Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
Without this attention, governments, businesses and, indeed, individuals may find themselves at a great disadvantage sooner rather than later.
The POSTs (front webpages) are mainly 'cuttings' from reliable sources, updated continuously.
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SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean and Chinese officials on Tuesday cast doubt on reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was ill after media outlets said he had undergone a cardiovascular procedure and was in “grave danger”.
Daily NK, a Seoul-based speciality website, reported late on Monday, citing one unnamed source in North Korea, that Kim was recovering after undergoing the procedure on April 12. The North Korean leader is believed to be about 36.
CNN cited a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the matter as saying Washington was “monitoring intelligence” that Kim was in grave danger after surgery. Bloomberg quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying the White House was told that Kim took a turn for the worse after the surgery.
However, two South Korean government officials rejected the CNN report without elaborating on whether Kim had undergone surgery. The presidential Blue House said there were no unusual signs coming from the reclusive, nuclear-capable state.
Kim is the unquestioned leader of North Korea and the sole commander of its nuclear arsenal. He has no clear successor and any instability in the country could be a major international risk.
RELATED COVERAGE
Factbox: Questions hang over North Korea succession amid reports on Kim health
The state KCNA news agency gave no indication of the whereabouts of Kim in routine dispatches on Tuesday, but said he had sent birthday gifts to prominent citizens.
An official at the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department, which deals with North Korea, told Reuters the source did not believe Kim was critically ill. China is North Korea’s only major ally.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing was aware of reports about the health of Kim, but said it does not know their source, without commenting on whether it has any information about the situation.
South Korean shares exposed to North Korea tumbled and the Korean won fell on the reports. The won traded down more than 1% against the dollar even as South Korean government sources said Kim was not gravely ill.
U.S. stock futures were trading 0.5% lower, but it was not clear how much of that weakness was owing to the collapse in U.S. oil prices and consequent concerns over global demand.
Daily NK said Kim had been admitted to hospital on April 12, just hours before the cardiovascular procedure, as his health had deteriorated since August due to heavy smoking, obesity and overwork.
It said he was now receiving treatment at a villa in the Mount Myohyang resort north of the capital Pyongyang.
“My understanding is that he had been struggling (with cardiovascular problems) since last August but it worsened after repeated visits to Mount Paektu,” a source was quoted as saying, referring to the country’s sacred mountain.
Accompanied by senior North Korean figures, Kim took two well-publicised rides on a stallion on the snowy slopes of the mountain in October and December.
KIM’S HEALTH KEY TO STABILITY
An authoritative U.S. source familiar with internal U.S. government reporting on North Korea questioned the CNN report that Kim was in “grave danger”.
“Any credible direct reporting having to do with Kim would be highly compartmented intelligence and unlikely to leak to the media,” a Korea specialist working for the U.S. government said on condition of anonymity.
Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, declined to comment on the reports of Kim’s health.
“We are regularly gathering and analysing information about North Korea with great concern,” he said. “We will keep gathering and analysing information regarding North Korea by collaborating with other countries such as the U.S.”
Kim’s potential health issues could fuel uncertainty over the future of the reclusive state’s dynastic rule and stalled denuclearisation talks with the United States, issues in which Kim wields absolute authority.
With no details known about his young children, analysts say his sister and loyalists could form a regency until a successor is old enough to take over.
Speculation about Kim’s health first arose following his absence from the anniversary of the birthday of its founding father and Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, on April 15.
On April 12, North Korean state media reported that Kim Jong Un had visited an airbase and observed drills by fighter jets and attack aircraft.
Two days later North Korea launched multiple short-range anti-ship cruise missiles into the sea and Sukhoi jets fired air-to-surface missiles as part of military exercises.
The missile launches were part of the celebrations for Kim’s grandfather, Seoul officials said, but there was no North Korea state media report on his attendance or the tests.
Reporting from inside North Korea is notoriously difficult, especially on matters concerning the country’s leadership, given tight controls on information. There have been false and conflicting reports in the past on matters related to its leaders.
Kim is a third-generation hereditary leader who rules North Korea with an iron-fist, taking over the titles of head of state and commander in chief of the military since late 2011.
