India

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The energy consultancy Ember reports that the growth in solar production in India was 5.9% in 2023, which outstripped the growth in solar in Japan last year. Japan is the fourth-largest economy in the world, and India is the fifth. India was the world’s fastest-growing economy last year at 7.8%, […]

Climate Crisis

The Delhi Heatwave is Testing the Limits of Human Endurance, in an Omen for us All

The Conversation

By Liz Hanna, Australian National University | – (The Conversation) – Delhi is reeling from the most extreme heatwave India has ever seen. While the record-breaking maximum recorded temperature of 52.9°C has been called into question by India’s Meteorological Department, it’s entirely possible. The city has been sweltering, with top temperatures ranging from 45.2°C to […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Emergency: India’s Massive Heat Wave Signals extreme Danger for an Aging Global Population

The Conversation

By Deborah Carr, Boston University; Enrica De Cian, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice; Giacomo Falchetta, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Ian Sue Wing, Boston University | – (The Conversation) – A deadly heat wave gripped large regions of Asia for weeks in spring 2024, sending temperatures in India’s capital region over 120 degrees Fahrenheit […]

Culture

Piety and Sexuality: The Subaltern Poetry of Mir Taqi Mir

Anthony A. Lee

Mir Taqi Mir (1723-1810) is recognized as one of the greatest poets of the Urdu language. He is claimed by Pakistan as one of the premier poets who helped to shape the language and its literature. Of course, he is hardly known in the West. So, we hear him as a subaltern voice. A new […]

Christianity

A Merry Muslim Christmas from India’s Hyderabad, c. 1630: Jesus, the Dutch, and Diamonds

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The nativity of the Christ child is not solely an occasion of Christian spirituality, but has been celebrated through the ages by Muslim writers and painters, as well. As I have pointed out, the story of the Annunciation and the birth of Jesus is told in the Qur’an: Verses 19:17-35: […]

India

The Israel-India-U.S. Triangle: Its Human Toll Will Be Incalculable

Tomdispatch

By Priti Gulati Cox and Stan Cox ( Tomdispatch.com) – In 1981, India’s post office issued a stamp showing the flags of India and occupied Palestine flying side by side above the phrase “Solidarity with the Palestinian people.” That now seems like ancient history. Today, Hindu nationalists are flying the flags of India and Israel […]

Arab World

Expansion of BRICS, the anti-G7, in the Mideast: Is the Oil Gulf no Longer Pax Americana?

Hamdullah Baycar

Exeter (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – BRICS, a group of five developing countries that include China, Russia, and India, has invited another six countries to join the bloc, making the group 11 if all accept the invitation. Among 40 interested states in membership, of which 22 had already officially asked for admission, BRICS leaders […]

Bangladesh

Climate Crisis: Himalaya Glacier Melt Feeds India’s and Pakistan’s Rivers, but 80% of Lower Level Glacier Mass could be gone this Century

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new report on ice in the Himalayas issued by The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) finds that at the lower elevations of the Himalaya mountains, the snow depth and mass are projected to decline 25% by 2050 (regardless of greenhouse gas scenarios, i.e. this is already baked […]

Bangladesh

Iran leads charge for De-Dollarization at Asian Banks Meeting

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Asian Exchange Union is not a famous international organization, but its meeting on Tuesday in Tehran may have started the ball rolling on a momentous change in global finance, since it dealt with the possibility of de-dollarization. According to the Iranian press, banking representatives from Iran, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, […]