Tag: India

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News

Hindu Extremists Call For Genocide Against Indian Muslims

Introduction

Extremism is not a new phenomenon. It has existed for centuries, and will continue to exist for a long time. Globally, the issue of extremism faces minorities, racial, religious or ethnic. In India, Muslims are facing very hard times with Hindu extremists calling for genocide against them. This begs the question: How did this happen, and what does the future of non-Hindu minorities in India look like? 

Indian Right

Hindu Mahasabha, one of India’s oldest political organizations was founded during a time of conflict between Muslims and Hindus in India [1907]. The group’s mission, according to their official website, is to declare India “the National Home of the Hindus.”  The group states that if they gain power, Indian Muslims will be forced to migrate to Pakistan and the Indian education system will be changed to fit Hindu values. 

No doubt, the group’s controversial ideology means it is a marginal political force, having their last presence in Parliament in 1991. According to Gilles Verniers, an assistant professor of political science at Ashoka University, however, their “strength is not to be measured in electoral terms.” Over the past 8 years, Hindu Mahasabha appear to have expanded in numbers and influence based on the size and frequency of their meetings.

As Hindu Mahasabha has grown in recent years, the organization has become more outspoken. In 2015, Sadhvi Deva Thakur, who was a senior member, caused widespread controversy when she told reporters Muslims and Christians should undergo forced sterilization to control their population growth. At last month’s conference, several speakers called on India’s Hindus to “defend” the religion with weapons. Another called for the “cleansing” of India’s minorities, according to footage from the conference.

Current Situation

What sparked media outrage and attention was a recent conference held by right-wing Hindu activists in December of 2021. Hundreds of activists, as well as monks rose to take an oath that they would change India, constitutionally a secular republic, into a Hindu nation, essentially a theocracy, even if this required spilling the blood of fellow Indians. “If 100 of us are ready to kill two million of them, then we will win and make India a Hindu nation,” said Pooja Shakun Pandey, a leader of Hindu Mahasabha, referring to the country’s Muslims. “Be ready to kill and go to jail.”

Additionally, in December, crowds of India’s Hindu-right confronted Muslims praying on the streets in the city of Gurugram, just outside of Delhi. They prevented Muslims from praying, while shouting and disrupting the peace.

What is being done?

Now, what is being done by the government to prevent such a genocide? The short answer is: essentially nothing. To elaborate, under several sections of India’s penal code, hate speech is prohibited, including a section which criminalizes “deliberate and malicious acts” which are targeted towards religious beliefs. According to Vrinda Grover, a lawyer, any group inciting violence is barred under Indian law. “Police, states and the government are responsible to ensure [inciting violence] doesn’t happen,” she said. “But the state, through its inaction, is actually permitting these groups to function, while endangering Muslims who are the targets.”

“This is the first time I find myself using the term ‘genocide’ in Indian politics,” Verniers said, referring to the comments made at the conference held in December. “They have tacit support in the form of government silence.” Pandey’s rant and some of the other calls for violence were the “worst form of hate speech,” according to Verniers. This lack of government action is probably due to Prime Minister Modi’s Hindu nationalist leaning agenda. Grover further adds that criminal laws are “weaponized” in India, anyone who challenges the government and those in power will be crushed by the law, but those that pander to it will be spared.  “Muslim lives in India are demonized,” she said. “The Indian state is in serious crisis.” 

Though the fate of Indian religious minorities is uncertain, the media attention has sparked mass outrage, which may pressure the Indian government to act and somehow maintain internal peace.

