South Asia

Remembered Malala, the girl who fought for basic human rights for little girls so they could go to school? She still exists, the media just stopped talking about her once they found out she had "extreme" beliefs ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Sri Lankan military were forced to hand out tokens to people queuing for what little fuel is left on Monday, with schools in the capital Colombo shut and public sector workers asked to work from home to ease consumption.

Some have waited in line for over 4 days, with no petrol left to even get home. Government stockpiles have dwindled to 9,000 tons of diesel and 6,000 tons of petrol with no new shipments, due to drained foreign currency reserves.

An IMF team is visiting until Thursday to discuss a $3bn bailout program.

The figures were announced by the head of the information department in the Paktika province, which has been hit hardest by the disaster. The list of fatalities so far comes from just two districts of the province, the official noted ... The epicenter was located some 44 km (27 miles) from the city of Khost in the southeast of the country at a depth of 51km (31 miles), the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said. The earthquake also affected parts of neighboring Pakistan ... Shockwaves were felt by around 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) has said.

Absolutely catastrophic. Hope they get the aid they need.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/288429

DRA - The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was the Afghan state ruled by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) from 1978 to 1992 supported by Soviet Union

I'm not South Asia, but I am interested in the region's politics and culture but felt that South Asia news is often very liberal. I'm mainly looking for Indian news, then Pakistani but if you find something from other countries that's alright too

At least 50 people have died as floods, triggered by heavy downpour, left millions of homes underwater across northeastern India and Bangladesh.

Police in Bangladesh said on Saturday that monsoon rains have killed at least 25 people and unleashed devastating floods that left more than four million people stranded.

At least 16 people have been killed in India’s remote Meghalaya, and at least another nine people have died from flooding in India’s Assam state. Meanwhile, the homes of two million people were submerged in floodwaters.

Both countries have asked their respective militaries to help with the situation, which could worsen as rains are expected to continue over the weekend.

Bangladesh, a nation of 160 million people, is low-lying and faces threats from climate crisis-related natural disasters such as floods and cyclones.

According to the UN, about 17 percent of people in Bangladesh would need to be relocated over the next decade if global warming persists at the present rate.

India will spend $30 billion to overhaul its tech industry and build up a chip supply chain to ensure it is not "held hostage" to foreign providers.

The key aim of India's $30 billion initiative is to build a complete supply chain ecosystem. Around $10 billion of that sum will go toward two chip facilities and two display plants. About $7 billion is planned to be given to the electronics industry, including those manufacturing giants like Foxconn and fellow iPhone assembler Pegatron. The remaining $13 billion will be reserved for affiliated services like telecom, networking, solar photovoltaic, advanced chemistry and battery cells.

-- Nikkei Asia

"A better connected India & ASEAN will be well-positioned to promote decentralised globalisation, reliable supply chains," said India's MEA Dr. S. Jaishankar today at the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers Meeting in New Delhi.

The Ministers proposed to forge stronger cooperation in health, food security as well as regional peace and stability.

Hail Comrade Arya Rajendran

Sri Lanka may start buying oil from Russia amid a critical fuel shortage and an unprecedented economic crisis, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an interview with the AP.

According to Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka would first look to other sources to get the much-needed fuel, for instance, to its major suppliers in the Middle East.

“Certainly, we are looking at the Gulf as our main supply… If we can get [oil] from any other sources, we will get from there. Otherwise, we may have to go to Russia again,” he stated.

Because nothing screams "akhand bharat"^[1]^ more than making racist "memes" that divide the country.

[1] Akhand Bharat means "Undivided India" it generally refers to the 1947 pre partition border which includes modern day Bangladesh, India and Pakistan all in one country as Akhand Bharat ~___~

Sri Lanka is negotiating a $1.5bn yuan denominated swap deal with China as part of desperate attempts to keep the economy afloat, with an estimated $5bn needed over the next 6 months just to maintain basic living standards.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s announcement Tuesday revealed $3.3bn is needed for fuel imports, $900mn for food, $600mn for fertilizer and $250mn for cooking gas.

The country is discussing a $3bn rescue package from the IMF amidst fears the economy could contract by 3.5% this year, while the UN has pledged $48mn in food, agriculture & health relief.

One placard says
"Russia was always there for us"

It's really sad to see how the west is trying to steal Sri Lanka in it's tough times.

Can't just be called India, can it.

Suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma apologises for remarks on Prophet Muhammad

Press release of bjp after boycott campaign in Arab countries :

At this point, this is just embarrassing

Won't build infrastructure, won't spend on defence, won't spend on welfare, won't pass tax reforms, but will conduct a "racial purity" test to identify "undesirables". At this rate, we won't need a Chinese invasion to finally drive this country into the gutter.

Guerrilla History: Indian Farmers' Protest Retrospective w/ Sandeep Rauzi and Santosh Kumar: Dispatch

Episode webpage: https://guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/indian-farmers-protest-retrospective-w-sandeep-rauzi-and-santosh-kumar-dispatch

Media file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/guerrillahistory/Farmers_Protest.mp3?dest-id=2463146

As a fellow Comrade I hope that this sub can become a place for Comrades to discuss, share, and learn more about South Asian nations. Please feel free to reach out if anyone has recommendations, requests, or wants to be a moderator.
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