Special

It is an ancient monument revered by different ideologies for centuries.

Hagia Sofia in Turkey - one of the world's most contested buildings - is creating controversy once again.

It was the largest Christian cathedral in the Eastern Roman Empire for a thousand years.

Now, one of the busiest tourist attractions in Istanbul is a museum.

But not for much longer, if Turkey's government gets the go ahead to convert it back into a mosque as it was during the Ottoman Empire.

The proposal's opposed by some secular groups as well as the head of the Eastern orthodox church, the Greek government and the United states.

Turkey's highest consultative body met on Thursday and say it'll announce its ruling within fifteen days.

But why now?

What purpose would it serve?

And how political is the decision?

Presenter: Laura Kyle
Guests;
Yusuf Albarada - Political Writer and Professor at the University of Halic in Istanbul
Yannis Koutsomitis - Managing Editor at Kappa News in Greece and European affairs expert
Cengiz Tomar - President of Ahmet Yassawi University in Kazakhstan and Professor of History

The emergency meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) contact group of the Islamic countries stated that the decision taken by the Government of India on Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019 and implemented new domicile rules Gone is the violation of the UN Security Council resolution and international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention. At the same time, India's commitment to accept the UN Security Council resolution is also violated.

At the same time, the meeting has welcomed two reports of the United Nations in which the human rights of the people have been systematically violated in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

Both these reports came in June 2018 and July 2019.

The meeting expressed concern over the condition and situation of human rights in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir after August 5, 2019.

This contact group of OIC was formed in 1994 for Jammu and Kashmir.

The members of this contact group are Azerbaijan, Nezer, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

"The OIC is committed to finding a peaceful solution to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the Islamic Summit, the Council of Foreign Ministers and international law," said OIC Secretary General, Dr. Yusuf al-Othimein.

The meeting of the UN Security Council on August 16, 2019 and January 15, 2020, which was held in connection with India's action, has been welcomed.

The OIC has expressed its commitment to Jammu and Kashmir regarding its old position and preamble and reiterated its support for the Kashmiri Awam's legal fight for the right to self-determination.

The OIC has asked India for five

- Cancel unilateral and illegal actions and allow the Kashmiri people to voluntarily abide by their right to self-determination under referendum under the supervision of the United Nations.

- Human rights abuses should be stopped. The use of military should be banned under which military uses pellet-guns. Unleashed siege and inhuman lockdown of the army. Stringent emergency law be dissolved. The right to fundamental freedom should be restored and all those detained illegally should be released.

- To prevent any structural changes in the population of India-administered Jammu and Kashmir, as they are illegal and in violation of international law, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention.

- OIC, IPHRC and United Nations Fact Finding Mission, Special Envoy to Jammu and Kashmir of OIC Secretary General and international media to allow India-administered Jammu and Kashmir to investigate human rights violations without restraint.

In the OHCHR report, the demand for an independent international inquiry into human rights abuses in Kashmir should be agreed.

If India ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir last year, Pakistan was under pressure on the OIC to issue a strong statement against India.

However this did not happen at that time and the OIC remained almost neutral. Indeed, the OIC is considered an organization dominated by Saudi Arabia. It is considered impossible to do anything in the OIC without the support of Saudi Arabia.

India and Saudi have broad common interests and Saudi Arabia has been avoiding speaking out against India over Kashmir. There was no statement issued by Saudi Arabia on the removal of Article 370.

The United Arab Emirates had said that this is an internal issue of India. This stance of Saudi Arabia and the UAE was considered a setback for Pakistan and India's diplomatic success. But once again this kind of meeting in OIC, Pakistan will see it connected with its success. Earlier, such a meeting was held in September last year.

Pakistan had tried to mobilize with Turkey, Malaysia, Iran regarding OIC's neutrality on Kashmir. For this, Turkish President Ardoan, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, the then Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahatir Mohammed and Pakistan's PM Imran Khan had planned to unite at the Kuala Lumpur Summit but Saudi Arabia took it as a challenge to the OIC and Pakistan Was stopped from joining this campaign.

Turkey and Malaysia were seen standing with Pakistan on Kashmir while the remaining Islamic countries remained neutral. In recent times, Maldives has also supported India in the OIC.

The OIC is meeting at a time when there is tension between India and China, the world's second largest economy. 20 soldiers of India have died on the outskirts. The dispute with Nepal is also going on at the border and tensions with Pakistan are already there. In such a situation, the meeting of OIC is considered very important.

Iran, Malaysia and Turkey have long complained that the OIC has failed to accommodate the needs and ambitions of Islamic countries. Iran, Turkey and Malaysia have been trying to create an organization that is free from Saudi domination.

Saudi Arabia is also in this contact group of OIC on Jammu and Kashmir. If the Saudi did not want the meeting, it could hardly have happened. It is said that without Saudi Arabia, not a single leaf is moved in the OIC.

There has been criticism within Pakistan that Saudi and UAE are Islamic countries, but they are with India on the Kashmir issue.

If a resolution is passed from this meeting, then only from Saudi can India expect to what extent it can balance the language of that proposal.

India has now reached number four in the world in terms of corona infection. America, Brazil and Russia are only ahead of India.

Meanwhile, on 16 and 17 June, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi is going to meet again with the Chief Ministers of the states.

Unlock-1 has been implemented differently across India from 1 June. In Unlock-1, religious sites, restaurants and malls were allowed to open.

This is the first meeting between the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers to assess the situation thereafter.

This meeting is considered to be very important in the growing cases of corona in India and the statistics of increasing deaths everyday.