Sources

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hindu-extremists-india-escalate-rhetoric-calls-kill-muslims-rcna12450

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/24/world/asia/hindu-extremists-india-muslims.html

https://article-14.com/post/as-hindu-extremists-repeatedly-call-for-muslim-genocide-the-police-ignore-an-obvious-conspiracy-61dba33fa759c

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/20/hindu-supremacists-nationalism-tearing-india-apart-modi-bjp-rss-jnu-attacks

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Weekly Summaries

22nd of November – 28th of November

Germany’s new government

Two months after elections took place at the end of September, the German parties Social Democrats, Greens, and Free Democrats announced last week that they have concluded their coalition talks. The leader of the Social Democrats party, Olaf Scholz, is expected to take over as chancellor from Angela Merkel. This means that Germany may finally have a new government. Some policies included in the new deal are raising the minimum wage to 12€, building 400,000 new apartments to fight the housing crisis, legalizing the sale of cannabis, and new plans to phase out the use of coal by 2030.

Other News

  • To help battle the skyrocketing oil prices worldwide, Britain, the U.S., China, India, Japan, and Korea have decided to release tens of millions of barrels of crude oil from their storage, according to the New York Times
  • A bus caught fire and crashed in Bulgaria, killing at least 45 people
  • A new variant of COVID-19 called Omicron that was first detected in South Africa has started to spread
  • 52 people were killed due to a gas buildup and explosion in a Siberian coal mine last week
  • There were clashes between the police and demonstrators in Honiara, the capital city of the Solomon Islands. The protestors demanded that the prime minister resign.
  • The cyberwar between Iran and Israel has reached new heights
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News

What is COP26 and why is it so important?

Introduction

It is the 26th iteration of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This annual meeting brings together the 197 members of the convention to take joint action against climate change. The representatives of the countries discuss issues such as climate change mitigation and financing to support developing countries in their efforts to move away from fossil fuels. This year, the conference took place from the 31st of October to the 12th of November.

History of COP26

The first UN climate talk was held in Berlin, Germany, in 1995. At the historic COP21 meeting, held in 2015, countries approved the Paris Agreement. This was a landmark deal under which each country agreed to submit pledges on emissions reductions for its country and adaptation measures, in a collective effort to keep global warming. 

The COP meets every year, unless the Parties decide otherwise. The COP usually meets in Bonn, the seat of the secretariat, unless a country offers to host the session. Just as the COP Presidency rotates among the five recognized UN regions — Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe (Eastern, Central, and Western) — there is a tendency for the venue of the COP to also shift among these groups.

The secretariat was established in 1992. Originally, the secretariat was located in Geneva. In 1995, however, the secretariat moved to Bonn, Germany. 450 staff are employed at the UN Climate Change, hailing from over 100 countries to represent the many distinct member countries. At the head of the secretariat is the Executive Secretary, a position currently held by Patricia Espinosa.

This year’s COP26

This year the meeting was held in Glasgow UK, from 31st October to 12th November. The UK will share the presidency with Italy, which hosted the last ministerial meeting before the conference.

Five years down the line, countries were scheduled to return to the forum and finalise a rulebook on how to implement the Paris Agreement. The UNFCCC secretariat pushed for this by asking all countries to update their NDCs. None of this happened in 2020 due to the Covid-19 crisis, which led the UN to postpone the meeting. Negotiations resumed this year with the same agenda: “Nations will need to reach consensus on how to measure and potentially trade their carbon-reduction achievements. They will also need to ratchet up their national pledges for a chance to keep global warming within 1.5 °C.”

Why is COP26 so important for South Asia?

South Asia is home to nearly a quarter of the world’s population, and to some of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world is currently well on track to reach 1.5C of warming by 2040, and South Asian economies are among the vast majority of countries that are not doing enough to improve on this. 

India has been in the spotlight recently as the world’s potential next biggest polluter in the second half of this century, if China and the US reduce their carbon emissions as they have promised. Despite its renewable targets, 80% of India’s energy needs are currently met by fossil fuels, mostly coal. 

