With lenders tightening their purse strings and the number of projects in decline, Chinese revenue earned from engineering and construction works in Africa has fallen by more than 30 per cent since 2015. Now observers say this is the “new normal”. It was a different picture almost a decade ago when Chinese companies earned more than a third of their total overseas revenue from Africa. That is certainly not the case today. According to data from the China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, engineering and construction contracts in Africa earned Chinese companies US$37.84 billion in gross annual revenues in 2022, which was a 31 per cent drop from US$54.78 billion generated in 2015, the year lending to Africa was at its highest. Africa made up 19.4 per cent of global revenue for Chinese companies in 2022, CARI said, almost halved from its 2010 peak of 38.9 per cent. Excluding small businesses, it is estimated there are more than 10,000 state-owned and private Chinese companies currently operating in Africa. Most of these moved to the continent during former Chinese president Jiang Zemin’s push for businesses to “go out” in search of new markets and raw materials at the beginning of the century. Between 2000 and 2022, China pledged a total of US$170.1 billion to African countries – money that went into building mega projects, including ports, hydroelectric dams, highways and railways. But since the highs of the start of the century, and the peaks of the 2010s, lending concerns, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, have sparked a turnaround, observers said. Worries over the ability of some countries to repay their loans led to a drop in Chinese lending to Africa, as financiers became more cautious and thorough in their loan appraisals. Between 2012 and 2018, Africa borrowed more than US$10 billion annually from Chinese lenders. By 2021 that had dropped to US$1.2 billion, and in 2022 it fell under the billion-dollar mark to US$994.5 million, according to the Chinese Loans to Africa database at Boston University’s Global Development Policy Centre. Hong Zhang, a China public policy postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Ash Centre for Democratic Governance and Innovation, said it was a simple case of falling loans having a direct impact on falling revenue. “The drop in contract revenue in Africa can be attributed to the decline of Chinese loans to Africa,” Zhang said. Citing CARI data, she said Chinese loans to Africa had been declining since around 2013, except in 2016 when the debt restructuring in Angola made a one-off jump. Meanwhile, Asia’s share has been on the rise, she said. Asia remains by far the biggest source of revenue for Chinese companies engaged in engineering and construction contracts, bringing in US$82.43 billion in 2022, with Africa in second place. However, although revenue from Africa is in decline, some parts of the continent are bigger earners than others. China’s highest African revenues were gained from the five resource-rich countries of Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Egypt and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Together, they accounted for 41 per cent of all Chinese companies’ 2022 gross annual revenues from construction projects in Africa. In Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and most populous country, Chinese businesses are undertaking mega projects, such as multibillion-dollar railways and ports. China’s annual revenues from Nigeria rose steadily from US$488 million in 2004 to a peak of US$4.99 billion in 2012, boosted by the West African nation’s booming construction industry. Since then, that figure has remained high, sitting at around US$4.59 billion in 2022. Angola got more than a quarter of China’s total African lending between 2000 and 2022, receiving as much as US$45 billion. A major Chinese project there is the US$4.1 billion Caculo Cabaca Hydroelectric Power Station. Oil-rich Algeria has seen Chinese companies build massive projects, such as railways and highways. And in Egypt, Chinese firms are building mega projects at the Suez Canal as well as helping to construct the new administrative capital in Cairo. Meanwhile in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, many Chinese companies have been working on the nation’s infrastructure and mining sectors, attracted by the fact it holds the world’s largest reserve of cobalt, vital to the production of electric vehicle batteries. Yunnan Chen, a senior research officer at the London-based Overseas Development Institute think tank, said contracts and revenues were down for engineering and construction projects in Africa because the number of projects had fallen. Even before the pandemic, financing for infrastructure construction via overseas finance was in decline, she said, and that was impacted further by the Covid lockdowns. “We simply don’t have the same kind of project pipeline as we did in previous years,” Chen said. She also noted that several African countries, including Angola and Egypt, had been facing external debt repayment issues. “Governments don’t have the capacity to borrow to finance new construction as they did five years ago,” she said. The current situation is the “new normal” for Chinese contractors in Africa, according to Tim Zajontz, a research fellow in the Centre for International and Comparative Politics at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. “Lower contract revenues are ultimately the result of more conservative lending practices on the part of China’s policy banks,” said Zajontz. “Debt sustainability concerns have ended the loan funding spree in African infrastructure markets, which we witnessed for good parts of the 2010s,” he said. But, despite the reduced revenue, Africa still holds an attraction for Chinese firms. Higher returns is one such pull for Chinese companies, according to Zhang. She explained that since there is usually no competitive bidding for Chinese-financed projects, as “Chinese contractors help broker the loans from China”, companies can see better returns. “Therefore, when Chinese loans took up a higher percentage of Chinese contracts in Africa than in other regions, the average return could be higher as a result,” Zhang said. Zajontz noted that Africa is particularly attractive to firms in sectors that have faced crises in China’s domestic market, such as construction and infrastructure. “We will see further diversification of Chinese investments across Africa,” he said. “A bigger share of returns for Chinese firms will come from public-private partnerships in infrastructure, from investments in the processing of minerals and agricultural goods, and from digital platforms and other services.”   Source: South China Morning Post