Especially when the central government of India has formed a team of 12 experts for Delhi.

The biggest question is whether what you gained from the lockdown was lost in Unlock-1?

As of May 31, there were a total of 1,82,000 cases of corona in India.

While on June 15, there are 3,32,000 cases. That means a little less than double.

Unlock-1 has had the worst impact in Delhi and Mumbai.

On May 31, where there were 18549 cases in Delhi, on 15 June this figure is more than 41 thousand.

Maharashtra had 65159 cases on 31 May, which has increased to 1 lakh 8 thousand on 15 June.

The above facts prove that the speed of growth of Corona in India has increased after Unlock-1.

The first case of corona in India was found on 30 January. When Modi announced the lockdown on March 24, there were only 550 positive cases in India.

Therefore, with the speed with which cases are increasing daily, people are growing worried.

The same is true of death statistics. The number of people who died of corona till June 15 in India is 9520, which was 5164 in India till May 31, i.e. not many people died in India in three months, almost as many people died in the first 15 days of June.

Talking about Delhi, till May 31, the death toll was 416, which has now increased to 1327. That is, almost three times.

As of 31 May, there were 2197 deaths in Maharashtra. Which is 3950 as of 15 June. That is, the death toll has almost doubled.

But one good thing for India is that India is not among the top five countries in the world in death statistics. The five countries where Corona has the highest number of deaths are the United States, Brazil, Britain, Italy and France.

On May 31, about 1 lakh 25 thousand people were tested in India. While on 14 June, a total of 1 lakh 15 thousand corona tests were conducted in India.

By the way, these statistics definitely change every day. But it is not that in the last 15 days there has been a huge increase in the number of corona tests. Even today only one and a quarter to one and a half lakh people are being tested in India.

In Delhi, these numbers have decreased slightly in the last few days. The Delhi government took action on some testing labs in the early week of June. Because of which the Tests started falling short.

More than 2000 cases of corona are being reported daily in Delhi for the last three days. The state of Maharashtra is no different.

As of May 31, there were 37 lakh 37 thousand Tests in India. At the same time, 57 lakh 74 thousand tests have been done in India till 14 June. There are about 20 lakh tests done in 15 days.

By the end of May, the recovery rate in India was said to be 47.76%. The recovery rate for corona-infected patients is 51 percent. In Unlock-1, the government is seeing this as a positive sign.

But these are lower than the national average in Delhi and Mumbai. The recovery rate in Delhi at this time is around 38%, and Mumbai's recovery rate is over 45%.

But globally, India is not at the forefront of the recovery rate. Germany's recovery rate is around 90%, the best in the world.

Iran and Italy are next. The recovery rate in these two countries is above 70. The recovery rate in India at the moment is comparable to Russia where the recovery rate is around 50%.

India's well-known doctor Mohsin Wali believes that on the basis of these statistics, it is being said that the country has ruined everything they achieved by lockdown.

According to him, the statistics are showing that people took advantage of the unlocked discounts and forgot to do social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands.

The movement of migrant workers increased the corona virus infection. Asked whether the migrant laborers went from one place to another in May, Dr. Wali says that its effect is visible on the country's corona graph only in June.

But Doctor Vali still does not believe that unlock-1 should be removed and lockdown again. According to him, if you want to live with the corona, then sitting at home is not the solution. We have to continue all the work but taking precaution.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has also said that there is no plan to lockdown in Delhi again.

The people of the traders association of Delhi are also saying the same thing. The traders of Delhi decided that the Delhi markets would be open at present.

The decision to keep the markets closed, open or in the markets for odd-even arrangement or to open the shop one day after the other day, the traders associations of Delhi will take the decision by assessing the situation themselves.

Recently, despite the permission to open all the religious places of India, Jama Masjid in Delhi has been closed till June 30.

The eyes are now set on the meeting of the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers of India on 16-17 June. In view of the growing corona graph of India, what decision does the Prime Minister of India make?

The corona virus arrived in Turkey late. The first case of infection was registered here on 19 March. But soon it spread to every corner of Turkey. Within a month, the corona virus had spread to all 81 provinces of Turkey.

Turkey was the fastest spreading corona infection in the world. Things were worse than China and Britain. There were apprehensions that there would be deaths on large scales and Turkey would also leave Italy behind. At that time Italy was the most affected country.

Three months have passed, but this is not so, even when Turkey has not implemented a complete lockdown.

Turkey has officially confirmed 4397 deaths from corona infection. Claims are being made that the actual number may be up to two times as only those in Turkey have been included in the death toll whose test reports were positive.

But if compared to other countries, this number is less for this country with a population of eight and a half crore.

Experts warn that it is difficult to arrive at a conclusion about the corona infection or to compare the figures of the two countries, even when deaths continue in many countries.

But according to Dr. Jeremy Rossman, a lecturer in virology at the University of Kent, "Turkey has avoided waste."

He told the BBC, "Turkey is among the countries that responded very quickly. Especially in terms of testing, identifying, isolating and preventing movement. Turkey is among the few countries that have managed to effectively reduce the virus's pace.

As the speed of the virus was increasing, the authorities imposed various restrictions on everyday life. There was a ban on going to the coffee house, shopping stopped, mass prayers were stopped in mosques.

People above sixty-five years of age and below twenty years of age were completely locked up in lockdown. Curfews were imposed over the weekend and main cities were sealed.

Istanbul was the epicenter of the epidemic in Turkey. The city lost its pace, as if a heart stopped beating.

