By Shiran Illanperuma Is Asia possible? This provocation comes from a recent intervention by Tricontinental Asia, the latest in a series of conjunctural analyses on the Asian continent. There is increasing acknowledgement that the world economy’s centre of gravity is shifting to Asia. Home to 60 percent of the world’s population, the continent contributes to 70 percent of world economic growth, 40 percent of world merchandise trade, and 57 percent of world manufacturing value added. A range of Asian organisations, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, signal a tendency towards regionalism. The Asia-centric Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is the world's largest free trade bloc. In fact, an argument could be made that Asia’s dynamism animates the new mood in the Global South. Five of the 10 BRICS member states are on the continent of Asia (six if we include Russia, which straddles b...
By Raj Kumar Sinha* Air pollution has become the most silent yet deadly public health crisis of our time. In cities and villages, invisible toxic particles suspended in the air, such as industrial smoke, vehicle emissions, ash from thermal power plants, and domestic fuel smoke, are taking a heavy toll on people's breathing. The most worrying fact is that people are falling ill without any noise. Its pain is neither immediately visible nor its impact felt, yet its ability to erode the body from within is extremely rapid. Today, the poison in the air is not just an environmental crisis, but a slow, ongoing assault on human health.