Every day the planet loses more and more trees to deforestation, according to a new study. But why are forests so important for us anyway? More than half the habitable land on Earth was once covered in lush forest. Humans have been chopping away at it for 10,000 years, but in the past century, deforestation has accelerated dramatically. Since 1900, an area the size of the United States has been stripped of forest. That's the same amount that was lost in the previous 9,000 years, according to online science platform Our World in Data. And losses are ongoing. Every week in 2023, the planet lost tropical forest cover the size of Singapore, according to a new Global Forest Watch study published by research organization World Resources Institute (WRI). That came to a total of 3.7 million hectares (9.2 million acres) in 2023, although forest loss dropped slightly compared to 2022. Usually forests are cut down to clear land for agriculture — mainly beef, soy and palm oil — or for timber. Others burn down as climate change supercharges wildfires. Record-breaking fires in Canada led to a fivefold increase in forest loss last year.  If forests continue to shrink it may eventually leave the planet unlivable for humans. Most countries have pledged to stop forest loss by 2030 but are nowhere near the levels needed to achieve this. "The world took two steps forward, two steps back when it comes to this past year's forest loss," Mikaela Weisse, Global Forest Watch Director at WRI, said in a statement. Countries such as Colombia and Brazil have reduced rates of tropical forest loss dramatically, but their gains were largely wiped out by huge increases in countries such as Bolivia, Laos and Nicaragua, according to the study data researched by the University of Maryland.  But why are forests so important? Healthy forests ensure humans have enough air to breathe by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. Forests also recharge our drinking water and act as natural filters. Their root systems absorb excess nutrients and pollutants from rainfall runoff before it enters aquifers, keeping water safe to consume. Tree roots protect against landslides by holding the soil together, combat flooding after heavy rainfall by aiding water absorption, and in the case of mangrove forests, act as a coastal bulwark during storms by buffering surges.  Forests have a role to play in ensuring we have enough food to eat, too, either through directly harboring fruit and wild animals that people eat, or by supporting agriculture through sheltering pollinators and supplying water.  They directly sustain the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people, providing timber, fuel, food, jobs and shelter. About 300 million people live in forests. As well as human lives, forests support more than 80% of biodiversity on land, including 80% of amphibians, and 75% of birds. Tropical rainforests are especially heavy lifters, holding more than half the world's vertebrate species. When tropical rainforests are cut down, as many as 100 species are made extinct each day, according to international conservation NGO WWF. Biodiversity is fundamental to the ongoing survival of humanity. How are forests and climate change linked? Forests are essential to slowing climate change. Modeling by UN science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), showed that stopping deforestation and restoring trees is fundamental to keeping planetary heating under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit). That's the limit agreed by world leaders in Paris in 2015 to stop the worst effects of the climate crisis.  This is because forests are the largest carbon sinks on the planet alongside oceans and soil. They hold vast quantities of climate-warming gases which are largely released by burning fossil fuels. But when forests are cleared, CO2 is released back into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change. If deforestation is stopped and some 350 million hectares of destroyed and degraded forests are restored, they could sequester 5 gigatons of carbon dioxide each year. That's roughly what the United States emits each year. But it's not just their role in regulating CO2 that affects the atmosphere. Forest also helps to create clouds, which reflect sunlight back into space. They act as a natural air conditioner too when they release moisture into the air through evaporation. Even the shape of tree canopies plays a complex role in wind movements and weather systems. A recent study found forests reduced temperatures in the eastern United States by 1 degree Celsius to 2 degrees Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) each year. What can be done to save forests? Reversals in deforestation are possible. In 2023, Brazil reduced primary forest loss by 36%, while losses dipped 49% in Colombia, compared to the previous year, partly thanks to political action. Colombia's gains have largely been driven by a peace process within the country, with negotiations among different armed groups explicitly prioritizing forest conservation. Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has made deforestation a policy goal through strengthened law enforcement, revoking environmentally destructive policies, and recognizing indigenous territories. This was in direct opposition to his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, whose policies helped drive forest loss in pursuit of economic development.  "Countries can cut rates of forest loss when they muster the political will to do so. But we also know that progress can be reversed when political winds change," said Rod Taylor, WRI's Global Forests Director, in a press call. To counter this yo-yo effect, Taylor said, "the global economy needs to increase the value of standing forests relative to the short-term gains on offer from clearing forests to make way for farms, mines or new roads." How else can forests be protected? Some ways to do this include global initiatives that place a value on forests based on how much carbon they can store. There are also nascent efforts to directly pay residents and landowners who help preserve forested areas. Regulations can help tackle deforestation by focusing on supply chains. The European Union's new Deforestation Regulation, for example, will push companies to ensure imports of cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy and wood items don't come from newly deforested land. Supporting Indigenous communities in healthy forests can help protect against deforestation. About 36% of remaining intact forests are on Indigenous lands, according to the World Bank, and they are shown to be adept at preserving biodiversity. Restoring cleared forests will be integral to achieving the Paris Agreement, and many countries are even looking at afforestation — the practice of establishing a forest where there previously was none. "Bold global mechanisms and unique local initiatives together are both needed to achieve enduring reductions in deforestation across all tropical countries," said forest expert Taylor.