Now restrictions are gradually being relaxed, but Dr. Mele Noor Aslan still remains vigilant. She is the director of health services in Fatih district. It is a congested area in the center of Istanbul. The energetic and talkative Dr. Aslan is leading the contact tracing campaign. There are six thousand teams of contact tracing expeditions across Turkey.

She says it feels like we are on the battlefield. People on my team forget to go home, even after eight hours they keep working. They do not care to go home because they know that they are performing their duty.

Dr. Mele Noor Aslan says that she started tracking the virus from the very first day of March 11, her experience of tracking the measles disease.

She says, "Our plan was ready." We just took out our files from the cupboard and we went to work. ''

We joined two doctors in the narrow streets of Fatih. These doctors, wearing PPE kits, were using an app. They went to a flat in an apartment where two young women were in Quarantine. Her friend is Covid positive.

In the corridor of the apartment, both women were tested for Covid, they would receive the report within twenty-four hours. He started showing mild symptoms a day earlier. 29-year-old Mazali Demir Alpa is thankful that she has received a quick response.

She says, "We hear news from abroad. Initially when we came to know about the virus, we were very scared but Turkey worked faster than we thought. It worked much faster than Europe or America." "
Turkey used hydroxychloroquine

Dr. Irshad Sheikh, the acting head of the World Health Organization in Turkey, says that Turkey has many lessons for the world about public health.

He told the BBC, "Initially we were worried. Up to three and a half thousand new cases were coming in every day. But the testing took a lot of work. And people didn't have to wait five-six days for the results."

He also attributed the success of Turkey to the contact tracing, quarantine and isolation policy of Turkey.

In Turkey, patients were also given hydroxychloroquine. It was highly praised by US President Donald Trump, but international research has rejected the drug.

The World Health Organization has stopped the trial of this drug as a treatment for corona. A research paper published in the medical journal Lancet claimed that this drug increases the risk of cardiac arrest in Covid-19 patients and may lead to more harm than good.

We were allowed to go to hospitals where thousands of people have been given hydroxychloroquine as medicine. Dr. Sehit Ilhan Waranka Hospital, built two years ago, remains the center of the fight against Covid.

The Chief Doctor here, Nurettin Yeeyat, says that it is important to use hydroxychloroquine in the beginning. Dr Yeeet's paintings are on the walls of this new shiny hospital.

She says, "Other countries have started using this medicine lately, especially the US, we use it only in the initial days, we have no hesitation about this medicine. We think it is impressive because we are getting results.''

While visiting the hospital, Dr. Yeeit says that Turkey has tried to stay ahead of the virus. We have initially treated and adopted an aggressive attitude.

In addition to hydroxychloroquine, doctors use drugs, plasma and large amounts of oxygen.

Dr. Yeeyat is proud that the rate of death of Covid in his hospital has been less than one percent. Here beds are empty in intensive care unit ie ICU. They try to keep patients out of here and without ventilators.

We met forty-year-old Hakim Sukuk, who is now returning home after receiving treatment. He is thankful to the doctors.

He says, "Everyone has taken care of me a lot." It felt like I am in my mother's lap.''

The Turkish Medical Association has not yet given a clean chit to the government's response to the epidemic. The association says that there were several shortcomings in the way the government took steps on the epidemic.

These include leaving the boundaries open.

Although the World Health Organization is giving some credit to Turkey. Dr. Sheikh says, "This epidemic is in its early days. We think many more people will be seriously ill. There is something that is going well.''

Turkey also has many things in its fight against the Corona epidemic. For example, the young population and the greater number of ICU beds. But still about a thousand new cases are coming up every day.

Turkey is seen as a story of success in the fight against Corona, but still needs to be cautious as the story is not over yet.

The corona epidemic has also severely affected India's economic health. The Government of India is also not denying this and saying that it is trying its best to bring the country's economy back on track.

But the foundation of the states on which India's economy rests has been shaken by Corona. In such a situation, questions are arising that how difficult and challenging will the economic revival of India be?

In fact, among the states that have the highest share of India's GDP, Maharashtra is at number one and Tamil Nadu at number two and Gujarat at number three. Corona has been hit badly on these states, the number of cases of infections and deaths is constantly increasing, it has broken the back of the economy of these states. Its direct effect was also seen in the latest GDP figures released on Saturday.

It is to be noted that the figures released for GDP include only 7 days of lockdown. The figures for the economic loss in the lockdown have not yet come. Statistics of the destruction of India's economy during the lockdown are yet to come. Moody's has said that India's GDP will fall by 4 percent. That is, economic catastrophe is yet to come.

Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra, is called the economic capital of India. It houses the headquarters of large corporate and financial institutions. Bollywood is the world's largest film industry in terms of viewership in Mumbai. Maharashtra is also the second largest producer of cotton, sugarcane and banana in the country.

The state is well connected to major markets, with four international and seven domestic airports. There is a road network of about three lakh kilometers and a railway network of 6,165 kilometers. The state has a coastline of 720 kilometers and has 55 ports. Where about 22 percent of the country's cargo is transported.

The gross state domestic product of Maharashtra was $ 387 billion in 2017-18 and the state contributed 15 percent to the country's GDP.

But the corona epidemic has badly affected Maharashtra. The highest number of cases have been reported here so far. The lockdown imposed to control cases of corona infection has had a direct impact on the state's economy. All business has stopped. The film industry is closed. Import and export work has stopped. All this has caused a lot of economic damage to the state of Maharashtra.

The largest number of factories in India are in Tamil Nadu.

The manufacturing sector of Tamil Nadu is quite diverse. There are many industries here including automobiles, pharma, textiles, leather products, chemicals.