International partners have been putting pressure on the Modi administration to set a 2050 deadline for India’s emissions to reach ‘net-zero’, meaning that India would be able to absorb all the emissions it produces. At this year’s COP meeting, Kelkar said that “we need to meet the long-overdue climate finance target of USD 100 billion per year, & we need to close years of pending negotiations on international carbon trading.” While a net-zero commitment by the mid-21st century may be unfeasible for countries in South Asia, Bangladesh and Nepal have submitted updates to their climate pledges prior to COP26, increasing their mitigation efforts in line with the principles of the Paris Agreement.

Top takeaways from COP26

The first two days of the COP26 featured over 100 high-level announcements and speeches. These helped to set the tone for the two-week long conference. Over 140 countries submitted updated 2030 climate plans, or nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

India: announced a commitment (“Panchamrit”) on climate change, which included:

  • Resolution to reach net-zero emissions by 2070, including significant near-term commitments to work toward that goal
  • Pledge to install 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel electricity and to generate 50% of India’s energy capacity with renewable energy sources
  • Promise to reduce India’s carbon intensity 45% by 2030 and to cut its projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tons between now and 2030. This will be achieved by steering the country towards a low-carbon development pathway and sending strong signals to every sector about what the future holds.

Brazil

  • Formalized its pledge to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 
  • Set a new goal of reducing emissions by 50% by 2030, however the emissions impact from this goal is no stronger than what the country put forward in 2015
  • It is critical that Brazil comes back soon with a serious commitment to reduce emissions.

China

  • Released its new climate commitment just ahead of COP26, which includes a plan to peak emissions by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality before 2060. This reiterates President Xi’s announcement last December at the Climate Ambition Summit.

New Zealand

  • submitted an updated climate plan with a strengthened 2030 emissions reduction target, aiming to cut its emissions in half from 2005 levels.

Argentina

  • also nudged its 2030 emission cap downward from 359 to 349 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2030.

Sources

  1. https://www.wri.org/insights/top-takeaways-un-world-leaders-summit-cop26
  2. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59088498
  3. https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/climate/cop26-explained/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwrJOM%20BhCZARIsAGEd4VEAqEsNHfpKPhngRsaAymC52hqhfq5vWy8gTmDzhoItPSwjmYFt%20koEaAv-BEALw_wcB
  4. https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/climate/cop26-south-asia-india-whats-at-stake/
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News

The G20 Summit in Rome, Italy

Who attended?

These past few days, the political leaders of the G20 member countries met in Rome to discuss a handful of issues. Some of the politicians who were present are: 

  • Alberto Fernandez (Argentina)
  • Scott Morrison (Australia)
  • Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil)
  • Justin Trudeau (Canada)
  • Xi Jinping (China)
  • Emmanuel Macron (France)
  • Angela Merkel (Germany)
  • Mario Draghi (Italy)
  • Narendra Modi (India)
  • Joko Widodo (Indonesia)
  • Manuel Lopez Obrador (Mexico)
  • Moon Jae-in (South Korea)
  • Vladimir Putin (Russia)
  • Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Saudi Arabia)
  • Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa)
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkey)
  • Boris Johnson (United Kingdom)
  • Joe Biden (United States)

Joining these political leaders was the President of the European Commission of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, and President of the Council of the European Union, Charles Michel. Antonio Guterres, general director of OMS, specifically discussed financial issues relating to the health of the world population.

What was discussed?

So, first and foremost I want to say my thoughts on the possible solutions that will be discussed in the hopes of resolving some of the world’s current Economics problems.

  1. The European Union will invest in the eco-transaction for social enterprises, which are present in nations like Germany and Netherlands, but not in Turkey or in the United States at the moment. Mario Draghi was noted as saying that the Turkish president did not consider the political circular economy. Therefore, there will be no equality in the sense of financial economics in the future, and as a result there will be more discrepancies in terms of environmental sensibility. 
  2. The markets will be more open to Artificial Intelligence. This is especially important as AI is now considered fundamental for new inventions and innovations. 
  3. The United States will invest more on the prototype of financial democracy. In general, it has been noticed that Biden’s government is more concerned with solving population problems than Trump’s government. 
  4. China will be the first world power nation. Compared with all other international markets, China is one of the best markets for social capital that Chinese companies can invest with and also for AI (Artificial Intelligence).

