The Subcontinent: 23 December 2020
The Subcontinent: 23 December 2020
India: One Chicken Biryani every second
Air Pollution in India: 1.67 million Deaths
Baloch activist found dead in Canada
Hindu Devotees Arrive in Pakistan
Jordanian Jobs for Bangladeshi Garment Workers
1. India: One Chicken Biryani every second
Chicken biryani was India's food of choice during the lockdown period with more than one chicken biryani ordered every second. For every six chicken biryani, only one vegetable biryani was ordered (Financial Express).
Top Five Ordered Items
The 5th annual 'statEATistics' released by Indian food ordering portal Swiggy revealed the top five dishes ordered in India in 2020:
Chicken Biryani
Masala Dosa
Paneer Butter Masala
Chicken Fried Rice
Garlic breadsticks
Snack favorites included golgappas aka pani puri, while drinks included cappuccino and masala chai.
Breakfast like a King
Indian orders seem to follow the adage of eating breakfast like a king! Here are the average calories delivered per meal (Newsgram).
Breakfast: 427
Lunch: 350
Dinner: 342
2. Air Pollution in India: 1.67 million Deaths
1.67 million deaths were attributable to air pollution in India in 2019, accounting for 17.8 percent of the country's total deaths, says a Lancet study.
$36·8 billion Loss
Premature deaths and morbidity arising out of air pollution lead to a loss of $36·8 billion (₹2.6 lakh crore), i.e. 1.36 percent of India's GDP.
Top 3 Pollutants
Ambient particulate matter pollution
Household air pollution
Ambient Ozone pollution
The Lancet Paper can be read here (Lancet).
Read more news reports here:
3. Baloch Activist Dead in Canada
Human Rights activist Karima Baloch was found dead in Toronto, Canada (The Guardian). She left home for a walk and did not return. Her body has been discovered. Police are currently investigating it as a "non-criminal death" (CTV) (The Dawn).
Who was Karima Baloch?
Also known as 'Mehrab,' she was a human rights activist who fled Pakistan in 2015 (National Post). Karima was granted asylum in Canada in 2016. BBC named her among 100 inspirational and influential women for 2016, describing her as a person who "campaigns for independence for Balochistan from Pakistan." Indian media reported that she had once recorded a Rakhi message from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (ABP).
Earlier this year, Another Activist
Earlier this year (April 2020), another Baloch activist, Sajid Hussain, went missing in Sweden and was found dead outside Uppsala.
Sajid, who was a journalist, was granted asylum by Sweden in 2019 (The Guardian). Swedish police have closed the case stating that they "no longer suspect a crime has taken place" (Sveriges Radio).
4. Visas for Hindu Devotees in Pakistan
Pakistan has granted visas to two groups of Hindu devotees to visit the Shadani Darbar (Ghotkli, Sukkur, Sindh province) and the Katas Raj temple (Chakwal, Punjab province) (Times of India). Forty-four pilgrims have already visited Shadani Darbar and returned to India, while the second group of 47 pilgrims is all set to visit Katas Raj. These are among the first visits following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
Shadani Darbar was founded by Shiv Avtari Satguru Sant Shadaram Sahib, while Katas Raj is a temple complex with seven shrines located around the Katas lake.
The Protocol of 1974
Pilgrims have been visiting shrines across the border following the signing of the 1974 agreement - "Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines of 1974" (MEA).
5. Jordan to offer 12,000 jobs to Bangladesh garment workers
Jordan will offer 12,000 jobs to garment workers from Bangladesh next year. Already, nearly 90,000 Bangladeshis work in Jordan, with around 53,000 working in the textile sector (Arab News).
Orders down in Bangladesh
Bangladesh garment industry has been facing a downturn following the COVID-19 outbreak, with orders reportedly down by 30 percent, and brands paying lesser than before (Vogue Business).
Dhaka Tribune reported about fresh cancellations following the second COVID outbreak in Europe.