Tamil Nadu has excellent infrastructure. The road and rail network of this state is considered very good. There are also seven airports. Tamil Nadu has 1,076 km, the second longest beach in the country. Where there are 4 Major and 22 Non-Major Ports.

Tamil Nadu accounted for 45 percent of the total auto exports from India in 2017-18. In the case of passenger vehicles, Tamil Nadu is the export hub, with Tamil Nadu accounting for 70 percent of India's total exports in passenger vehicles. Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, is the automobile capital of India. Tamil Nadu makes the largest number of tires in the country.

The GSDP (gross state domestic product) of Tamil Nadu stood at $ 229.7 billion in 2018-19. Tamil Nadu is the second highest GDP state in the country.

But Corona has greatly affected Tamil Nadu due to which the lockdown imposed to avoid it stopped all economic activity. Factories had to be shut down and the auto sector, which was in a bad phase, came into worse condition. This caused a lot of financial damage to the state.

Gujarat is the second largest producer of crude oil (onshore) and natural gas. Jamnagar has the largest petroleum refining hub in the world. In addition, Gujarat is the global leader in processed diamonds. It is the third largest producer of denim in the world.

The state of Gujarat has more than 30,000 food processing units in the state. There are 560 cold storage and fish processing units.

According to the National Logistics Index 2019, Gujarat is number one in terms of logistics in India. There are 49 ports in Gujarat, of which one is Major Port and 48 is Non-Major Port. There are also 17 airports in Gujarat, including an international airport.

In 2017-18, Gujarat recorded exports of $ 66.8 billion. Which was more than 22 percent of India's total exports. Looking at the 2016-17 figures, Gujarat's GSDP stood at $ 173 billion.

Delhi, ranked second in terms of per capita income, is one of the fastest growing regions in India. Its growth rate in 2018-19 was 12.82 percent.

The national capital of India, Delhi is quite popular among tourists. Trade fairs and conventions are also held throughout the year. There is also an attractive real estate market here and great potential for agrochemical based products. The National Capital Region (NCR) in and around Delhi is known for livestock and diary products. The diary here has a capacity of three million liters of milk every day.

India's largest metro rail network is also in Delhi. The GSDP of Delhi has been $ 109 billion in 2018-19.

But due to Corona virus, the metro rail had to be closed. Tourism halted. Business activities halted. All of this had a significant impact on Delhi and then India's economy.

But due to the corona virus attack, all these economic activities in India had to be stopped. Due to which the states were damaged and this had a direct impact on the economy of India.

Maximum corona cases are being registered in Maharashtra. Then there are states like Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Gujarat.

Due to more cases, most of the areas here have been in the red zone. Where economic activity during the lockdown has been negligible. Due to which there has been a lot of economic loss.

However, no official data has been released about the damage caused by the lockdown. But Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Chief Economic Advisor of SBI Group, along with her team, has written a report, which was released on May 26, before the GDP figures were released. In this report, it was estimated that the total GSDP of the states due to Corona epidemic has resulted in a loss of 30.3 lakh crore rupees in gross state domestic product. Which is 13.5% of the total GSDP.

The maximum damage (50 percent) occurred in the red zone, where there are the most cases. Almost all major districts of India are in the Red Zone. The losses incurred by including Orange and Red zones constitute 90 percent of the total losses. The lowest losses occurred in the green zone. Because 80% of the population of this zone lives in rural areas, where almost all the activities were open.

When India's total GDP figures were released on Saturday, it was found that in the fourth quarter of the current financial year, the country's growth rate has come down to 3.1 percent as compared to the previous year. This brought the GDP rate for the entire financial year to 4.2 percent, the lowest level in 11 years.

According to a report by SBI Group's Chief Economic Advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh, state-wise analysis shows that 75 percent of the total GDP loss was due to 10 states.

Maharashtra has a 15.6% share in the total losses, followed by Tamil Nadu with a 9.4 percent share in GDP losses and Gujarat with 8.6%. These three states have recorded the highest number of corona cases.

If we look at the sector, only agriculture has improved. Whereas in other large sectors, the situation has been very bad in most. Looking at the data for the fourth quarter of the current financial year, net sales in most sectors have been negative.

Net sales have been 15 in the automobile sector. Net sales of electrical appliances have been 17. Cement's net sale has been 10. FMCG has a net sale of 4. The textile had a net sale of 30. Steel's net sale has been 21.

However, figures from healthcare, IT sector and pharma have been somewhat positive.

The lockdown also affected import-export, as well as tourism income.

Now the question arises that what is the way forward?

According to Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Chief Economic Advisor of SBI Group, one has to get out of the lockdown very sensibly. Their report says that there is likely to be some change in the consumption pattern even after the corona epidemic.

According to the Nielsen report, two types of customers will decide the consumption dynamic. One middle income group, whose income was not affected much in the lockdown and the other, those who lost their jobs and who were worst affected. Rather, the former will spend too much thoughtfully, because he will think that it may be my turn now. They will also buy cheap things. Despite the relaxation of restrictions, most people will eat home food. However, people will spend on health, safety and quality.

If this happens, it is clear that in the coming times, there may be a lot of downward trend in the GDP figures. That is, there is still a storm of economic devastation in India!

Rating agency Moody's has dropped India's rating. Rating means credit rating which can also be called credit in easy language.

What is meant by someone's credibility in the market is exactly the same as the country's rating in the international market. This means that it will be difficult to get loan and the pressure to return will be increased for those who have already taken loan. Moody's is the third major rating agency in the world to have downgraded India. Two other agencies Fitch and Standard and Poor had already dropped this rating.