Conclusion

In general, I believe there will be considerable investments in innovation, but I also think there will be areas that will see more progress than others.

I believe the central areas will be capital growth, new health solutions and eco transactions, with a greater focus on the rights of employees. Meanwhile , I think that the semi-peripheral areas will be capital growth, new health solutions but also more consideration of people’s rights on goods and services and on working issues of industries. In my opinion, the periferica areas will be debts and stagflation. It is also possible that there will be problems about having credits as paying back debts may become difficult to do. However, also inflation and financial stagnation are likely to lead to many problems, meaning that no investments will be made into sustainable finance. 

Let’s hope there will be a graduating consideration of nations that are in critical situations, like Perù, Mexico, Spain, and many African countries.

Sources

  1. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/
  2. di Taranto, Giuseppe. “The History of Economics.” (2012)
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Analysis

Female Marginalisation in the Informal Economy of Punjab

Introduction

Female marginalisation is a part of gender marginalisation. It is the presence of strong gender discrimation, persecution and subjection in all societies. The focus of this article is the informal economy of Punjab, which is the part of the economy that is not covered by any rules and regulations. The informal economy is also not monitored by the government, causing the rights of the informal workers to be taken away. Punjab is a state in northern India with a population of 30,451,858 people and its economy is around 80-90% informal. The cause of the female marginalisation in Punjab is the gender disparity, gender inequality, confining of females, and violence against women. Gender disparity is known to be a cause because there is a large difference in the population of men and women in Punjab.  As the age increases, the number of females decreases. This demonstrates that women do not receive proper health care and are even killed sometimes because they are labelled as being a liability. Gender inequality is shown through the difference between the wages the two gender groups earn and ill-treatment. Women often go through violence at workplaces, whether it be sexual or physical.

Why does Gender Inequality Exist?

Gender inequality exists because men are known to be more competent. For instance, family business are usually overtaken by sons instead of daughters as society believes that women are rather incompetent to run a business, which causes men to be in a superior position compared to women. The female marginalisation includes the inequality of the rights, the physical and sexual abuse and the gender disparity. There are 2 rape cases reported in Punjab every day, and most rape cases are not even reported. The female marginalisation in Punjab  has been there for years and it continues to be present. It was recently aggregated through the pressure of globalisation as there was an increase in the number of jobs available, however women were labelled too incompetent to take part in any of those jobs. The reason why female marginalisation is still present is because of the sexist mindset that has been adopted, the lack of education to combat sexism, and the lack of opportunities for women.

Superiority Bias & Stereotypes

This study shows us that women are socially identified through social and cultural norms. Through the perspective of the Punjabi Women, they are categorized by their gender (that they are females), their level of education, and level of income (which is extremely low). There are two groups that are known to be more superior than them, which are: men in the informal economy and people in the formal economy. The difference between men and women in the informal economy is only the gender but men in Punjab are perceived to be superior in general. Therefore, even if a woman is well-educated, it is overlooked as they are believed to be inferior to men. People in the formal economy differ as they have a higher level of education and a higher level of income. The conflict in Punjab is caused due to the stereotyping of Punjabi women. The stereotypical mindset of women being less educated, less succesful, and incompetent does not let them recieve basic rights, formal jobs, or even higher wages. The effect of the stereotyping is that this conflict will never come to an end, due to the fact that it is normalised. When the stereotype of a women in the informal economy of Punjab is known to be incompetent, many rights are snatched away from her immediately. Therefore, a conceited stereotype is one of the causes of the conflict and as long as this stereotype of women remains in people’s mind, the problem of female marginalisation will too.

