India’s colossal burden

As part of Blitz India campaign on climate change, we highlight the Climate Transparency 2022 report as the Cover Story and dive deep into it on the Centrespread. The colossal burden of $159 billion that India had to bear for increasing heat caused by carbon emissions is a mindboggling amount and there couldn’t have been a more serious, and urgent, concern to flag than this. Quoting the CT report, our story says that India is the worst affected among all the G20 economies. Compared to its alarmingly losses, Indonesia lost 1.6 per cent of its GDP, Saudi Arabia 1 pc, China 0.9 pc and Brazil 0.7 pc. The silver lining, as our report sees, is the launch of Mission LiFE, a global-level initiative by India, to combat the climate change and transform it into a people’s movement. The second Cover Story is an answer to those who lecture India on human rights. We profile the first Indian feminist Hansa Jivraj Mehta, who rewrote Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

The David vs. Goliath battle played out for the micro-blogging site Twitter has been given a special treatment in this edition. Our report delves deep into the entire narrative of world’s richest man Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter – the drama, the taunts, the legal cases – that preceded it and the stout defence put up by Indian-American Parag Agrawal, its former CEO, who opposed it till the end. Agrawal, says our story, took a principled stand, working and protecting the interest of shareholders. A related report is about Musk’s recent brushes with the Indian authorities.

The main story on G20 Podium looks back at the Washington Summit that took place in the midst of the financial crisis of 2008. While lauding the fact that G20 cooperation saved the day then, with member countries putting in place exceptional measures and bringing a sense of stability to financial markets, our report questions the achievement in the context of the state of the world economy today. Maybe, G20 did not account for interstate war with global ramifications, explains our intensely-researched report. The other story is about the blueprint prepared by the UN lead agency UNDP to provide support to India during its presidency that begins next month.

According to our report, UNDP has identified Digital Public Infrastructure and Digital Public Goods as its focus areas. It will design and launch a Centre of Excellence with the aim of supporting low and middle-income countries in adopting DPI while developing a detailed plan of support on mainstreaming DPGs and share India’s achievements in DPI/DPGs globally.

Among the key news developments covered in the issue are the state Home Ministers’ meeting at Surjakund where Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a call for uprooting all forms of Naxalism, be it “with guns or pens”; Delhi Declaration at the UNSC CounterTerrorism Committee meeting; notification of rules for social media regulation and, most importantly, the foundation stone-laying of the first aircraft manufacturing facility in the private sector.

Over to you!