Moody's rating drop means that bonds issued by the Indian government to raise debt in foreign markets or domestic markets will now be considered less reliable. This rating has reached the lowest level in the last twenty two years. Earlier in 1998, the rating was dropped, and it reached the same level. When the US imposed economic sanctions on India after India's nuclear tests.

The price is so low that Moody's has dropped the rating to Baa3, which can be called the lowest rung of the investment grade. This means that long-term bonds issued by the Government of India will still be considered worth investing, just as the risk is increased.

Even in November last year, there was a fear that Moody's might drop the rating, but then it retained the rating a notch above that at Baa2. However, at that time he changed his perspective on India. That is, he was expecting a problem. He changed his outlook on India to negative from stable.

Then the analysts said that there is not much worry because the economy will pick up and Moody's mood will also improve rather than deteriorate. But now this expectation is proving to be far-fetched. And the matter of concern is that even after dropping the rating, Moody's has kept its outlook negative. This simply means that he is afraid of worsening the situation from here.

It is also important to take a look at the reasons that Moody's has cited for dropping ratings. According to him, the work of implementing economic reforms in the country since 2017 has been very slow. For a long time, the pace of growth in economic growth ie GDP growth is looking weak. The condition of the treasury of the governments is deteriorating, the condition of both the central and state governments. And there is increasing stress or tension in India's financial sector. Stress here means the risk of debt not being returned or imposed or returned.

And the outlook worsening means that the agency is seeing a number of threats linked together in India's economy and financial structure, due to which the Government of India's financial situation may be weakened even more than what the agency is currently anticipating.

And the most dangerous or worrisome thing is that the economic crisis arising out of Corona is not at all the reason for this downgrade of Moody's. He says that this epidemic has only magnified the dangers which were already flourishing in the Indian economy. Seeing these dangers, Moody's changed its outlook last year.

It should be remembered here that two years before that in November 2017, Moody's had raised India's credit rating. At that time, he hoped that some important economic reforms would be implemented in India, which would gradually strengthen the economic condition of the country. But now he complains that since that time the pace of reforms has also been slow and whatever has happened does not show much effect.

Now it is important to understand what is the harm of falling rating and its effect? This is also added when deciding ratings.

The Government of India and the State Governments borrow from many international agencies. Moody's says that even before the Corona crisis, the debt of governments was seventy-two percent of the country's GDP, and now in the changed situation i.e. after the Corona crisis, when governments are needing more money for expenditure, it is estimated that This burden can increase to 84% of GDP.

You should calculate your budget. When you go to take a loan from a bank for a house or a car, the bank officer says that the EMI of all your debts should not exceed forty percent of your earnings in total. If you want to take more loan than this, then you get a private bank or an NBFC who gives you a loan at a higher rate than the market rate. There are also some private financiers who give personal loans to the people of trouble, who charge interest from three to four times and the takers get stuck in bigger trouble than before.

Similarly, when a country issues a bond or wants to borrow directly after a rating falls, it has to pay a higher interest because it is considered a risky task to lend it. As the credit rating of the country falls, the maximum rating of all the companies of the country becomes the same. According to any rating agency, the rating of any private or government company cannot be above the sovereign rating of that country. That is, it becomes difficult and expensive for private companies to raise debt. Those whose bonds or debentures are already in the market, their prices fall and the pressure on them to return the money increases.

Now where India's rating has reached, it is at the bottom of the investment grade. That is, international financial institutions can invest in it right now. But if this rating falls below this, many of the big financial institutions around the world will be forced to immediately withdraw the money of the government of India or the bonds of Indian companies, or at a paltry price. Sell ​​in the market. This is because it is clear to these fund managers that they will not invest in any instrument below the investment grade.

After this some funds are invested, but they are just like money lenders. In this situation, countries get trapped in debt. That is why it is a matter of great concern to drop this rating.

However, there is another aspect of the coin. At this time, if the government started curbing spending in the concern of rating, then it will be very difficult to get the economy back on track. That means a well on one side and a ditch on the other side. But many experts are giving the opinion that the government should leave the worry of ratings for some time and revive the economy with full vigor and once the economy runs, it will not take much time to improve the rating.

Moody's also predicts that India's economy will show a strong boom next year after a fall of nearly four per cent in this financial year. Still, he is afraid that there will be trouble for many years ahead, that is why his outlook is weak. Now if the government does something that the picture is reversed, then this attitude will change automatically.

India's Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has confessed that there is a dispute between China and India at this time on the Indo-China border and a considerable number of Chinese troops are present at the border.

Speaking to Network 18, the Defense Minister of India has said that India has also made complete arrangements on the border.

Asked about the latest situation on the Indo-China border, Rajnath Singh said, "The recent incident is true, it is true that the people of China (Chinese soldiers) are also on the border, they claim That our border is here, India's claim that our border is here, there has been a disagreement about that. And a significant number of Chinese people (Chinese soldiers) have also come. ''

The Defense Minister of India said, "But whatever India should do on its own behalf, India has also done it."

He said, "For a long time on the Indo-China border, something has been going on continuously between India and China. There is hardly any year when the border between India and China army does not face. There are skirmishes between the army of India and China, sometimes there has been such tension that the snatch of arms has also happened. Such situations arise from time to time. ''

The Defense Minister of India said, "I think that China should now seriously consider this matter so that this dispute can be fully resolved."

The Defense Minister of India said that whenever there has been a dispute before, such as the Doklam dispute, India and China have resolved through talks at the military and diplomatic level.