In recent years Kim has launched a diplomatic offensive to promote both himself as a world leader and his hermit kingdom, holding three meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, four with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and five with China’s President Xi Jinping.
He was the first North Korean leader to cross the border into South Korea to meet Moon in 2018. Both Koreas are technically still at war, as the Korean War of 1950-53 ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Kim has sought to have international sanctions against his country eased, but has refused to dismantle his nuclear weapons programme, a steadfast demand by the United States.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption Indore is a bustling commercial city
In early March, 40-year-old Ravi Dosi, a chest specialist in India, saw a baffling surge in patients with respiratory problems at outpatient clinics.
“There was almost a 50% jump in patients with upper respiratory issues and sore throat. They were not responding to antibiotics. Testing was still low and we didn’t really know what was going on,” Dr Dosi, who works at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences, a 1,156-bed private medical college in the central city of Indore, told me.
Less than a fortnight later, Dr Dosi began seeing an uptick in admissions of Covid-19 patients. Around the end of March, the hospital was receiving 28 infected patients every day.
They had dry cough, fever, and difficulty breathing. Their blood oxygen levels were low. They were reporting loss of taste and smell.
In the first wave of patients, nearly a dozen came from far-flung districts, more than 150km (93 miles) from Indore, a bustling commercial city in Madhya Pradesh state. The state has now become a hotspot, with nearly 400 confirmed infections out of the more than 6,400 infections and nearly 200 deaths across the country so far.
By the second week of April, Dr Dosi and his team of 100 doctors and nearly an equal number of nursing staff working 24/7 in three shifts, were treating 144 Covid-19 patients. (Thirty-one had been treated and sent home already.)
A total of 38 patients were in intensive care. Twenty-one of them were critical. There had been seven deaths. “We are handling the largest number of Covid-19 patients in India,” Vinod Bhandari, a surgeon and chairman of the hospital, told me.
Doctors now believe that the infection was spreading in the community long before the government admitted to it, and testing slowly ramped up. Until two weeks ago, Indian health authorities had been denying community transmission.
Image caption The hospital in Indore has more than 140 patients
Now a new study by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) using surveillance data from 41 labs in the country has hinted at community transmission: 52 districts in 20 states and union territories reported Covid-19 patients. Some 40% of the cases did not report any history of international travel or contact with a known case. (The survey was based on swabs collected from nearly 6,000 patients who tested positive between 15 February and 19 March.)
Back in the hospital in Indore, the doctors are battling the surge in infections.
Three isolation wards spread over two floors floors are stacked with patients. (The hospital has earmarked 525 beds for Covid-19 patients.) Isolation wards have younger patients with mild infection, while elderly patients with more severe symptoms are in intensive care. The oldest patient is a 95-year-old man, and the youngest is a four-month-old boy.
The team of doctors handling patients includes chest specialists, anaesthetists, microbiologists, and dermatologists. There are patients with a lot of underlying medical conditions – diabetes, hypertension, even cancer – so all the specialists have been called in to help with the treatment.
Dr Dosi wakes up early, puts on protective gear – scrubs, face masks and shields, N95 masks, gowns, double gloves and shoe covers – before going on his rounds of the patients. Doctors say they are not facing a shortage of gear yet.
They are using 22 ventilators to help the critical patients breathe, and also providing oxygen supplies to others using nasal cannulas (nose prongs).
In the isolation wards, patients are given oral medication – antibiotics and hydroxychloroquine (commonly known as HCQ), an anti-malarial drug – and directed to maintain social distancing and wash their hands regularly.
Image caption The isolation wards are packed with patients
“I have never seen a challenge and crisis like this in my career. I have heard stories about an outbreak of plague in Surat [in 1994]. But this seems to be much bigger. The biggest challenge is to keep hopes alive and be positive,” says Dr Dosi.
Keeping hopes up for patients in isolation can be taxing. Three tests, say doctors, are being done for the infection – if the first test comes out positive, the patient remains in isolation for two weeks, and is tested twice on two days after the quarantine period. If the last two tests come back negative, the patient is discharged. If not, the patient has to stay in isolation for another two weeks. “It is a tough grind, mentally,” says one doctor.
