Indian Subcontinent Watch Thread

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weatheriscool
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India bans wheat exports as heat wave hurts crop, domestic prices soar
Source: CNN
India banned wheat exports on Saturday — days after saying it was targeting record shipments this year — as a scorching heat wave curtailed output and domestic prices hit a record high.

The government said it would still allow exports backed by already issued letters of credit and to countries that request supplies "to meet their food security needs."

The move to ban overseas shipments was not in perpetuity and could be revised, senior government officials told a press conference.

Global buyers were banking on supplies from the world's second-biggest wheat producer after exports from the Black Sea region plunged following Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Before the ban, India had aimed to ship a record 10 million tonnes this year.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/14/business ... index.html
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Sri Lanka Should Not Enter into an Agreement With the IMF
Interview with Sushovan Dhar by Eric Toussaint
May 22, 2022

Introduction:
(Janata Weekly) A Sri Lankan delegation will travel to Washington next week to try to secure up to $4 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders to help the island nation pay for food and fuel imports as well as stem defaults on its debt. The last time the IMF provided loan to Sri Lanka in 2016, the loan was capped at $1.5 billion and the program ended prematurely after disbursing $1.3 billion. This was at a time when the economy was growing at about 5 percent and tourism contributed a similar percentage of gross domestic product.

However, IMF and World Bank loans have always been surrounded by serious controversy. Critics believe that the World Bank and IMF have systematically lent to states to influence their policies. External debt has been and continues to be used as an instrument to subordinate borrowers. Since their creation, the IMF and the World Bank have violated international human rights covenants and have not hesitated to support dictatorships.
In an interview with Sushovan Dhar, Eric Toussaint highlights the potential risks of an IMF bailout.

Sushovan Dhar: As you know, the Sri Lankan government has announced a default on its debt. What do you think about this?

Eric Toussaint: The Sri Lankan government’s decision to suspend the payment of the foreign debt from Tuesday, April 12, 2022, shows how far it has stumbled. The Sri Lankan working people have been on the streets for more than a week protesting against rising prices and anti-social measures. All members of the government resigned except the fact that the Prime Minister and the President remained in office. It is important to note that the Prime Minister and the President are brothers, which is an important factor in understanding how the political system works in Sri Lanka. It is an ultra-neoliberal government, completely in favour of the interests of big business – both domestic and foreign. It is in an attempt to placate the population and also because there is not enough money left in the state coffers and in the foreign exchange reserves that the government has been forced to suspend payments.
Read more here: https://janataweekly.org/sri-lanka-no-a ... h-the-imf/
Last edited by caltrek on Mon Jun 06, 2022 1:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Sri Lanka: Parties Agree to Prune President’s Powers
by P. K. Balachandran
May 29, 2022

Introduction:
(Eurasia Review)
Next step will be abolition of the Executive Presidency itself

The crisis in Sri Lanka has two dimensions, economic and political. The grave economic and political problems that are plaguing the country presently, had existed in some form or the other for long, but were continually neglected. The blame for the present economic crisis, marked by shortages of essentials brought about by an unprecedented foreign exchange shortage, is laid at the door of the Executive Presidency, vested as it is with humongous and over-riding powers. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is paying the price for being vested with absolute power in as much as the main slogan of the protesters is “Gota Go Home”.

Different Perspectives

Following the exposure of the dangers inherent in the all-powerful Executive Presidency, two demands arose: One section sought the abolition of the Executive Presidency and the other sought pruning of its powers. The latter also sought provision of greater powers for parliament and the inclusion of civil society in decision-making.

While the apolitical protesters gathered at Galle Face saw the wholesale exit of the Rajapaksas as “the” answer for Sri Lanka’s ills, the more politically-informed sections wanted structural or constitutional changes. The latter group was further divided into those who wanted the total abolition of the Executive Presidency and those who wanted it retained with reduced powers.
Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/29052022- ... -analysis/
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China-Pakistan Economic Corridor And India’s Responses
by Lucio Blanco Pitlo III
May 29, 2022
(Eurasia Review) The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has become a too-big-to-fail undertaking for both countries. Both Beijing and Islamabad are heavily invested in this flagship program. Its developmental and transformative impact on the South Asian economy is well recognized, while its strategic and geopolitical value for China is undeniable. Despite delays, the pipeline of projects under its banner is likely to be insulated from political turbulence or leadership transition in Pakistan. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif commits his country to work with its neighbor in accomplishing agreed projects as his embattled predecessor Imran Khan did.

In turn, CPEC’s steady progress will stoke Indian security concerns. CPEC passes by contested Kashmir and will expectedly raise China’s profile in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, especially since the deep-sea Gwadar Port became fully operational last year. The all-weather China-Pakistan partnership that CPEC will cement will also compel New Delhi to strengthen relations with other partners to balance against coalescing rivals.

As CPEC gains more traction, India’s qualms deepen

CPEC is a $62 billion package of projects ranging from transportation, energy, port construction, industrial cooperation, and even social sector development. Beyond building and upgrading the backbone of Pakistani infrastructure, it will also unleash an immense connectivity spillover that will benefit not only the two countries concerned, but also neighboring Afghanistan and Central Asia. Providing access to the sea for these landlocked countries via the Gwadar port can have tremendous benefits for their external trade. Among the completed CPEC projects include the Sahiwal and Port Qassim coal-fired power plants, the Havelian-Thakot section of the Karakoram highway, the Multan-Sukkur segment of the Peshawar-Karachi motorway, a metro line in Lahore and the cross-border fiber optic cable linking Khunjerab and Rawalpindi.