He said that even when there was a dispute between the two countries about Doklam, it was also resolved through negotiations. Even before this, whenever there has been an incident between the two countries, a solution has been found at the military level and at the level of dialogue.

The Defense Minister of India said that 'At present, talks are going on at the military level. Probably, on June 6, there is going to be a talk between the army's high level military officers.

The Defense Minister of India also said that India will respond if provoked, he said, "One policy of India is very clear, India does not want to hurt the self-respect of any country of the world nor its Can bear injury on self-respect. Our policy is very clear. Whatever you want to extract from it, it extracts the meaning. ''

When asked if he considered China as an enemy, he said, "I do not consider China as an enemy, I consider my neighbor." As far as thinking is concerned, India's thinking has always been that we do not consider anyone as an enemy, we want to keep an equal relationship with everyone.

He said, "But if someone tries to bow down to India's self-respect, then there is a quirk within us that we can give him a befitting reply."

There is a dispute at the border between India and China at the moment. Several media reports have claimed that China has sent a large number of troops to the border and some have entered Indian territory at this time.

Now the Defense Minister of India has also acknowledged that there is tension on the border between the two countries and the military presence is increasing.

The Defense Minister of India said on US President Donald Trump's proposal to mediate between the two countries that there exists a mechanism for direct dialogue between India and China and no mediation is required.

China's Foreign Ministry on Monday stressed that the situation on the border between China and India is stable and under control and that the channels of dialogue between the two countries are open at the military and diplomatic level.

According to the Chinese newspaper Global Times, the Tibet Command of the Chinese Army has conducted military exercises at high altitude. According to the report, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) practiced penetrating into enemy territory at an altitude of 4700 meters.

The practice, which took place at about one o'clock in the night, practiced attacking in the dark in a difficult environment. Reports about this practice have also been broadcast on Chinese state TV.

"India and China share borders in the altitude zone," the Global Times report said. There have been incidents on the border between the two countries in recent times and both countries have increased their military presence. ''

Tension arose between India and China over the Galvan Valley in Aksai China when India alleged that the Chinese army had set up some tents along the side of Galvan Valley.

The Galvan Valley is located near the Indo-China border between Ladakh and Aksai China. Here the Line of Actual Control (LAC) separates China from India. This valley extends to southern Xinjiang in China and Ladakh in India.

After this, India increased the deployment of the army there. On the other hand, China alleged that India is doing illegal construction related to security near Galvan Valley.

In addition, there was a deadlock on the border between China and India in the Ladakh region after a skirmish between Indian and Chinese troops near the Panagong Tso Lake in eastern Ladakh.

On May 9, there was a skirmish between the Indian and Chinese forces in Naku La sector of North Sikkim. At that time, Chinese army helicopters were seen near LAC in Ladakh. Then after this, the Indian Air Force also started patrolling Sukhoi and other fighter aircraft.

This has happened sometime back in Doklam too. In 2017, there was a lot of dispute between India and China over Doklam. Which lasted for 70-80 days, then this issue was resolved by negotiation.

The case started when India opposed China's attempt to build a road in the plateau region of Doklam.

By the way, Doklam is a dispute between China and Bhutan. But Sikkim lies close to the border and there is a tri-junction point. Where China is also close by. Both Bhutan and China lay claim to this area and India supports Bhutan's claim.

Corona virus is feared all over the world. Countries in the Middle East are also afraid of it.

But the population of these countries is young, which is strengthening their fight against Corona.

The majority of Middle East countries are young. The average age of 60 percent of the population of these countries is below 30 years.

Because of this, the chances of their being badly affected by the corona virus have reduced.

In most countries of the world, corona has preyed on older people.

The governments of most of the countries of the Middle East kept an eye on those areas of the world which were more affected by Corona.

So these countries got enough time to prepare to avoid this.

These countries took steps like curfew and social distancing. But in this case, the growth of these countries ends here.

It has become the most volatile region in the world due to years of struggle and battles. War has weakened its foundation.

It is clear that the corona virus attack can weaken this area further.

There is a big difference in the medical capabilities of Middle East countries. Israel's hospitals can compete with good hospitals in any country of the world.

But the healthcare system in Yemen, Syria and Libya has never been stronger. Years of war have severely broken the healthcare systems and infrastructure of these countries.

In many places it has completely collapsed. According to the United Nations, Yemen is going through its worst phase of humanitarian crisis in the past.

Now in Yemen, Corona has also started spreading legs. It can spread rapidly in poor and extremely densely populated areas of Yemen.

Yemen is going through a period of political turmoil. Despite two deaths from the corona virus last week, people here do not seem willing to follow curfew rules.

Flocks of herds are seen moving towards mosques and markets.

Until recently, the youth who have the highest ability to fight the corona virus were seen demonstrating against their governments before the infection spread.

People of every country have complaints from their governments. But corruption, nepotism and demands for reforms have been the cause of protests in Arab countries.

Corrupt and elite people are being accused of misusing public money.

People say that public money should be used to improve public services.

People in Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq have forced a president and two prime ministers to step down.

Against their governments, people surrounded the major squares of the capitals and refused to move from there.

600 demonstrators were killed in Iraq. Thousands were injured. But the people's resistance did not stop and the rulers had to step down.

These young protesters who took to the streets against their governments are now locked in homes due to the Corona virus. And this time they must have been passing exasperatedly.

When they leave their homes once the lockdown ends, they will find that the condition of the economy has failed to create jobs for them. This will provoke anger and anger.

This anger and frustration of the youth will not only be the result of the deepening economic crisis caused by Corona, but will also have a big hand in dissatisfaction towards power.