Aiming to change the narrative about the Xinjiang region where China is accused of committing grave human rights abuses, Beijing is organising so-called media tours with friendly countries to somehow propagate a different version of the region, a report by Al Jazeera stated. Under Chinese Chinese President Xi Jinping's vision of "telling the story of Xinjiang" and "confidently propagating the excellent social stability of Xinjiang", at least five such tours took place in 2023 itself. Al Jazeera cited a report of Olsi Jazexhi, an Albanian-Canadian historian and journalist who initially thought that the reports about human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) of Western China were "lies". Multiple accounts from people who had fled the area as well as reports from human rights organisations were painting a picture of human rights abuses being perpetrated on a massive scale. Muslim minorities in Xinjiang - the majority of whom are Turkic-speaking Uighurs - were reportedly being deprived of basic freedoms, their cultural and religious heritage was being destroyed and at least 1 million of them had been interned in a vast network of detention camps. The international community had also taken notice and the United Nations had raised its concerns. But Jazexhi was still unconvinced. "I was certain that the stories were a scheme constructed by the US and the West to discredit China and divert attention away from their own human rights records regarding Muslims," he said. Following this, Jazexhi contacted the Chinese embassy and was soon invited to join a media tour for foreign journalists. "I went to defend the Chinese government," he recalled. However, Jazexhi soon found that defending the Chinese narrative was a "far more difficult task" than he had anticipated. In the first few days in Xinjiang, he and other foreign journalists had to sit through a series of lectures given by Chinese officials about the history of the region and its people. "They were portraying the indigenous people of Xinjiang as immigrants and Islam as a religion that was foreign to the region," Jazexhi said. "It was incorrect."His disillusion only continued when he and other journalists were taken by their Chinese hosts to one of the so-called vocational training centres outside the regional capital of Urumqi, according to Al Jazeera. Jazexhi also had a chance to interact with several Uighurs and it quickly became clear they were not the "terrorists" or "extremists" Beijing had claimed. He had thought he was going to expose Western lies but he had instead witnessed oppression on a massive scale. "What I saw was an attempt to eradicate Islam from Xinjiang," he said. Since Jazexhi's visit, the UN Human Rights Council has found that Chinese restrictions and deprivations in Xinjiang may constitute "crimes against humanity". The US government as well as lawmakers in Australia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom have labelled the Chinese treatment of Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims in the region a genocide. Meanwhile, several countries have imposed economic restrictions on goods from Xinjiang in response to evidence of forced labour in the region, Al Jazeera reported. However, despite all the criticism, Beijing has continued to arrange visits - primarily for diplomats and journalists from Muslim countries - to Xinjiang. Chinese media have reported about at least five such media tours taking place in 2023, with Xinjiang visits also arranged for foreign diplomats and Islamic scholars. Moiz Farooq, who is the executive editor of Daily Ittehad Media Group and Pakistan Economic Net, visited Xinjiang in the middle of December as part of a delegation of media representatives from Pakistan. Like Jazexhi in 2019, Farooq also went to Xinjiang with the intent to observe for himself that the stories he had heard were not true. Unlike Jazexhi, Farooq left Xinjiang impressed by the region's level of development and assured that the local Muslims were largely living a free and content life. Farooq does not believe that accounts and reports from human rights organisations and UN organs detailing human rights abuses in Xinjiang are correct. Naz Parveen is the director of the China Window Institute in Peshawar, Pakistan, and she was on the same tour as Farooq. She too was impressed by the prosperity she observed in Xinjiang. Echoing Beijing's characterisation of the situation, Parveen believes that what have been termed human rights violations in Xinjiang can be more accurately described as "law enforcement operations targeting religious extremism", according to Al Jazeera. On another tour of Xinjiang in September, Chinese state broadcaster CGTN quoted columnist and Filipino politician Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan praising Chinese "anti-terrorism" measures in Xinjiang. On the same tour, Donovan Ralph Martin, who is the editor of the Daily Scrum News in Canada, was likewise quoted by CGTN as saying that "absolutely, there is freedom of religion in Xinjiang, and anybody who does not say that is ignorant". Notably, in 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for "telling the story of Xinjiang" and "confidently propagating the excellent social stability of Xinjiang". Canadian-Uighur activist Rukiye Turdush sees the media tours as integral to that mission. "He wants to change the narrative about Xinjiang," she said. Henryk Szadziewski is a senior researcher at the NGO Uyghur Human Rights Project. He says media tours, like the ones in Xinjiang, are a common tactic employed by countries that have something to hide. Turdush does not attach much credibility to conclusions reached by foreign journalists based on talks with Uighurs who have been living in an environment of fear for years and been subjected to heavy surveillance as well as state propaganda. "Few Uighurs and other Turkic people in Xinjiang have much choice other than to stay silent or echo Chinese propaganda," she said. Australian journalists on a media tour in September reported they spoke to a souvenir vendor who had not been provided by their tour guides. The vendor said that he had spent time at an internment camp but when the journalists started to ask more questions, a person suddenly appeared and began to film the vendor's answers, Al Jazeera reported. Even former UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet found her long-delayed visit carefully "choreographed". But her final report, released moments before she left office, found China had probably committed "crimes against humanity" in Xinjiang. However, in recent years, security measures in Xinjiang seem to have been relaxed according to Maya Wang, an associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Detention camps have been closed down and police checkpoints have been removed. Instead, a vast network of sophisticated facial-recognition security cameras has reportedly been established throughout the region, while people who were previously detained in camps have been transferred into China's opaque prison system, Al Jazeera reported. At the same time, information flowing in and out of Xinjiang remains tightly controlled, while Xinjiang residents are punished for having unauthorised contact with people outside China. "The genocide is still happening but it is just much more covert now," Turdush said. Despite the controversy surrounding the organised tours, both Turdush and Jazexhi believe that foreign journalists and officials should continue to visit Xinjiang as long as they challenge the narratives that are presented to them. "They should go," Jazexhi said. "And they should speak the truth about what they see in Xinjiang and what they don't see." 