The Global Telescope

The Locust and Forest Fire Crises in India– Certain Concerns  By Ashwin Vardarajan    Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic, two new tragedies have struck India. The first is the Locust swarm which has been spreading across the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, and the other is the forest fires taking place in Uttarakhand. Both of these incidents have been under-discussed by the media and the people.  Locusts are grasshopper-like creatures which swarm in gregariously, and are known to damage crops and plant-life that comes in their way. The Locust swarm currently being witnessed has not been seen in India, at least of a comparable magnitude, since 1997. These swarms generally visit India from its western borders in the second half of a year, usually comprising of older Locusts. This year, smaller groups of young Locusts were first identified across the India-Pakistan border around 11 th May, 2020. By virtue of everyone’s ignorance in the initial days of the swarms’ attac

TGT On-The-Go New National Security Law in Hong Kong By Vikrant Sharma Founder-Editor, The Global Telescope Beijing has introduced a new national security law in Hong Kong that has created geopolitical ripples all over the world. On 1 July 1997 Hong Kong was handed over by the British to China, with a 1-Country, 2-Systems principle in place to manage Hong Kong and Macau (formerly under Portugal till 1999) as Special Administrative Regions of China. This system promised greater autonomy to the regions. This includes their own currency, as well as various economic and legal mechanisms; however foreign policy and defense remained under Chinese control. This system is meant to stay in place for 50 years from the date of transfer. Hong Kong is one of the most important business destinations in Asia, as well as globally. USA has a special status devoted to Hong Kong that means different tariffs for business through Hong Kong, with reference to China- this is particularly rele

Care Homes in COVID: Did We Abandon The Elderly?  By Vikrant Sharma  Founder-Editor, The Global Telescope    Over the last few decades, nursing homes have become a popular choice in Europe for elderly people who require medical assistance. Modern care homes serve as the residential facility and social space for the people who live there, along with providing them basic medical assistance via the nurses and other healthcare staff employed by the care homes. When COVID-19 struck Europe, the immediate attention was put on hospitals that were being overwhelmed by the number of incoming patients who required isolation as well as immediate and intensive treatment. European countries quickly realised, however, that care homes were a particular area of concern. You see, care homes are not just a living facility. To ensure that the senior residents do not get lonely, these facilities also serve as social spaces that facilitate physical and social contact between various residents. You probably

China's Liability For The Covid-19 Outbreak  By Siddharth Soni    With the novel coronavirus bringing the whole world to a standstill, it is said that this virus has its origins in the wet markets of Wuhan, China. In the month of December 2019, a few doctors from Wuhan identified that a new strain of the Coronavirus family, SARS-CoV-2, was causing respiratory problems in humans. It is being alleged that Chinese government is responsible for not containing the virus when it was identified at its first instance. This negligence by the Chinese government led to the virus being mass-proliferated and progressing to different parts of the world. This has sparked debates all around the globe. This article would focus on affixing China’s liability for the trans-boundary harm that this novel coronavirus has caused.    State Responsibility of China The customary rules for affixing state responsibility on states are included under the 2001 Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States for Wr

TGT On-The-Go  What Happened to Brexit?  By Vikrant Sharma Brexit has been a messy affair for the last 4 years now. After Boris Johnson scored a sizeable majority for the Conservatives in December last year, a Withdrawal Agreement Act was passed in UK, after agreement with the European Union, that gives UK and EU a ‘transition period’ of 11 months. UK left the EU on 31 January 2020. The transition period, in force till 31 December 2020, effectively means the UK remains, during this period, a part of the customs union and the single market. It also means that the UK remains a part of the EU economic institutions and security co-operation mechanisms for the time being. However, UK has with its January exit already left all the political institutions of the European Union. [1] This transition period, which the UK Government calls ‘an implementation period’, is meant to facilitate negotiations between the two parties that will lead to deals in place that ensure stability wh

Deconstructing India's Image: A 'Press'ing Concern  By Vasundhara Mehta Few months ago, I was bestowed upon the opportunity to visit a rather prestigious Summer School abroad. Needless to say, it planted in my mind newfound understanding and respect for people from across the world. I felt connected to the cultures I had read about. It also did something else. Besides changing the way I perceived the world, it broke my heart to know the way people from the West perceived my motherland. While I beamed with pride to tell them my nationality, I was appalled at the curious questions from the locals that elbowed their way to the forefront, demanding to be answered. Questions like ‘will you be able to pursue law?’, ‘can girls marry freely in a country like India?’, and ‘so you took a flight all the way to Europe?’ Well, I was dumbfounded. I wanted to tell them that India gave the world its first university - Takshashila University and I will study law, yes. I wanted to tell them

National Unity in Times of Crisis, Part 2: COVID-19  By Vikrant Sharma, Founder-Editor, The Global Telescope It is no secret now that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives all over the globe. At the time of publication, the world has seen more than 3.5 million confirmed cases and is very close to 250,000 deaths. The hardest-hit countries at the moment (based on lives lost) are USA, Spain, Italy, UK, and France. Countless companies and organizations have sent emails to their employees on the lines of ‘in these uncertain/difficult/unprecedented times… (usually followed by some work)’. Same lines have been used by companies sending out mails to their customers. But exactly how unprecedented is the current time? While it is true that this is the first global pandemic of this scale since the dawn of modern technology, internet and democracy in most parts of the world, there exists substantial evidence of multiple pandemics that were far worse than the current one. I wish to