Obviously, the ruling forces of these countries will also have limited options. The ongoing lockdown (global shutdown) in many countries around the world has hit the economy of Middle East countries deeply.

People in Lebanon are in a bad condition before the economy deteriorates. The economy nearly collapsed before the Corona virus attack and the banks were destroyed.

The big countries of the Middle East need to rethink their ambitious and expensive foreign policies at this time because the days of creating an impact on money and fighting indirect wars are now over.

Lina Khatib, head of the Middle East Program at the think tank Chatam House, believes that countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran will need to rethink the strategy to increase their influence in the Middle East. They will have to set their priorities again. They may have to sacrifice their interests in Yemen or Syria. Saudi Arabia and Iran had hardly thought of this before.

The conditions that have arisen from the Corona virus infection have hurt everyone, whether they are oil-earning billionaire companies in the Gulf country or the country or the workers.

Millions of people in poor countries are now living in the midst of a crisis. Many people have to spend the day starving because work is down due to lockdown and curfew.

Iran's economy was already shaken by US sanctions. The economic condition of the people of Iran was very bad before the Corona virus attack.

Iran has suffered a fatal attack of corona virus. More than 7 thousand people have died there and more than one lakh thirty thousand people are infected.

New US sanctions have already broken the back of Iran's economy and now Corona's havoc has devastated it further. Iran is reopening its borders to start trade.

Religious trips have been a major source of income for Middle East countries.

But with the closure of religious places in lockdown, Muslims from all over the world have stopped coming here.

Iraq used to earn billions of dollars because of Shia pilgrims coming from Iran. Iraq is incurring heavy losses because of the lockdown.

Curfew is imposed in Mecca City, Saudi Arabia. It seems that the annual Haj pilgrimage here will be postponed to July.

Millions of Muslims from all over the world visit this annual trip.

The Middle East countries have suffered a huge loss due to the fall in oil prices. The strong economic fortress of these countries standing due to oil is now seen to be cracking.

Recently, Saudi Arabia started plans to diversify its economy out of the oil business.

Due to the decrease in oil prices, it is now difficult to see. Algeria earns 60% of its revenues from its oil and gas reserves.

But due to the fall in its prices, it has now reduced its public expenditure by a third.

Due to the Corona virus attack, weekly demonstrations related to the movement that have been going on in this country for the last one week have been stopped.

But once its strength is reduced, the protesters can come on the streets again.

In 2011, angry young men took to the streets in Arabia. These young people felt that their future was being snatched away from them.

But their aspirations for change over time have either gone astray or been crushed.

Now before the pandemic attack, the anger was once again seen boiling inside them.

China wants to bring a digital yuan currency named E-RMB in 2022.

People going to China in 2022 may have to buy or transact in this new digital currency itself. Significantly, in 2022, the Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing, the capital of China.

At a time when every country in the world is struggling with the spread of the corona virus, China was involved in launching a pilot project on the Digital Yuan.

Last month, China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, started working on it in four major cities — Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou and Xiongan.

In this project, some part of the salary of government employees will be given in digital yuan.

In addition, about 20 private businesses, such as Starbucks and McDonald, have also participated in the experiment.

If it succeeds, the Chinese government will release it to the entire country at the time of the Winter Olympics in 2022.

However this will be done in a phased manner and may take several years.

Work on this project began in 2014. China is showing great speed in implementing it.

There can be three main reasons for this: the growing trade war with the US, the US and Western countries constantly accusing China of the Corona virus and preparing to bring Facebook's digital currency libra this year.

The introduction of the digital yuan is believed to be one thing that could change the global balance. It is part of China's ambitious projects aimed at ending the US influence and emerging as a powerful country in the 21st century.

Experts say that a new political and economic system can be born in 10-15 years with its successful use.

Dr Faisal Ahmad, a China expert at Delhi-based Four School of Management, says, "India and the United States are also working on their own digital currencies called 'Lakshmi' and 'Digital Dollar' respectively. But so far they are far from reality . ''

Currently, the Chinese dragon has left the Indian Lakshmi far behind.

But according to experts, China's digital currency has also put the US dollar in danger, which is currently the king of the currency world.

Says Alok Churiwala of Mumbai-based Churiwala Securities, "The dollar is much more expensive (over-valued) than its original value when we look at the debt of the US Federal Reserve. A new currency is certainly welcome but its global acceptance will take a long time. ''

Praveen is the portfolio manager of Singapore-based Modular Asset Management and deals with currencies around the world.

He says, "The digital yuan is definitely a big step towards distance from the US dollar. Currently the US dollar is the prevailing currency in the world and has been since the end of the Gold Standard in the early 1970s."

He goes on to say, "Increased disenfranchisement is a threat to the dollar due to the US-China trade war and now the corona epidemic controversy. However, this change will take time due to the lack of any other immediate options. Have to take care of the steps.

At present, the importance of the US dollar can be gauged from the fact that in 2019, about 90 percent of international monetary transactions were traded in US dollars.

In comparison, the Chinese yuan accounted for only 2 percent of global payments and reserves.

On the other hand, more than 60 percent of all the world's reserve reserves are in US dollars.

India's foreign exchange reserves of 487 billion dollars are also in US dollars.

Three trillion dollars is also in the US currency in China's treasury.

Dr. Faisal Ahmed believes that China can use it in many ways which will increase its credibility.

He says, "China can use this currency to provide incentive packages to other countries for geopolitical benefits and invest in countries involved in the Belt and Road (BRI) project from Central Asia to the Arctic region."