Rolled out in 2013, the 15-year CPEC is a key component of Beijing’s massive Belt and Road Initiative.
Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/29052022- ... -analysis/
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The Sri Lanka Economic Crisis: India’s Response
by Akash Chowdhury
June 1, 2022

Introduction:
(Observer Research Foundation) Sri Lanka, a nation of 22 million people, is today facing an unprecedented economic crisis that threatens to undo much of the progress that had been made since the end of the bloody civil war in 2009. Amidst skyrocketing inflation (which stood at more than 21 percent for March 2022), power cuts lasting well over 10 hours, and shortage of essential items—like food, fuel, and life-saving medicines—the crisis appears to have spilled over into newer domains, with the island nation now also confronted with a political crisis wherein so far Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has resigned amidst violent clashes between pro-and anti-government demonstrators, a caretaker PM been installed, the national emergency declared (including shoot-on-sight orders issued to the military) and dramatic curbs on the use of social media imposed. So, the question that arises is: What are the factors that led to this?

Even though many economists and policymakers point to the pandemic as the principal cause of the problem—linking the fall in earnings from the tourism sector (one of the most significant contributors to Sri Lanka’s GDP) from over US$4 billion in 2018 to less than the US $150 million in 2021 to the drop in the country’s forex reserves—this crisis long been in the making. Between 2009 and 2018, Sri Lanka’s trade deficit swelled from US$5 billion to US$12 billion. In recent years, the economy has had to withstand multiple shocks due to some of the policy measures—drastic tax cuts, downward interest rate revisions, and a ‘disastrous’ plunge into organic farming through a complete ban on imports of all fertilizers and pesticides—adopted by the Rajapaksa government; more recently, it has also had to contend with an unanticipated spike in the import bill caused by inflation on account of the Ukrainian crisis. Amidst all of this, the one event that can be said to have tipped it over the precipice was Sri Lanka’s effective exclusion from the international credit market—caused by a dramatic downgrading of the nation’s credit ratings in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic.
The remaining article includes a discussion of “reasons why India should facilitate a speedy resolution of this crisis and…some ways it can address the challenges” posed by the crisis.

Read more here: https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak ... response/
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Bharatiya Janata Party Regime is Beginning to Taste an International Fallout of Its Islamophobic Policies
by P. K. Balachandran
June 6, 2022

Introduction:
(Eurasia Review) The Islamic world’s overt expressions of revulsion against the insulting remarks on the Prophet made on Sunday by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s spokesperson Nupur Sharma and the head of its media unit in Delhi, Naveen Kumar Jindal, could be an early sign of a decline in the political fortunes of the party.

New Delhi was stumped by the unexpected and coordinated censure from the Gulf States. For the first time, the BJP regime tasted the international fallout of its Islamophobic policies pursued with single-minded devotion since the party came to power in 2014.

The party’s Islamophobia may continue to win votes at home, given its expanding constituency, but it’s international isolation is bound to have a domestic fallout sooner or later. No party in any country can insulate itself from international trends.

New Delhi’s initial official reaction to protests from the Gulf States has been one of denial, shifting the blame for the offensive remarks to “fringe elements” in the BJP. India’s Ambassador in Qatar affirmed that India respects “all religions” and “strongly denounces insults of any religious personality”. The BJP, on its part, suspended Sharma and sacked Jindal.

The government is hoping that the world will believe that the BJP national spokesperson is indeed one of the “fringe elements” and also that it “respects all religions.” This is bound to be viewed cynically because the BJP, with tacit State approval, has been on a sustained campaign to attack, denigrate and marginalize Muslims – India’s largest minority.
Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/06062022 ... analysis/
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Bangladesh fire: Over 40 killed, hundreds injured in depot blast
Source: BBC

A fire and a huge explosion have killed at least 44 people and injured hundreds more at a storage depot near the city of Chittagong, Bangladesh.
...
It is thought that chemicals were stored in some of the containers.
...
The fire broke out at around 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Saturday and hundreds of firefighters, police and volunteers quickly arrived on the scene.

As they tried to extinguish the blaze a huge explosion rocked the site, engulfing many of the rescuers in flames and throwing debris and people into the air.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-61693778
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Sri Lankan students demand government resign over crisis
Source: AP

By ERANGA JAYAWARDENA
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Thousands of students from state universities marched in Sri Lanka’s capital on Monday to demand the president and prime minister resign over an economic crisis that has caused severe shortages of essential supplies and disrupted people’s livelihoods and education.

The students say President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is responsible for the economic crisis, the worst since independence in 1948, and that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took over the position a little more than a month ago promising to end shortages, has not delivered on his pledges.

Sri Lanka is nearly bankrupt and has suspended repayment of $7 billion in foreign debt due this year. It must also pay back more than $5 billion every year until 2026. Its foreign reserves are nearly gone and it is unable to import food, fuel, cooking gas and medicines. A lack of fuel to run power stations has resulted in long daily power cuts.

In recent months people have been forced to stand in long lines to buy fuel and gas, and the country has survived mostly on credit lines extended by neighboring India to buy fuel and other essentials.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/ranil-wickre ... b6f8499535
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Sri Lankan economy has 'completely collapsed', leader says
Wednesday 22 June 2022

Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said the country's economy has "completely collapsed", leaving it unable to pay for essentials such as oil imports.

It follows months of shortages of food, fuel, and electricity, and the realisation that even the credit lines from neighbouring India that have sustained the country so far will not be enough.

Mr Wickremesinghe told Sri Lanka's parliament: "We are now facing a far more serious situation beyond the mere shortages of fuel, gas, electricity and food.

"Our economy has completely collapsed - that is the most serious issue before us today."

Mr Wickremesinghe said that the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation is $700m (£572m) in debt, adding: "As a result, no country or organisation in the world is willing to provide fuel to us.
https://news.sky.com/story/sri-lankas-p ... d-12638329
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