Not Tomorrow’s War

Yes, the globe is warming up. No, don’t trust Trump on this.

Yes, there are multiple efforts to counter climate change. No, they aren’t doing enough. But at least there is widespread acknowledgement of the scale of disastrous effects of climate change and remedial steps are being purported.

Global warming is already upon us. News bulletins shout out “never before” droughts, rains and floods from time to time. There is something that is still in a nascent stage, that might have just as deleterious effects as global warming. Am talking about electronic waste.

E-waste is piling up, quite literally, in dump yards. The Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP), which counts the UN and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as founding members, predicts e-waste will reach 74 metric tonnes in ten years, double the number in 2014.

Raining hell, from up above

The backstory

About a week back, there was a drone attack on an Indian Air Force base in Jammu. Two drones dropped explosives and flew back. We do not yet know where the drones came from or if they had a specific target, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is conducting an enquiry. All we know so far is that the twin explosions did not damage any defense equipment nor did they cause loss of lives.

So what?

While the direct impact of the detonations does not seem to be high, there is cause to worry. Although the use of drones for disaster relief, mapping and surveillance is becoming commonplace, drone warfare is still new to India, especially on the contentious Jammu & Kashmir border. Disturbances on the Line of Control (LoC) have been either due to direct shelling from the Pakistani side or the disquiet created by proxies in the region, that is to say disturbances did not have an aerial angle to them.

Money, Money Everywhere- Not a Dollar to Tax

The law of the land is more often than not decades old. Many laws have been rewritten to accommodate the changing stride of the world like the laws pertaining to same sex marriage and individual privacy. One segment of laws that has not yet gotten a makeover is corporate taxation. From time immemorial, companies have been taxed based on their physical presence. In today’s globalized and digital world, that is an outdated concept.

Multinational corporations make a lot of money, a lot. A look at some of the revenue figures of top tech companies in 2020*:

• Amazon: $386 billion 
• Apple: $274 billion
• Facebook: $86 billion
• Google: $182 billion

Notwithstanding, they make use of an army of lawyers and ever present loopholes (call them provisions? Concessions?) in countries’ tax structures to take home as many dollars as possible, duly circumventing what is owed to the governments. Alas, we cannot blame the corporates entirely either, the demands of capitalism bear on their shoulders.

Controversy, off the coast of Kerala

When the East India Company started becoming more than just a trading company, the colonial overlords deemed themselves superior and felt it necessary to “uplift the backward”, although it is no secret who uplifted whom as we look back today.

While am sure the intensity and deviousness of the British colonial rulers is not what is being played out in the Lakshadweep, it is hard not to at least draw a parallel of the ill placed ideas driving these changes. The administration is defending all the changes being ushered in as those that will benefit the community, while the community itself, feels differently.

Rich get richer, Poor get poorer

 There is a popular dialogue from the Tamil movie Sivaji, starring Superstar Rajinikanth “Rich get richer, poor get poorer” {Thalaiva! 😎}. Without even drawing on the backdrop of black money that Rajini looks to portray through this dialogue, the line by itself cannot be more true.

Income inequality has been talked about for decades but the COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation much, much worse. White collared workers largely escaped the wrath of the lockdowns and restrictions which hit blue-collar workers manifold. Alas, if you earn your pay at the end of every day and you can’t show up, there is no pay to earn. Income is not unidimensional- it affects access to healthcare and formal education; things considered essential for societal wellbeing. Loss of income has a debilitating impact on lower income households, where there is barely any scope for savings that can be used to push through difficult times.

The Vaccine Conundrum

Just as a new COVID strain ravages Europe, the Indian drug regulator has approved two vaccine candidates for use in differing capacities. One is based on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, produced by the Serum Institute of India, called Covishield. The second vaccine, Covaxin has been developed by homegrown company Bharat Biotech in association with ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research).

The tortoise doesn't win here

We might have come across reports about 5G rollout in "developed" countries in recent times. Popular YouTubers have also given their takes on the mind blowing speeds (albeit limited coverage) on mobile data using 5G technology. Notably, Qualcomm, Nokia and Ericsson already have 5G equipment up and running in multiple parts of the world and leading consumer electronic companies like Apple, Samsung and OnePlus have launched mobile phones that support this advancement.

Telecom giants in India like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have also promised roll outs of the cutting edge technology in different phases in 2021. Now, in sharp contrast to these developments is the recent announcement from the state run telecom enterprise- BSNL.

The real deal

It has been over a couple hours since the sun set after beating down on the city’s hapless inhabitants, giving way to a cool breeze. A mélange of shops line the left side of the road, with neon lights and the hustle and bustle of an evening market. There is a brisk flow of hungry people walking into a brightly lit restaurant with an equal amount of people strolling out, their tummies full and hearts content. Just beyond the restaurant's parking space is a makeshift table covered with a blue tarpaulin sheet, on top of which sit a heap of jasmine buds and a sole short strand of flowers that have been deftly tied together with a wafer-thin string. Sitting behind the bench is a tired old lady with a crease on her brow, patiently looking at all the bikes whooshing by and the pedestrians zigzagging through the thoroughfare.

Look to the other side of the street and there is a bank that is winding down for the day; the staff pulling down the grey shutters, mentally getting ready to go back to their homes and families.

All the Light We Cannot See: A Glimpse

 No one envies a writer, or an orator for that matter, who has to deliver content that the audience don't relate to naturally. It is particularly onerous to convey anachronistic content. Would a Gen Z kid appreciate the momentous time the telephone was discovered? Probably not.

Anthony Doerr does this incredibly well. Born in the late 90's, it is hard for me to understand the humane aspects of war but the book, All the Light we Cannot See, brings to the fore multiple undercurrents that might otherwise be brushed over.

The Far-Reaching Dragon

Little history before we begin- the Sino-Indian War of 1962 started primarily on two counts: the border dispute and the alleged Indian role in weakening of Chinese dominance in Tibet. After about a month of fighting, then Chinese premier, Zhou Enlai declared a unilateral ceasefire which India decided not to upset.

Fast forwarding to June 2020, clashes erupted between the Chinese and Indian troops that media houses have dubbed as the deadliest in the region in decades. Efforts have been on to resolve the standoff at multiple levels between the armies, but with little to show.