Social Schemas

People perceive Punjabi women inferior to men because it fits their schema. Schemas are a cognitive framework or concept that help organize and interpret information. The idea of women being less educated, lower in the hierarchy, and incompetent is what fits in to the schema of Pubjab’s society. It’s the mindset that has developed over the course of many years. The question is where this schema comes from. Firstly the cultural norms. A lot of importance and value is devoted to the birth of a male child and a female child is often just viewed as an extra child to feed. This mindset is what makes women incompetent and due to the incomeptence, they are not educated. Punjabi Pop (Punjabi Music) is another reason these schemas have been aggravated. A lot of the lyrics of Punjabi music enforce the notion of masculinity and therefore, are revived in an aggressive manner that keeps women vulnerable. Lastly, the patriarchal society of Punjab perceives men to be the head of the house keeping women at a lower position.

Conclusion

All in all, the ideology of a women being inferior in comparison to a man, or stereotyping females to be incompetent, results in the marginlisation of women and does not let them rise up to the formal economy. It all roots from the schemas that individuals conceive about females, and the only solution to this issue is education. It is vital that these stereotypes are broken down, with the help of education in schools around Punjab.

Bibliography

  1. Azhar, Ume. “Women and Informal Economy: Home-Based Workers Most Neglected in Dealing with Coronavirus Pandemic | Political Economy | Thenews.com.pk.” Www.thenews.com.pk, 17 May 2020, http://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/659184-women-and-the-informal-economy. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.
  2. Feminism, Satvinderpal Kaur, et al. “MR Online | Navigating Educational Empowerment through Life Conditions: A Study of Rural Women in Indian Punjab.” MR Online, 9 Oct. 2019, mronline.org/2019/10/08/navigating-educational-empowerment-through-life-conditions-a-study-of-rural-women-in-indian-punjab/. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.
  3. “Formal and Informal Economies – Regional Economic Development – Eduqas – GCSE Geography Revision – Eduqas.” BBC Bitesize, http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z3spj6f/revision/1. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.
  4. Gill, Anita. “Agricultural Credit in Punjab: Have Policy Initiatives Made a Dent in Informal Credit Markets?” ResearchGate, Feb. 2016, http://www.researchgate.net/publication/314696755_Agricultural_Credit_in_Punjab_Have_Policy_Initiatives_Made_a_Dent_in_Informal_Credit_Markets.
  5. Government of Punjab. Economic and Statistical Organisation. 2020.
  6. Guha, Sriparna. “Women and Development in India: An Issue of Marginalization of Female Labour.” Catalog.ihsn.org, 2012, catalog.ihsn.org//citations/9675. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.
  7. “Informal Economy in the Philippines (ILO in the Philippines).” Ilo.org, 2020, http://www.ilo.org/manila/areasofwork/informal-economy/lang–en/index.htm.
  8. “Introduction.” Cambridge University Press, Cambridge University Press, 2017, http://www.cambridge.org/core/books/global-health-crisis/introduction/FD357851113C3299CDF1D307B1F408B1/core-reader. Accessed 2 Apr. 2021.
  9. Jodhka, Surinder. “In the Name of Development: Mapping Taith-Based Organisations’ in Maharashtra.” ResearchGate, Jan. 2012, http://www.researchgate.net/publication/289785120_In_the_name_of_development_Mapping_taith-based_organisations%27_in_Maharashtra. Accessed Jan. 2012.
  10. Joy. “What Is Power Distance?” Organizational Psychology Degrees, http://www.organizationalpsychologydegrees.com/faq/what-is-power-distance/#:~:text=Power%20distance%20refers%20to%20the. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.
  11. jules. “Microfinance & Women Empowerment :A Case Study of Punjab.” SlideServe, 3 Oct. 2014, http://www.slideserve.com/jules/microfinance-women-empowerment-a-case-study-of-punjab. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.
  12. Kaur, Manjinder. “Gender Marginalization and Gender Discrimination in Punjab, India: The Study of Son Preference and Lower Status of Girl Child in Two Villages.” Isaconf.confex.com, Isaconf, 18 July 2018, isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2018/webprogram/Paper92334.html#:~:text=Gender%20marginalization%20is%20by%20now. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.
  13. Manav, Harish. “Punjab Sees 21% Rise in Crime against Women amid Lockdown.” Https://Www.outlookindia.com/, 23 Apr. 2020, http://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-punjab-sees-21-rise-in-crime-against-women-amid-lockdown/351333.
  14. Mirza, Wasim. “Walls of Poverty & Marginalisation Weaken Women’s Voice in Pandemic Governed Economy – the New Leam.” Https://Www.thenewleam.com/, 4 Sept. 2020, http://www.thenewleam.com/2020/09/walls-of-poverty-marginalisation-weaken-womens-voice-in-pandemic-governed-economy/. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.
  15. “Population of Punjab 2020- Current Population of Punjab India.” Www.indiaonlinepages.com, http://www.indiaonlinepages.com/population/punjab-population.html. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.
  16. “Punjab Population Sex Ratio in Punjab Literacy Rate Data 2011-2020.” Www.census2011.Co.in, 2020, http://www.census2011.co.in/census/state/punjab.html. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.
  17. Pushkarna, Mridula. Gender Disparities in Punjab. Jan. 2016.
  18. Service, Tribune News. “Masculinity Continues to Be the Norm in Punjab.” Tribuneindia News Service, 20 Feb. 2016, http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/comment/masculinity-continues-to-be-the-norm-in-punjab-198550. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.
  19. Wikipedia Contributors. “Informal Economy.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 July 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informal_economy.
Categories
Weekly Summaries