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has coauthored an article with CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation Patrick Verkooijen on climate change in the famous American weekly news magazine, Newsweek. The article was published on Thursday (November 30) while the global leaders are convening for the COP28 climate summit in Dubai to find ways to fight climate change impact globally. Following is the full article: Let's Put People Back at the Heart of Climate Action By Sheikh Hasina and Patrick Verkooijen Climate change is a global disaster inflicted by the rich upon the poor-and increasingly upon themselves. Global leaders convening for the COP28 climate summit in Dubai need to understand that their top-down approach can never work. Rather, we need to put the victims in charge of the fight back and fund their battle. The climate breakdown will not wait while leaders equivocate. It is already unleashing typhoons and floods on communities, and spreading hunger through crop failures and drought. Only a tiny fraction of climate funding reaches the people battling the worst effects of climate change-they are without the resources needed to protect themselves and their livelihoods, leaving them more vulnerable. Climate injustice is being exacerbated. Climate action at a global level makes no sense unless it helps protect people on the frontlines of climate change. We need to find ways to quickly and efficiently channel all necessary funding to locally led climate-resilience initiatives. This calls for fresh thinking and a new approach. At COP28, the world needs to double down on adaptation finance. The Loss and Damage Fund must become fully operational so we can respond rapidly and urgently to meet the needs of local communities to rebuild infrastructure and adapt more effectively to climate impacts. This is also a vital step toward climate justice. Moving from Global to Local To ensure adaptation finance flows from developed to developing countries double to reach $40 billion by 2025, as pledged at COP26 in Glasgow, finance providers must on average increase annual adaptation flows by at least 16 percent between 2022 and 2025. Yet adaptation finance flows to developing countries declined 15 percent in 2021 to $21.3 billion. That is clearly too little. Yet less than 6 percent of this sum, and perhaps as little as 2 percent, reaches climate-resilience projects led by local communities. Estimates vary due to a lack of properly tracking and reporting money flows-and this needs to improve. But it's also because climate policy and decision-making flows from the top down. The people who know which towns, streets, fields, and homes are most vulnerable are those who live there. We must encourage and empower them to get together and draw up and implement their own projects to protect themselves against the consequences of climate change. This is easier said than done. Local communities often lack the time and skills to manage longer-term projects aimed at strengthening climate resilience. They need help and training to draw up project proposals; and to access funding they need basic things such as legally constituted organizations and bank accounts. Bangladesh has always been a leader in locally led climate adaptation and recently the government has been exploring various ways to channel climate assistance to local communities. The Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan makes it easier to access low-interest loans for adaptation, has a climate risk fund to train communities and local governments to lead adaptation, expands green banking services, and explores paying communities for ecosystem services.    Through the Global Hub on Locally Led Adaptation in Dhaka, the government is also helping scale up solutions and share best practices with other vulnerable regions of the world. These efforts are already achieving dramatic improvements on the ground. From Challenges to Opportunities In Mongla, the second-largest seaport in Bangladesh, the mayor and residents are drawing up a plan to identify economic opportunities in their climate challenges. Like other major cities, Mongla has seen a large influx of climate migrants even as it struggles with rising sea levels-a consequence of global warming-that are contaminating the city's fresh water supplies. Mongla is mapping settlements, identifying key climate vulnerabilities, and developing locally led initiatives. With the support of the U.K. and Canadian governments working through BRAC, an international development agency, and the Global Center on Adaptation, it is hoped that Mongla's People's Adaptation Plans might become a blueprint for other towns and cities adapting to climate change. This shows us that locally led adaptation is the way forward. But we need to massively scale up these approaches. For that, we need to find ways to finance local communities, without creating undue risk for donors. Strong intermediary organizations can be valuable here to act as a transmission belt to accelerate People's Adaptation Plans into the portfolio of large financiers, including international finance institutions such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. COP28 will only be a success if it achieves real benefits for the communities most affected by the climate crisis. This year's climate summit must ensure that finance flows to the poor communities most affected by climate change, and into locally led, appropriate, and effective adaptation. If we achieve this, the world will have taken a big step toward redressing the gross injustices of climate change. Source: BSS

This year is set to become the hottest year ever recorded, with last month being the warmest September on record, according to a report by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). It found that the global temperature for January-September 2023 was 0.52 degrees Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than average. It was also hotter than the first nine months of the warmest calendar year, 2016, by 0.05 C. The global mean temperature so far this year is 1.40 C higher than the preindustrial average between 1850 and 1900. "The sense of urgency for ambitious climate action has never been more critical," said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S, pointing out that the report's release comes just two months ahead of UN climate talks in Dubai. Scientists say climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels is making extreme weather such as heat waves and storms more intense and frequent.  What does the report say about September? According to the the report, September 2023 was the warmest September on record. Average surface air temperature reached 16.38 degrees Celsius, which is 0.93 C above the monthly average during 1991-2020. It is also 0.5 C warmer than the previous warmest September to date, in 2020. That month was roughly 1.75 C warmer than the September average of the preindustrial reference period. "The unprecedented temperatures for the time of year observed in September — following a record summer — have broken records by an extraordinary amount," Burgess said. 'Wetter-than-average' September In Europe, the month was not only the hottest on record but also one with "wetter-than-average" conditions along many parts of the continent's western seaboard, according to the report. It cited the extreme rainfall in Greece, associated with Storm Daniel. The storm also caused devastating flooding in Libya, killing thousands and largely destroying its eastern city of Derna. Other areas affected by rain in Europe include the western Iberian Peninsula, Ireland, northern Britain, and Scandinavia. Beyond Europe, the Latin American countries of Brazil and Chile also experienced what the report said were "extreme precipitation events," in the countries' southern regions. The C3S is implemented by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on Behalf of the European Commission. It is funded by the EU. The service said the findings are all based on computer-generated analyses, using measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations worldwide. She described the month as "extreme," crediting it for pushing 2023 "into the dubious honor of first place — on track to be the warmest year and around 1.4 C above preindustrial average temperatures."

