Imran Khan gets ousted in a midnight no-trust vote
Job Board + Paksitan PM + Final Assessment + What Else + Post of the day
Hello, hope you are having a great Sunday. This week we reflect on the political crisis in Pakistan, recent IPCC report and what else is happening around the world.
Top Jobs of the Week
Programme Associate, Wetlands International South Asia
Location- Delhi. Apply at - recruitment(at)wi-sa.org
Development Associate, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy
Location- Delhi. Apply at- careers(at)vidhilegalpolicy.in
Associate Communications, Milaan Foundation
Location- Gurugram. Apply at- careers(at)milaanfoundation.org
The Midnight No-Trust Vote
Till date and since independance, none of the Pakistan’s elected leaders have lasted for full tenure and the same happened with Imran Khan.
Pakistan’s law ousted Imran Khan in a no-confidence vote, ending his four-year run as leader after he clashed with the country’s powerful military and Asia’s second-fastest inflation eroded support.
Imran Khan’s reaction
He had stated that he would accept the Supreme Court ruling, but insisted on the point him being a victim of ‘regime change’ conspiracy.
The former international cricket star said he would not cooperate with any incoming administration and called on his supporters to take to the streets.
Who will take over?
The local media has stated that it would take almost 7-months for the election commission to prepare for national elections. However, it is expected for the opposition leader - Shehbaz Sharif to take over.
“A new morning is beginning, a new day is about to start,” Sharif told lawmakers after the results were declared in the early hours of Sunday. “The prayers of millions of Pakistanis have been heard.”
Key Issues at hand
The upcoming leader needs to give quick attention and action on - soaring inflation, a feeble rupee and crippling debt.
To deal with this, Sharif-led government is likely to secure $3 billion left from an International Monetary Fund loan needed to bolster foreign reserves and the currency. The rupee is trading near a record low against the U.S. dollar and foreign currency reserves have dropped to the lowest in about two years, enough to cover a couple months of imports.
Shift in Foreign Policy
The government will have to work hard to patch up relations with Washington, as Imran Khan has blamed Biden administration for the no-confidence. This move is important as Khan had shifted his interests towards Russia and China.
‘Now or Never’- Warns IPCC's latest scientific assessment
Time and again, the agreements, the climate conferences, the summits and scientific assessment reports have reinstated the importance of how important it is to take action to mitigate climate change.
Along the same lines, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published the third and last report of the scientific assessment cycle on 4th April 2022, offering a ‘now or never’ warning to mitigate climate change.
The Key Factors from the report-
Ever-Escalating Emissions and Soaring Temperature
The current pledges without action wold not curb greenhouse-gas emissions and restrict the temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Not only this, the carbon emissions are going to be peaked by 2025.
Proposed Solutions: Achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions in the 2050s will be possible by using about 95% less coal, 60% less oil, and 45% less gas by 2050. Fossil fuels need to be effectively phased out if the world is to stay within 1.5 degrees Celsius.
At this moment, we have an opportunity to take action to limit the increasing temperature and cut it by half this decade by using new alternatives like Hydrogen fuel, wind, solar and sustainable energy resources to keep the temperature down.
Sustainable Development:
It has been recommended to limit the global economic growth by 1.3% to 2.7% by 2050 to in turn limit the rising temperatures.
Solution: The governments need to develop a plan of action to balance out the economic losses in some sectors while boosting other sectors. The ‘demand-side mitigation’ efforts could reduce greenhouse gas emissions in some sectors by up to 70% by 2050.
(Source: Guardian, Reuters, NewYork Times, BBC)
What else is happening?
The union health secretary, Rajesh Bhushan on 8th April 2022 issued a warning to five states Kerala, Mizoram, Maharashtra, Delhi and Haryana to not let their guard down. They are reporting a higher contribution to India's daily new Covid cases. There is a need for continuous follow up of a risk assessment-based approach for the management of COVID 19.
On 8th April 2022, a missile struck a crowded train station in eastern Ukraine killing at least 50 people and wounding nearly 100. Ukrainian officials blamed Russia for hitting a major evacuation point for the many people trying to flee before an expected stepped-up offensive.
The Truce
Assam and Meghalaya recently signed a pact to resolve a 50-year-old dispute in 6 out of 12 places. Mansi Gupta analyses the pact, the major point of contention and the way forward, between the two.
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