to school. She earns 1,800 rupees a month (£22) and she and her sister cook, eat and sleep in one room. "There is nobody to look after us. That is why I have to work."
The spread of HIV also threatens to shake two of India's most resilient institutions: arranged marriage and the dowry. Abandoned by their extended families, orphans find themselves without the money or social network to marry. The stain of Aids also marks them out as a new class of untouchables.
.... Complete Guardian Article on Indian AIDS orphans
"The official statistics show India in second place and South Africa in first place," said Richard Feachem, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. "The official statistics are wrong. India is in first place," Feachem said. [ more ]
(Commenting on Feacham's statistics in an IHT article )
"This is technically incorrect and misleading," Quraishi said, stressing that the Indian government did not sanction the range in possible figures cited by Feachem.
Feacham also wrote in a letter to the National AIDS Control Organization "We know from a number of other countries that the epidemic can grow from a fraction of 1 percent of the population to 10 or even 20 percent within a decade,"
Ramki said...
All said and done, here is another recent article which contradicts your claims: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/2943.html
The Indian Health ministry is quoted at saying that AIDS spread is well under control in India.