4th of October – 10th of October

A long week for Facebook

Facebook and other apps owned by Facebook like WhatsApp and Instagram were down for over five hours last Monday. The shutdown showed just how dependent people around the world have become on Facebook. Just one day later, last Tuesday, a former product manager at Facebook turned-whistleblower, Frances Haugen, explained to a Senate subcommittee how Facebook “deliberately kept people — including children — hooked on its services,” according to the New York Times. Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, immediately rebutted the claims.

Other News

  • Kurz, Austria’s chancellor announced on Saturday that he would resign
  • The WHO approved the first-ever malaria vaccine. The vaccine was developed by GlaxoSmithKline and could potentially save the lives of tens of thousands of children in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • The city of Venice in Italy is using hundreds of surveillance cameras and buying the cellphone data of tourists in an effort to establish more crowd control, according to the New York Times
  • The cost of oil, natural gas, and coal has increased drastically the past few months. The rise is caused in part by oil companies refusing to produce more to prevent the prices from dropping.
  • In an order last week, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that the government should pay families who have lost family members to COVID-19 50,000 rupees (around 671 U.S. dollars)
  • The world has lost around 14% of its coral reefs since 2009, a new study revealed
Categories
Analysis

India’s Economic Transformation

Introduction

India’s Independence did not only awaken individual dreams, but also opened development opportunities — economically, socially, and politically. On the 15th of August 1947, the Indian peninsula had a new beginning as a country but there were many monumental tasks to be completed by the then-newly formed government. India’s independence was in itself a turning point for India’s economy and its transformation. Seventy-five years later, India seeks to join the $5 trillion club soon. As former prime minister Manmohan Singh put it: “The brightest jewel in the British Crown” was the poorest country in the world in terms of per capita income at the beginning of the 20th century. 

Pre-Independence

Before independence, the much prevalent British dominance drained the country of its natural resources, capital, and labour. India was hopelessly poor as a result of the constant deindustrialization by the British. The vivid social diversity and the exponentially growing unemployment and poverty rates questioned India’s survival as a nation itself. Cambridge historian Angus Maddison’s work shows that India’s share of world income shrank from 22.6% in 1700 (almost equal to Europe’s share in 1700 of 23.3%) to 3.8% in 1952. 