Christianity's emergence in the state of Meghalaya, particularly among the Khasi-Jaintia hill tribes, has left a profound impact on the region's social and cultural fabric. Today, Meghalaya is one of the three states in India with a Christian majority, with approximately 75 per cent of the state's population practising Christianity. The story of Christianity in Meghalaya is closely linked to the region's tribal communities, with the Khasi and Garo tribes having Christian populations of 83.14 per cent and 95.86 per cent, respectively. The introduction of Christianity was not merely a religious shift but also facilitated social change and transformation among these tribes.  A synergy of Christian missions and British colonisation significantly altered the socio-political landscape of Northeast India, with the translation of the Bible into local languages and the implementation of education programs playing key roles in this change. Meghalaya's Christian communities are diverse, comprising several denominations.  The Roman Catholic Church is the largest denomination in the state, followed by the Presbyterian Church and the Baptist Church, which is the largest among the Garo tribe. Christianity's influence in Meghalaya has been particularly significant in the areas of education, language standardization, and the preservation of cultural identity.  The translation of the Bible into local languages helped to standardize written language and facilitated literacy among the tribal populations. Moreover, Christian missions established educational programs that furthered this cause.  This religious influence also provided a means for these tribes to preserve their distinctive identity while adapting to the changes introduced by the British administration. It is worth noting that the influence of Christianity in Meghalaya is not uniform across all its residents.  Among non-tribal populations, the adoption of Christianity is much lower.  It is evident that while Christianity has brought about significant social change in Meghalaya, particularly among its tribal populations, the effects and reception of this transformation can vary greatly across different groups. Despite the challenges and variances, the role of Christianity in the state of Meghalaya provides a fascinating study of how religion can serve as both a vehicle for social change and a pillar for preserving cultural identity.

“My mission in life is not merely to survive but to thrive and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.“-Maya Angelou. She has earned many names like “giant slayer”, “David”(of the David and Goliath fame), “the underdog”, etc. but the most significant and fitting one is “the Pad-woman of Amritsar”, Jeevan Jyot Kaur, better known as the superwoman who defeated heavyweights like Majithia and Siddhu in 2022 State Legislative Assembly from East Punjab seat. Nonetheless, she is not just another politician with a political agenda. She has been a social activist and philanthropist since she was younger and, in her heart, still continues to be one today! “Back in school, I used to be a good orator. I was an all-rounder who loved taking decisions for me and my companions”. A post-graduate in English Honors, Jeevan Jyot completed her LLB from Chaudhary Charan Singh University and subsequently joined her parents’ NGO as a volunteer. S.H.E Society (Shri Hemkunt Educational Society) works in the sphere of education, health, and women empowerment. Currently the chairperson of S.H.E, the activist-turned-politician has the aim of educating girls about menstrual health and removing taboos around the subject. She reminisces about a school visit to a backward village in Punjab where the girls were shocked at being talked about periods and were extremely hesitant to broach the subject. “We surveyed hundreds of schools in the interior of Punjab to study menstruation-related problems among teenage girls. We found the majority of them could not afford to purchase a sanitary pad”, says Jeevan Jyot. This struck her hard and she began campaigning to provide free-of-cost sanitary pads to schools, women’s jails, and old-age homes, earning the sobriquet of ‘Pad-woman’. In this inspirational quest, she also collaborated with EcoFemme, a Swiss firm that is based in Puducherry that manufactures reusable, organic, and anti-bacterial pads for women. “We produced a two-hour-long menstrual program and launched a project called EcoShe-Revolution. We have covered around 500 schools, and distributed the sanitary-napkin kit free of cost”. Since then, this project has traveled from Punjab to Haryana to Bihar and a presentation was also made in the House of Common in London. The S.H.E Society is a non-profit, non-political, voluntary organization founded in 1995-96 under the dynamic leadership of Mrs. Jeevan Jyot Kaur. It works for the upliftment of poor and disadvantaged sections of society through developmental projects in order to create a self-reliant community. Their major strife is for women’s empowerment and creating a drug-free society. The primary aim of this ‘Sanstha’ is to make the youth healthy, both physically and mentally, to make them socially productive, and educate them to preserve the culture and secular traditions of India. The Chairperson, Jeevan Jyot Kaur, wants to continue working for these underprivileged people because she strongly believes that through proper guidance, in terms of counseling and vocational training, they can be rehabilitated. Although it is a mammoth task, she believes in her cause and is hell-bent on providing them with appropriate opportunities. Talking more about ‘EcoShe-Revolution’- it is an all-woman initiative – of the women, by the women, and for the women. This project promotes and revitalizes menstrual practices that are healthy, affordable, and ecological. In an interview, Jeevan Jyot said that this project was born when she saw slum women using unhygienic and dangerous methods for their menstrual cycle. She said, “The ones which are available in the market are made of plastic hygienically dangerous in the long run. I also have a team of doctors with me vouching for the same. Moreover, there is no commercial motive behind this step, it is just to ensure that women are & adopting correct methods.” Kaur’s Twitter bio calls her ‘Pad-woman of Punjab’. Rightly so because she is, undisputedly, the first woman of Punjab to have addressed this issue with so much vigor. Just like her philanthropic endeavors, her political journey has also been inspiring as she stood against stalwarts like Navjot Singh Sidhu and Vikramjeet Singh Majithia and defeated them. She maintains that her party’s main agenda is to focus on neglected issues that are affecting the masses like poor civic infrastructure in slums and lack of adequate healthcare and sanitation. After her debut as an MLA, she vows to continue her activism. “I would work to make our women financially independent by boosting skill development programs and self-help groups in Punjab.” From a never-ending web of drugs to unemployment and mass exodus of youth to countries like Canada and the UK, Kaur has a daunting, uphill climb ahead of her. Nevertheless, she says, “there are no smooth roads in life; all you need is the determination to chart your own way forward”. Jeevan Jyot Kaur’s unwavering commitment and pioneering initiatives have inspired a wave of change across Punjab. She has fostered a cultural shift, sparked open dialogue and broken down the walls of silence about so to say “women’s issues”. Her efforts have led to greater awareness and acceptance, enabling women and girls to embrace their natural bodily functions without shame or guilt.  

