Economic consequences of COVID-19 on South Asia greater than healthcare challenges: Report
Washington: The economic consequences of COVID-19 pandemic on South Asia are proving to be even greater than the healthcare challenges in the region, according to a report compiled by a top American think-tank.
Titled "Nine Months of COVID-19: The Impact on South Asia", the report released by the Hudson Institute think-tank on Friday, is co-authored by Husain Haqqani, former Pakistan ambassador to the US, and Aparna Pande and is an update to their 30-page report "Crisis from Kolkata to Kabul: COVID-19's Impact on South Asia" published in May 2020.
"The economic consequences of COVID-19 on South Asia are proving to be even greater than the healthcare challenges in the region. Different South Asian countries have dealt with the pandemic in various ways, but the economic costs overall seem to be higher than the healthcare consequences," said Haqqani.
All these countries have poor healthcare infrastructure and are home to large numbers of people living below the poverty line, setting the foundation for uphill battles when tackling health crises, he said.
"In order to ensure a safe return to normal life and a resumption of economic activity, South Asian governments would benefit from focusing more on the development of human capital, Haqqani said.
The report notes that after claiming that Pakistan had undergone a miracle in managing to curtail the spread of COVID-19 cases, the country is once again facing a rise in infection.
"In addition, the last nine months have witnessed further curtailment of media and political opposition, an economy in crisis, and increasing role of the military," it said.
According to the report, in Sri Lanka too, the pandemic has worsened the debt crisis and tightened the grip of the Rajapaksha brothers on polity and society.
With rising cases, Bangladesh is the second most severely hit economy and the pandemic has worsened income inequality, it said.
Turning to Afghanistan, while the healthcare crisis is taking its toll, the Afghans are also suffering from the continued violent attacks by the Taliban and ISIS, it added.
When it comes to India, the largest country in the region, the report notes that while the India-US relations "remain on an upward trajectory" with an economy that has slowed down drastically, and a clamping down on dissent within the country, "India's democratic credentials face challenges."
The report points to China's continued "attempts to deepen its strategic and economic ties with countries in the region", warning that the "the global US-China peer competition will also play out in South Asia, with Pakistan and Sri Lanka becoming closer to China and other countries safeguarding their options."
According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 1,349,700 people have died and there are over 56,270,000 confirmed cases across the world.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