After Independence

Then prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, introduced an economic model that envisaged a dominant role of the ruling government as an all-pervasive entrepreneur and financier of private businesses. The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1948 proposed an economic system that would blend elements of a market economy with elements of a planned economy, free markets with state interventionism, or private enterprise with public enterprise: a mixed economy. Earlier, the Bombay Plan, proposed by eight influential industrialists including J.R.D Tata and G.D. Birla envisaged a substantial public sector with state interventions and regulations in order to protect indigenous industries. The political leadership believed that since planning was not possible in a market economy, the state and public sector would inevitably play a leading role in economic progress. 

The Planning Commission was set up in 1950 to oversee various aspects of economic planning, including resource allocation, implementation and appraisal of the five-year plans, and more. The five-year plans focussed on economic and social growth, modeled after those existing in the USSR. India’s first five-year plan was launched in 1951, and it centralized agriculture and irrigation to boost agricultural outputs as India was running out of its foreign reserves on food grain imports. The first five-year was successfully accomplished, with the economy growing at an annual rate of 3.6%, beating its primary target of 2.1%. 

Though shortly after, India suspended the five-year plans, drawing up annual plans between 1966 and 1969 instead. This was because India was not in a state to commit to long-term provision of resources. The diversion of capital to finance the war with Pakistan, the below-par growth outcomes of the Third five-year plan, and the then-ongoing war with China, had altogether left the Indian economy with little. The approaching monsoon showers worsened food shortages, causing a steep spike in inflation. The government needed to import food grains and seek foreign loans, and this posed a serious threat to India’s political economy: spiking inflation hand-in-hand with increasing foreign debt. 

India’s Economy Now

Though in recent years, the rise of the Indian economy is best depicted in BSE’s Sensex; the 30-share benchmark index. The 30 component companies represent segments of all the sectors of the economy. From a small 1,955.29 points in 1991, the Sensex touched an all-time high of 40,312.07 points on June 4, 2020. Even with the rising taxation on capital gains and investments, India is a country obsessed with cash-driven gold and real estate. These are slowly veering towards investing in a more formal and organized equitable market. Over the past decade, numerous start-ups have budded across the country as young entrepreneurs experiment with investments, technology, and sophistication all side-by-side. The rise of these start-ups has created an ecosystem of new partnerships, venture fundings, along with diversified patterns of consumption in Indian society.

Sources

  1. https://www.ciiblog.in/economy/the-evolution-of-the-indian-economy-since-independence/
  2. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780804791021/html
  3. https://www.dailypioneer.com/2020/sunday-edition/changing-scenario-of-indian-economy–1947-2020.html
  4. https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190128296.001.0001/oso-9780190128296-chapter-13

Categories
Weekly Summaries

26th of July – 1st of August

Chaos in Tunisia

The President of Tunisia, Kais Saeid, tried to seize power in what some call a coup. He announced that he would fire the prime minister and has already suspended Parliament. However, so far it seems that his success is very limited, although many Tunisians expressed their support. Tunisia has been a democracy since the Arab Spring revolutions.

Other News

  • A landslide in India killed 9 people, most of them tourists. Furthermore, monsoons on the western coast have also killed more than 164 people so far.
  • France has been witnessing many protests against the so-called “Covid Pass” policy
  • North Korea and South Korea have — after 14 months of silence — reopened diplomatic and military hotlines between the two countries
  • Flash floods in Afghanistan have killed at least 80 people, but the search for survivors still continues
  • President Biden announced that EU citizens will continue to be barred from entering the U.S., citing fears that the Delta variant would be spread, despite the fact that U.S. citizens are allowed to enter EU countries, as long as they are fully vaccinated
  • Forest fires in Turkey and wildfires in Greece have had devastating consequences for the people living in the surrounding areas

Are you up to date with the Olympics? Check here for the newest updates

Categories
News

The upcoming market that is destroying livelihoods

Introduction

Sand is the second most used natural commodity, whose relative importance in the global market has increased drastically in the past half a century, due to the substantial increase in demand for materials in which sand is a major contributor. The number of people living in urban areas has more than quadrupled since 1950, to over 4.5 billion today. The UN predicts that another 2.5 billion people will join the 4.5 billion people already living in cities within the next 3 decades.