Currently, the impact of the US dollar and its importance means that America will continue to dominate the political and economic issues of the world.

For example, sanctions against Iran, Russia, North Korea and other countries are possible due to international trade and banks' dependence on US dollars.

Deutsche Bank released a special report on digital currencies in late January this year suggesting that the Chinese digital yuan may reverse the global power balance.

The report stated, "China is working on a digital currency with the help of its central bank that can be used as a soft or hard-power tool. In fact, if companies trading in China are allowed to buy digital yuan If forced to adopt, it can certainly destroy the primacy of the dollar in the global financial market. ''

The report stated, "The way the US promoted the dollar in the early twentieth century, the Chinese government is now making a great effort to internationalize the renminbi RMB (China's official currency whose unit is the yuan)." From 2000 to 2015, RMB's share in China's business transactions increased from zero to 25 percent. ''

Deutsche Bank suggested that digital yuan and similar digital currencies may not liquidate cash but could lead to the end of third parties such as credit cards.

Praveen says, "Unlike other methods of payment, it can be used for payment without an internet connection. It's like real cash but in a digital world."

He adds, "The success of the digital yuan will depend on how fast it is being adopted by ordinary people, retailers, corporations, governments and other countries."

But in currencies emerging as a force in the virtual world, besides Facebook's libra and digital yuan, many virtual currencies exist and many are in the works.

Bitcoin is already present in the market and its popularity is increasing.

India has banned crypto currencies but the Reserve Bank is seriously thinking about the digital currency Lakshmi.

Deutsche Bank's report states, "The mainstream digital currencies at the moment are Facebook's Libra and the Chinese government's digital yuan. Facebook has about 2.5 billion users, one-third of the world's population. But that doesn't mean All users of Facebook will use its digital currency. China has a population of over 1.4 billion. Because of this, China has the ability to move digital currencies into the mainstream. "

But the key difference between digital currencies and other digital currencies, including Facebook, is that China's central bank will issue the digital yuan, allowing it to gain acceptance and confidence. But the private company issues or will issue the rest of the digital currency.

All other digital currencies are decentralized and do not fall under any regulatory authority.

Dr. Faisal Ahmed says, "The digital yuan is a state-backed currency unlike other currencies such as the libra. It will also have political ramifications. For example, the use of the digital yuan will help countries like North Korea avoid US sanctions." '

Thinking of India's own digital currency Lakshmi was born in 2014. The idea of ​​digital yuan was also born in China in the same year.

But for the launch of Lakshmi of India, first we have to wait for the report of several committees formed on this issue.

One expert said, "India is promoting digital wallet while China is about to launch digital currency".

"The digital yuan should not be seen as a threat, but rather as a revolution in digital networks," says Praveen. India has also taken the digital revolution forward by using AEPS (Aadhaar Enabled Payment System) and UPI (Unified Payment System) locally. ''

The benefits are that it cannot be copied, the transaction can be instant, the international transaction cost will be negligible, all people will be able to use it.

And the disadvantage is that people will not trust it quickly, it will not have access to the poorest sections of the population and it will depend on digital wallet.

Experts say, as the technology will grow, the benefits of digital currency will also increase.

Alok Churiwala says, "It takes a long time to build people's trust in any system. The US dollar has existed since 1770. Its popularity started growing from the time of the First World War and till the Second World War it became the best currency in the world. ''

Everyone trusts the dollar and everyone values ​​it. But if there is a decrease in America's world, then some other power will take its place. China seems far ahead in that race.

A noted American scientist who researches human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has said that he does not think the corona virus vaccine is going to come soon.

William Heseltine, whose work on cancer, HIV and other projects has been widely discussed, was asked how soon the Covid-19 vaccine is likely to develop?

In response, he told the news agency Reuters that he would not like to wait because he does not think it is possible in the near future.

They have said that to prevent the corona virus epidemic, it is important to thoroughly examine patients, find them properly and, where the infection appears to be successful, to prevent it through strict isolation.

Advising the US government, he has said that he should not wait for the vaccine. If the top leaders are thinking that they will decide to waive the lockdown restrictions on the basis of the announcement of vaccine preparation, then this strategy is not correct.

The vaccine that has been previously prepared for the corona virus of other varieties has failed to protect the nose from infection from which the virus is most likely to enter the body.

William Hasseltine has said that the corona virus can be controlled without effective treatment or vaccines. For this, correct identification of infection is necessary. Those who are infected are most effective in isolation. Remaining people wash hands, wear masks and keep the most used things and places clean, even then it can be reduced considerably.

William Hasseltine believes that China and many other Asian countries have implemented this alternative strategy very effectively, whereas in America it is not seen that those who have been infected with the virus are kept in a strict isolation.

According to him, China, South Korea and Taiwan have been successful in reducing the corona virus infection rate in this manner, while the US, Russia and Brazil have failed.

Professor William said, "By trying the research vaccine of Covid-19 on animals, it has been found that these have been seen to reduce the effect of infection in the patient's body, especially in the lungs."

Plasma therapy trials are also underway in some countries. In this therapy, anti-body is taken from the body of patients recovering from Covid-19 and put in the body of infected patients. It is believed that this increases the ability of patients to fight the corona virus.

Some pharmaceutical companies are now preparing better and refined serums, which are likely to work in Covid-19 patients, in view of this therapy. Professor William also considers this method quite likely to succeed.

He says that this may prove to be its first treatment in the future as these anti-bodies, which are being called hyperimmune globulin, go into every cell of the human body and give them the ability to kill the virus.