China's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sun Weidong, recently visited Sri Lanka and held a meeting with Sri Lankan President, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka-based Mawrata News reported. However, there was no mention of debt restructuring in the official announcements issued after the meeting between the two leaders. The official statement released after the meeting only mentioned that China will give maximum support to Sri Lanka to recover from the economic crisis. China's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs invited him to China for a conference on China's belt and road initiative, as per the news report. Ranil Wickremesinghe might be trying to go to China to discuss debt restructuring. This time, Wickremesinghe will request for the restructuring of the Chinese debt. However, China's stance of 2014 is unlikely to witness a change in 2023, Upul Joseph Fernando wrote in the Mawrata News report. China is playing a game of 'Hide and Seek' on Sri Lanka's debt restructuring, the report said further. Sri Lankan President last travelled to China on May 14, 2019. Sri Lanka's then-President Maithripala Sirisena visited China to attend a conference and met with the Chinese President. Later, Gotabaya Rajapaksa took over as Sri Lankan President and he was also invited to China. However, Rajapaksa initially refused to visit China due to COVID-19 and later avoided China by travelling to other nations. Chinese vice minister, who recently travelled to Sri Lanka, invited Ranil to attend a conference in China. Ranil Wickremesinghe had attended a conference in Japan before that and Beijing must have believed that participating in a conference in China would be easy for him, Mawrata News reported. However, the official statement released after the meeting did not mention debt restructuring. In 2014, Sri Lanka's Former finance ministry secretary PB held talks on debt restructuring with China even before Sri Lanka went bankrupt, Mawrata News reported. Although the Mahinda Rajapaksa-led government in Sri Lanka at that time was a close friend of China. However, Beijing did not agree to the debt restructuring request. Instead, China intended to sign agreements to further develop the Hambantota port and cover the loss, according to the news report. In 2017, Sri Lanka's then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visited China and asked for loan relief. However, China declined the request. 

Within the past two years, the number of cases of massive drug consignments originating from Afghanistan being intercepted by Indian security agencies has increased exponentially, so much so that media reports on these numerous busts no longer come across as surprising despite the huge amounts of drugs and money involved. Just this past week, reports of the seizure of 200 kilograms of Afghan heroin worth $1.45 million in Kerala were closely followed by those on 50 kgs of mephedrone that were recovered from a godown in Mumbai. These drug seizures certainly point to the close attention that the Indian government has paid to coastal intelligence and security since the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008, but the sheer scale of some of the seizures and the quantum of funding that would be required to mount the drug smuggling operations would have added to existing Indian concerns of the involvement of Pakistani intelligence agencies such as the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). On 7 October, after having received intelligence inputs of a drugs-laden vessel that would enter Indian coastal waters, India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Indian Navy launched a joint operation off the coast of Kerala to intercept it. The operation led to the seizure of 200 kilograms of Afghan heroin from the Iran flagged vessel. There was nothing else on the vessel apart from the heroin. The NCB informed that according to preliminary investigations, the heroin had been sourced from Afghanistan and transported to Pakistan. NCB’s Deputy Director-General (Operations) Sanjay Kumar Singh said at a press conference on 8 October that “This consignment was loaded into the seized vessel off the Pakistan coast through a mid-sea exchange. The vessel then set off for the Indian waters for further delivery of the consignment to a Sri Lankan vessel. Efforts were made to identify and intercept this Sri Lankan vessel”. Singh added that “The boat along with the recovered heroin and six crew members on board were brought to the Mattancherry Wharf, Willingdon Island, Kochi. NCB has now seized the vessel and the 200 kg of heroin. The 6 Iranian crew members have also been arrested under relevant sections of NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act”. Singh revealed that the seized heroin was packed in 200 water-proof packets, and that each packet had ‘scorpion’ or ‘dragon’ seal markings that are unique to Afghan and Pakistani drug cartels. “Part of it was to be sold in India and the rest in the international market. We are trying to ascertain the Indian connections to this”, Singh said. He concluded that trafficking of Afghan heroin to India via the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean has increased exponentially over the last few years. He said, “The southern route trafficking of heroin from Afghanistan – Afghanistan to Makran coast of Iran and Pakistan and then onwards to various countries in the Indian Ocean region including India – has gained prominence over the last few years”. Just last month, Indian law enforcement authorities had apprehended another fishing boat off the coast of Gujarat that had a crew of six Pakistani nationals who were carrying 40 kilograms of heroin. As Vaishali Basu Sharma wrote in The Wire, “The boat was seized in the waters near Jakhau harbour in the Kutch district. Sandwiched between the major drug production regions and located in one of the busiest maritime traffic regions of the world with perhaps the highest density of fishing vessels in its territorial waters, India is most vulnerable to the menace of narcotics trafficking. Expedited by a change from using individual air couriers to smuggling by sea, narcotics trafficking has increased substantially since 2019. Even without including the narcotics smuggled from the other border routes, the extensive Gujarat coastline along the Arabian Sea singly appears to have become the preferred route of traffickers. Just this year, law enforcement authorities seized more than 1,300 kg of heroin worth Rs 6,800 crore in various operations carried out in Gujarat, Delhi and Kolkata. The number of similar seizures by authorities in recent times is staggering. With a street value of almost Rs 5 crore (about $600,000) for a kilogram, even a few smuggled packets hold tremendous value for drug runners. On July 12, in a joint operation, the Punjab Police and the Gujarat ATS seized nearly 75 kg of ‘high quality’ heroin from a container at the Mundra port in the Kutch district”. Rupert Stone wrote in the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Source that in 2021, Gujarat police seized the highest amount of drugs in the history of the state, a whopping 800 times more than the previous year. The above seizures are just some recent examples. They pale in comparison to the massive recovery that was made in September last year, just a month after the Taliban took over power in Afghanistan on 15 August. Al Jazeera, citing Reuters, reported on 21 September 2021 that Indian officials had seized