The increasing demand for sand

Therefore, the demand for sand has increased. An example of this is within the construction industry, where sand is used to provide strength to materials such as asphalt, mortar, and concrete. However, due to the world’s ever-increasing population, there is forever an increase in the demand for sand-based materials used to increase supply for buildings and infrastructure. To meet these demands, many billions of tonnes of sand are used worldwide annually, so much so that a UN report estimated that the global sand use in 2012 alone could have created a concrete wall 27m high by 27m wide around the equator.

Effects of increasing demand for sand

Although sand is associated with its trivial use of constructing sandcastles on holiday as a child, or in the play area at your local park, it is a necessity to keep global river systems intact, a resource that we certainly take for granted. As innocent as sand may seem, the incredible demand for it is causing loss of livelihoods, loss of ecosystems, and is even a cause of death around the world.

As described by an article written by the BBC, in Kenya, the over-dredging of the local riverbeds in poor, rural counties such as Makueni, is leaving some communities without access to drinking water, subsequently leading to the eventual deaths of many locals. Kenya, alongside many other African countries, is known for its seasonal, sand-filled rivers due to its desert biome. When heavy rainfall occurs, the sand allows water to percolate, and therefore acts as a natural store for water flow, providing a water source for the surrounding villages. However, once these rivers are dredged by companies and governments who wish to sell this commodity, only the bedrock — a relatively impermeable surface — remains, causing no water to be stored and surrounding land to be flooded.  It is important to understand that many thousands of people rely on such natural resources of water to live. While companies continue to exploit indigent areas, many are left without the means to survive. 

Furthermore, the increased demand for sand has led to it becoming a highly desired commodity, which subsequently has encouraged unofficial markets to emerge. An example is India’s black market for sand harvesting, which is operated by violent sand mafias. There have been many reports of killings, in a growing wave of violence sparked by the global desire to own one of the worlds’ most under-appreciated commodities. Many hope to purloin sand, through methods of violence in order to export this product in unofficial markets. Based on the law of demand and supply, when there is increased demand, there is an increase in the price. As the price elasticity of demand for sand is relatively elastic this provides mafias and other rogue organizations the power to gain significant funds from the export of such product. 

For some, sand is just a means to an end; a way to exploit yet another non-renewable resource (a skill our population has, sadly, acquired profoundly), but for many, sand protects their village, their livelihood.

Sources

BBC, September 2017. How the demand for sand is killing rivers. Available at https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-41123284. (Accessed May 2021)

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News

Outbreak of Coronavirus in India

For more than a year already, the recent outbreak of the coronavirus has continuously disturbed our plans. Whereas some nations managed to normalize the situation, others have turned into a “death valley.” One of these countries is India. 

On the 26th of April alone, 316 thousand Indians tested positive for the coronavirus. However, this data cannot be fully trusted because the government is not able to supply the doctors with the required number of tests. There is also a lack of doctors to help the sick; the prices for essential medicine have sky-rocketed. Indian doctors have announced that soon there will not be enough space in hospitals anymore, and that therefore hospitals would soon no longer be able to accept new patients. The government has taken some steps to help hospitals by, for example, banning the use of liquid oxygen in non-medical purposes.

The number of daily cases for the past few days in India. The graph is taken from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/india/.

Sources

  1. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-04/26/c_139907439.htm
  2. https://www.dw.com/en/india-coronavirus-death-toll/a-57338733
  3. Picture from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/26/photos-show-the-deadly-toll-of-covid-in-india-as-coronavirus-cases-top-17-million.html