<p><p class="graf">Indias decision to sign on as one of the members of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (<a href= "https://www.livemint.com/news/world/14-ipef-nations-forge-stronger-supply-chains-to-reduce-reliance-on-china-11685330072229.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">IPEF</a>) could be a landmark moment for trade in the country, but it depends on how it makes use of its unique geopolitical standing. This strategic move by India is a rational next step to strengthen international supply chains, coming a little under a year after the government came out with the National Logistics Policy (NLP) aimed at strengthening domestic supply chains.</p> <p class="graf"><strong> </strong></p> <p class="graf"><strong><i>SWIFT & rupee trade

SWIFT is currently the dominant messaging network for international payments. However, there are concerns that SWIFT could be used as a tool of economic coercion like the United States and the European Union did when they imposed sanctions on Iran that effectively cut Iran off from the system, making it very difficult to conduct international trade and significantly impacting the Iranian economy. More recently, Russias removal from the SWIFT system further demonstrated the leverage the West has on the global financial system.</p> <p class="graf">The SWIFT ban has also led to countries trying to promote settling international trade in their domestic currencies lest they be a future victim of this financial weapon. India has been one of the countries at the forefront of this effort, most recently trying to negotiate a rupee-ruble trade deal with Russia with limited success, understandably so given the limited external uses for the rupee. The IPEF provides a unique opportunity for India to take a step in the direction of increasing international rupee trade.</p> <p class="graf"><strong><i> </i></strong></p> <p class="graf"><strong><i>The UPI pitch</i></strong></p> <p class="graf">It is widely accepted that, despite economic powerhouses like Japan, Indonesia & South Korea being signatories of the IPEF, only India comes close to being a regional economic counterbalance to China. As the final drafts of the IPEF agreement are in the works, this is the time for India to leverage its standing in the region.

Given the economic nature of the initiative and Indias position as a leader in digital technology, one of Indias most important contributions to the IPEF could be its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Payments_Interface" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Unified Payments Interface</a> (UPI). The UPI has allowed India to become a leader in digital transactions, having pro...&...

Why the climate crisis and the global rise of fascism are inextricable.

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 15^th June 2023

Round the cycle turns. As millions are driven from their homes by climate disasters, the extreme right exploits their misery to extend its reach. As the extreme right gains power, climate programmes are shut down, heating accelerates and more people are driven from their homes. If we dont break this cycle soon, it will become the dominant story of our times.

A recent paper in Nature identifies the human climate niche: the range of temperatures and rainfall within which human societies thrive. We have clustered in the parts of the world with a climate that supports our flourishing, but in many of these places the niche is shrinking. Already, around 600 million people have been stranded in inhospitable conditions by global heating. Current global policies are likely to result in about 2.7C of heating by 2100. On this trajectory, some 2 billion people may be left outside the niche by 2030, and 3.7 billion by 2090. If governments limited heating to their agreed goal of 1.5C, the numbers exposed to extreme heat would be reduced fivefold. But if they abandon their climate policies, this would lead to around 4.4C of heating. In this case, by the end of the century around 5.3 billion people would face conditions that ranged from dangerous to impossible.

These conditions include extreme disruption, morbidity and death through heat-shock, water stress, crop failure and the spread of infectious disease. The figures do not take into account the effect of rising sea levels, which could displace hundreds of millions more.

Already, weather stations in the Persian Gulf have recorded wetbulb measurements a combination of heat and humidity beyond the point (35C at 100% humidity) at which most human beings can survive. At other stations, on the shores of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of California and the western side of south Asia, measurements have come close. In large parts of Africa there is almost no monitoring of extreme heat events. People are likely to have been dying of heat stress in high numbers already, but their cause of death has not been registered.

India, Nigeria, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and central America face extreme risk. Weather events such as massive floods and intensified cyclones and hurricanes will...

Blessings

The Porgera goldmine in Enga Province offered so much promise when it began production in 1990 a modern way of life and improved living standards for the landowners and surrounding communities, with access to modern health, education, and other social services. Before the closure of the mine in April 2020, it had produced 16 million ounces of gold and earned over K4 billion for the national government. Over its 30 years, it created employment and contracts, other spin-off businesses and infrastructure projects, and scholarships to landowners and other PNG students. (I was a recipient of such a scholarship from 2005 to 2007 at the University of Papua New Guinea.)

As a result of the mine, the lives of the people of Porgera changed dramatically within a generation, from traditional community to urban-based life. A new township was built with a modern hospital, a new high school (which I attended), and an international school for children of the Special Mining Lease (SML) area. Business thrived. The local landowners (people from the SML area) had access to large, new wealth in various forms of proceeds (cash and other spin-off benefits) from the goldmine.

The government set up a special purpose government authority, Porgera Development Authority, to finance the development needs of Porgera-Paiela district, with regular funding from Porgera mine royalties.

Over its lifetime, the mine also provided K335 million to the provincial government, which funded critical development projects as well as school fees for Enga children, enabling the province to emerge as a modern province from the development backwaters before the mine began.

The mine was a blessing, or so it seemed.

Curse

People from all over the country have settled in Porgera, resulting in a population increase in the district from 4,000 to over 70,000 now. This has created tensions, which have led to fierce fighting. This preceded but has been worsened by the mine closure, with the current ongoing fighting leading to many deaths, and destruction of much property. The once peaceful mining township is now dangerous and unsafe, even with the presence of reinforced military and police.

The three decades of mining have led to significant environmental degradation. Much of the land on the fringes of the mine is unfit for human settlement and farming due to landslips caused by dumping of waste rocks. The reloc...

The latest World Obesity Atlas 2023 yes, there is such a thing has three important findings for countries globally, including those in the Asia-Pacific region. First, the prevalence of obesity is rising rapidly, especially in middle income countries and among the young. Second, obesity has very significant but often avoidable financial and economic impacts, as well as health impacts. Third, few low and middle income countries are adequately prepared to respond: for example, Papua New Guinea is ranked 182 out of 183 countries in the world in terms of global preparedness.

The Atlas reports significant increases in the prevalence of obesity at the global level. It notes, for example, that every country is affected by obesity (body mass index or BMI of 30 kg per metre of height squared) and that no country has reported a decline in obesity prevalence across their entire population, and none are on track to meet the World Health Organizations (WHO) target of no increase on 2010 levels by 2025.

The report goes on to say that 51%, or more than 4 billion people, will be living with either overweight (BMI 25 kg/m²) or obesity by 2035 if current trends prevail; 1 in 4 people (nearly 2 billion) will have obesity. Figure 1 shows the projected increase in numbers, and increased proportion, of the population globally being overweight or obese between 2020 and 2035.

Figure 1: Global overweight and obesity, 2020-35

Source: World Obesity Atlas 2023, p. 11

The Atlas emphasises that the largest proportion of obesity globally already occurs in middle income countries. It estimates that, globally, just on 60% of men and women with obesity lived in middle income countries in 2020, with this share projected to rise to 70% by 2035. The share living in high income countries falls accordingly.

The Atlas also includes projections for the rise in obesity for different geographical regions. For example, it estimates the total number of adults living with obesity will more than double between 2020 and 2035 in both the WHO Western Pacific region which includes China but also the Pacific Island countries as well as the WHO South-East Asia region. Importantly, the prevalence of obesity (that is, the proportion of the population at a given point in time) is expected to double, on average, for....