nearly three tons of heroin originating from Afghanistan that was worth an estimated 200 billion rupees ($2.72 billion). It elaborated that “India’s top anti-smuggling agency, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), seized two containers at Mundra Port in the western state of Gujarat on September 15 after receiving intelligence they contained narcotics. More than 2,988kg (6,590 pounds) of heroin was recovered in one of India’s biggest such hauls to date. Two people have been arrested in connection with the haul and investigations were ongoing”. It is not just Afghan heroin that is being sent to India, though. Also last month, the Delhi Police arrested two Afghan nationals for facilitating a consignment of 312.5 kg of methamphetamine worth $1.5 million into the country. Busting drugs originating from Afghanistan is no new thing for the Delhi Police, which has seized large consignments of heroin in the past. What was notable was that this was the first time that Afghan-origin methamphetamine had been seized. India Today magazine quoted sources in Delhi Police as saying that they had been monitoring the change in order to thoroughly investigate the emerging use of methamphetamine as the fulcrum of the evolving narco-terror matrix. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which is mandated with assisting Member States in their efforts to combat illicit drugs and international crime, and whose New-Delhi based UNODC Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA) has been working with governments across South Asia to address challenges pertaining to drugs, has also noted the enhanced flow of Afghan drugs into India. It observed that South Asia continues to face a multitude of drug related challenges that are exacerbated, in part, by its geographical location between the two main illicit opiates producing and trafficking regions of the world, namely the Golden Triangle and the Golden Crescent. The COVID-19 pandemic and socio-political developments around the world have further aggravated the problem. Against this backdrop, South Asia remains a target for traffickers smuggling illicitly produced opiates from Afghanistan to Europe and North America along the “alternate” southern route. In addition, coastal States in South Asia are vulnerable to maritime trafficking as a result of their exposure to trafficking routes across the Indian Ocean. It also noted a rising shift from trafficking in narcotic drugs to trafficking in synthetic drugs, including amphetamine type stimulants, and that access to drugs has also become simpler than ever with online sales. Major drug trade on the dark web had now exceeded US $315 million annually. The UNODC’s World Drug Report 2022 that was released in June says that “India is one of the world’s single largest opiate markets in terms of users and would likely be vulnerable to increased supply, as there are already signs that an intensification of trafficking in opiates originating in Afghanistan may be taking place eastwards”. It added, “Opiates are mainly trafficked along the route via Pakistan and/or via the Islamic Republic of Iran to India, for domestic consumption and re-export to countries in the region, and to Africa, for local markets and re-export to Europe”. The UNODC recently organized an expert group meeting (EGM) on the drug problem in South Asia. The EGM concurred that for effective operational responses to reduce supply, it was imperative to focus on all aspects of counter-narcotics capacity building, including intelligence-led investigations, effective interdictions, tackling the dark net, leveraged supply-chain, eradication programmes, integrated border management, financial intelligence units, and law enforcement as well as prosecutorial capacities, to effectively disrupt criminal networks. As G. Shreekumar Menon, former Director General at India’s National Academy of Customs, Excise & Narcotics, rightly pointed out to Moneycontrol, the scale of some of the seizures, especially the one in September 2021 in Mundra, raises serious questions. Menon said, “The Rs 21,000 crore ($2.72 billion) estimated amount is the market value of the drugs seized, which does not include the import cost of the consignment. The shipment and transportation cost of the consignment would also be significantly higher, raising doubts about who is behind funding and managing such a big consignment and for what purpose the sale amount would be used? The magnitude of funds involved through the sale of these drugs would most probably be used for financing terror activities in different parts of the country”. Historically, it is primarily the Pakistani ISI that has sponsored terrorism in India. The ISI’s involvement has been suggested by others too. The Delhi Police, which had in past years seized drug consignments linked to the ISI’s K-2 (Khalistan Kashmir) unit, has said it is probing whether the same channels were used to send the methamphetamine consignment to India. Vaishali Basu Sharma pointed out that  “Like the recent one on September 14, most of the seizures involve Pakistani nationals, believed to be enjoying the patronage of security agencies, who bring consignments up to a point about 150 nautical miles from Mandvi, from where it is picked up by locals and brought up to the coast in small boats”. Last year in April, Indian security agencies had arrested eight Pakistani nationals off Jakhau in Indian waters with a large quantity of heroin on board a fishing boat. In March 2021, they seized a boat in the Arabian Sea which was carrying a cache of 301 kilograms of heroin, five AK-47 rifles and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) was asked by the Union government to conduct preliminary investigations into the seizure, and it revealed that the international drug syndicate involved in the smuggling was based out of Pakistan. In Gujarat, this year alone security agencies have seized 717.3 kilograms of drugs and 16 Pakistani nationals and 3 Afghan nationals have been arrested along with the contraband. Meanwhile, Faizan Khan, writing in the Indian newspaper Mid-Day on 11 October, quoted  sources from Indian investigating agencies as revealing that most heroin consignments coming to Mumbai using different ports were being trafficked by one mastermind identified as Haji Saleem, who operated from Balochistan in Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. The NCB’s investigations, the paper claimed, had found links to this ISI-backed Pakistani national. The consignment that was busted on 7 October near Kochi was also suspected to be linked to Saleem, Khan added. With international focus on its sponsorship of terrorism across the world having rendered that favoured instrument presently unfeasible on a large scale, the potential to hurt India had been reduced enough in the past few years for the ISI to be keenly sniffing out other avenues. The instability in the period of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the abundance of heroin and methamphetamines being produced and now readily available in the country, and the ISI’s existing relationships with known dubious characters in the poppy growing regions of Afghanistan may all have informed and guided the ISI’s dicey policy diversion. If that is indeed the case, as it increasingly appears to be, it must be a matter of serious concern for the European Union (EU) too as according to the UNODC a sizeable chunk of the Afghan drugs that make their way to India and Sri Lanka are eventually destined for European nations.    

