For those who might not know, following a week after the Russia-Ukraine wheat embargo, there are even bigger and ominous signs hinting at global food insecurity and the catastrophic agricultural crises coming our way.
India last week banned export on all non-basmati rice varieties.
I repeat: EXPORT BAN ON ALL non-basmati RICE varieties.
[Aside: export of basmati variety will continue, the demand for which is relatively small in India when compared to the nearly 15 major varieties of rice (it's home to at least a 1000 varieties) consumed by very large populations everyday(these are the ones which are now banned). Basmati is a "festive" and only occasionally consumed variety in India. It is largely exported to the richer nations, many of whom think it is the only variety of rice from India.]
Why is India banning rice now?
Answer: global warming.
What’s happening in India (and South Asia at large) should both terrify you and wake you up
Here’s more (facts? trivia? bothersome news? how the world actually works?).
There are a lot of scary things in the world but what Modi is doing in India is right up there. I dropped by Twitter to look for an old post and (spoiler: mistake) hit Trending and found a flood of Modi-fan racists screaming obscene insults at Muslims. Modi is consciously whipping up racist rage against a 200-million-strong group of citizens. If this gets out of control the cost in human lives could exceed many big wars put together. #India#BJP#Hindutva
Good day to remind everyone of the guy who will be feted, mourned, and deified nationally and internationally as a "Grand strategist", "Mr. Realpolitik", 'Statesman", "Great Man of History" etc., etc.,
Everyone knows about the Vietnam war, and what happened in "Indo-China", much less so around the same time what happened in South Asia from 1970-71. Remains one of the toughest books I have ever read.
i really love #Mastodon. the community here is so much nicer, there are no ads, nobody trying to manipulate me, and no "trends" that i don't want to see.
but there are, like, seven people from #India on this whole entire network, out of which there are probably only two who live in #Bangalore.
i lost a whole community of developers, writers, artists, journalists, and other creative folk from India when #Twitter died. that community hasn't managed to come together again in the same way.
i hope the melon man bankrupts Twitter as quickly as possible so that people can either finally leave, or Microsoft can buy it up and make it boring again.
India is currently experiencing a severe heatwave, with very high temperatures in many areas. The heat is so intense that a TV presenter fainted live on air.
"Tourists to Japan from Singapore and seven other Asian countries will soon find it easier to pay for their purchases using their local QR code wallets under a new joint payment scheme.
[...]
The countries are Singapore (SGQR), Malaysia (DuitNow QR), Indonesia (QRIS), the Philippines (QRPh), Thailand (Thai QR Payment), Cambodia (KHQR), Vietnam (VietQR) and India (BharatQR)."
The Indian rice export ban, the war in Ukraine and El Niño are combining to create a "doom loop" for the world's poorest people, as staple food prices soar.
#India#Cybersecurity#Apple#StateHacking#PressFreedom#News#Journalism: "A day after Apple warned independent Indian journalists and opposition party politicians in October that government hackers may have tried to break into their iPhones, officials under Prime Minister Narendra Modi promptly took action — against Apple.
Officials from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) publicly questioned whether the Silicon Valley company’s internal threat algorithms were faulty and announced an investigation into the security of Apple devices.
In private, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, senior Modi administration officials called Apple’s India representatives to demand that the company help soften the political impact of the warnings. They also summoned an Apple security expert from outside the country to a meeting in New Delhi, where government representatives pressed the Apple official to come up with alternative explanations for the warnings to users, the people said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters."
The new charges against Arundhati Roy accusing her of “provocative speech & promoting enmity between different groups” signify a crucial turning point in #India, adding on to a growing list of #artists, activists & intellectuals facing persecution.
Artists at Risk (AR) continues to support the right to freedom of expression globally. As part of our efforts, we've partnered with an institution in India since 2021 to provide shelter for artists at risk in an undisclosed location.
'Hands Off Arundhati Roy!': #Progressive Voices Decry Possible Prosecution of Indian Author
"You have no idea what you will unleash is you pursue this political prosecution aimed at silencing your most eloquent critic," #Canadian author Naomi #Klein warned Indian Prime Minister
This from BBCNews #India is shocking; the abuse & humiliation of #women is endemic across the country with little evidence of any sustained attempt to address this issue.
Given India's claims around its #democratic culture, the plight of women & girls is extraordinary, inasmuch as it indicates a disconnect (as so often) between claims for a modern polity & the continuing discrimination & violence towards women.
[I should add that India is not alone with these problems]
Today is "deepaawali" aka "diwaali", the #Hindu festival of lights. 🪔
Technically, today is the first of the 3-day festival, especially in South India. The middle day (tomorrow) is often considered the festival day. That's the day people (merchants more so) pray to "lakshmi", the goddess of wealth.
It is customary for people to deck up homes with lights, and maybe also light fireworks, during the festival.
🤯 #YouTube approved dozens of election disinformation ads ahead of the #India general election.
"We submitted 48 ads [...containing] content prohibited by YouTube’s #elections#misinformation policies, including false information around the election" like "changes to the voting age, instructions to vote by text message, and incitement to prevent certain groups from voting."
India lands spacecraft near south pole of moon in world first (www.theguardian.com)
Vikram lander touches down at lunar south pole shortly after 6pm India time
The price of rice is skyrocketing, and it's pushing millions more people towards starvation (www.abc.net.au)
The Indian rice export ban, the war in Ukraine and El Niño are combining to create a "doom loop" for the world's poorest people, as staple food prices soar.