While individual carbon footprints are dwarfed by global fossil fuel companies, we can do a lot to tackle the climate crisis and 'be the change we wish to see in the world.' Many of us bemoan our inability to limit the wildfires, cyclones and flooding that are being experienced with more frequency and intensity due to climate change. There is a belief that polluting fossil fuel companies cannot be stopped, that governments will not regulate them, that emission reduction targets will never be met. But individually and in the end collectively there are many things we can do to help limit the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that supercharge global heating. Ditch airplanes and petrol vehicles for buses, trains or bicycles Transport generates around one fifth of the world’s emissions, with road traffic as the worst offender. One easy way we can cut emissions is to decarbonize our transport by ditching petrol cars for trains, bicycles, e-vehicles, and, whenever possible, walking the ultimate zero-emission transport. In cities, electrified transport options from e-scooters to e-buses are becoming a low-emission route from A to B. A petrol car pumps out over 10 times more carbon than an electric scooter even when factoring in manufacturing and disposal emissions. For the roughly 10% of the world’s population who has ever boarded a flight, favoring trains over planes can also have a big impact. A typical rail journey between European cities emits up to 90% less CO2 than an equivalent flight. Eat more plants instead of animals Farming meat and dairy contributes around 15% of global GHG emissions not to mention biodiversity loss, contamination of soils and pollution. When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) this year said that emissions need to be cut by half by 2030 to mitigate global heating, it stressed that a shift to diets high in plant protein and low in meat and dairy had the greatest potential to lower greenhouse gases. So going vegetarian or vegan could be the way to go for those looking to mitigate their climate impact. A boom in climate-friendly plant-based meats makes that choice even easier. But so far plants only provide 2% of protein though that’s set to rise to 11% by 2035 and could be accelerated if more of us reduce our demand for meat and dairy, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Pressure governments to take action School kids at the Fridays for Future protests showed it’s possible to take a collective stand for the climate. Politicians might not be doing enough, but they have had to listen as climate concerns drive voting intentions at elections around the world including recently in Australia, with the new leader promising to significantly raise climate ambition (even if many believe the target remains inadequate). And sometimes the courts also listen. In April 2021, young people from Fridays for Future successfully argued in a German higher court that a lack of climate action threatened their fundamental freedoms and was unconstitutional. As a result, the court forced the government to strengthen emission reduction targets which it did a couple of months later. With climate ranking as the top issue of concern among a rising generation of voters, many are pressuring politicians on climate via protests, social media campaigns, or writing to local representatives. Demanding carbon neutrality by 2030 the goal of a citizen initiative for a climate referendum in the German capital is a good place to start. Switch to green energy providers and (when possible) install renewables Burning fossil fuels for energy is the largest source of global GHG emissions. This makes choosing green electricity from clean, renewable sources such as wind or solar a great way to cut a key source of climate wrecking carbon. And consumers have already made a difference. By 2019 in the European Union, renewable electricity generation doubled from 2005, making up 34% of all electricity generation. This means that coal, the highest emitting fossil fuel, no longer supplies most of the EU’s electricity. Those living in a house or even an apartment block can also try to install clean solar power on the roof, or electric heat pumps where possible as a substitute for gas heating. Some communities are even getting together to run their neighborhoods almost exclusively on renewable energy.        5. Turn off the lights, turn down the heating Something as simple as turning the heating down can save a lot of energy. That’s why the German government, faced with an energy crisis due to the nation’s reliance on Russian gas, will limit heating temperatures to 19 degrees Celsius this winter in public buildings. Shutting down your computer at night and eliminating vampire power by unplugging idle electronics is another climate change busting action we can achieve today. Even easier is to simply turn off the lights when we aren’t in the room. Using highly energy-efficient appliances induction instead of gas stoves, for example is another step forward. Better still, demand that your government switch off the night lights at monuments and buildings, a policy recently implemented in the German capital.           6. Waste less food Meanwhile, around one third of food grown globally is thrown away. This food loss and waste is a massive carbon emitter when the production, transportation and handling of food is calculated food that ends up in landfills also generates methane, a highly potent GHG over the short term. In the US, annual food loss and waste creates 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent GHG emissions, and that’s excluding landfill emissions. It’s equivalent to the annual emissions of 42 coal-fired power plants. So if we can’t eat everything in the fridge, at least compost the rest to fertilize the garden or for biogas. Meanwhile, pressure supermarkets to stop throwing away extra food, instead offering it to foodbanks or charities; or ask restaurants to offer doggy bags for uneaten food both measures are included in a food waste law recently passed in Spain.            7. Plant trees Trees are vital carbon sinks yet deforestation continues at alarming rates logging of the Amazon forest, for example, rose by 20% in the last year. More than ever, planting trees is one of the best thing we can do as individuals to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere. While also cleaning the air, increasing biodiversity and maintaining healthy soils, trees too save energy especially in cities where more plants on the street keep things cooler and reduce the need for air conditioning according to non-profit Become Carbon Negative. So too in the winter, trees can shelter homes from the wind, helping to reduce heating costs by up to 25%.