For the last three weeks, Dr Dosi has been living in the hospital, away from his wife, two sons and parents. His father is a retired pathologist. They communicate via hurried video calls, between his frantic trips to the isolation wards and intensive care.
I ask him when does he expect this to “get over”, so that he can go home.
“In a couple of weeks,” he says. “The lockdown should have helped to slow down the infection.”
Dr Dosi is alluding to the strict 21-day lockdown India imposed on 24 March to halt the spread of the infection.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption Health officials have been denying community transmission
Things are getting better, he says.
“I am getting 10 patients for admission in isolation wards, and two patients severe enough for intensive care every day now. Earlier this week, it was 50:50.”
It is possibly too early to hazard a guess about when admissions will slow down to single digits. As more people are tested, the number of patients can easily rise again.
It’s been unrelenting, Dr Dosi says.
Early, on Friday, I sent him a text to find out what was going on.
BEIJING, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) — Ask the silver-haired residents of the elderly care community Yinheyuan in central Beijing what they know about artificial intelligence (AI), and they will probably throw the question to the smart speakers within their reach.
These smart speakers, capable of interacting with users with voice-recognition technologies, are also part of the answer. Via voice command, senior residents can control lights, TVs and other home appliances, order food or ask for help.
AI is no longer a technical term used exclusively by professionals in China. Both young and old are enjoying the benefits of the growing smart economy.
After personal computers (PC), PC internet and mobile internet, the growth focus of China’s digital economy is shifting to smart technologies like AI, said Baidu Chairman and CEO Robin Li at the World Internet Conference in October.
In the smart economy era, Li predicted a declining reliance on cellphones and a rising popularity of other smart devices. AI chips, cloud computing services, among others, would become the new digital infrastructure, while innovative businesses will flourish as transport, health, education and other sectors go smart.
Wearable devices, smart home appliances, autonomous driving and smart cities are among the fastest-growing fields in the smart economy.
China is the largest smart speaker market in the world, accounting for 36 percent of global shipments in the third quarter of 2019, according to global market firm Strategy Analytics. It found in a July and August survey that 63 percent of Chinese people without a smart speaker planned to buy one within the following year. Another 22 percent planned to make a purchase later on.
Chinese firms are stepping up investment in 5G, AI and the Internet of Things to gain a foothold in the emerging field. By end-June, China had over 1,200 AI-related enterprises, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Baidu launched its autonomous driving open platform ApollBo in 2017 to coordinate cross-sector efforts in this field. It has launched several L4 autonomous driving vehicles in partnership with leading automobile companies, and a fleet of Apollo-powered robotaxis are now taking test runs in central China’s Changsha.
Nurturing a smart economy is also on the government agenda. China has passed a guideline to boost the integration of AI and the real economy this year, and plans to build some 20 national AI innovative development pilot zones by 2023.
The country’s AI sector is forecast to be worth more than 160 billion yuan (about 22.83 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020, spurring related sectors to exceed 1 trillion yuan, said Lin Nianxiu, deputy director with the National Development and Reform Commission, citing industrial data.
Lin said China would focus on 100 firms dedicated to AI technologies and relevant applications, improve the industrial ecosystem, facilitate the deep integration of AI and the real economy, and intensify its international collaboration on AI technology, standards, industries, laws and regulations and ethics.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang addresses the 22nd China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders’ meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 3, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)
BANGKOK, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday called on China and ASEAN to uphold multilateralism and free trade, resist risks and realize common development at the 22nd China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders’ meeting in Bangkok.
Since China and ASEAN established dialogue relations, they have brought benefits to each other and the wider region, Li said, adding that China always supports ASEAN’s central role in East Asian cooperation.
Noting that the mounting downward pressure on the global economy brings new severe challenges, Li said China and ASEAN countries should jointly uphold multilateralism and free trade, withstand risks and realize common development.
The premier said China and ASEAN countries should stick to the principle of shared benefits and win-win outcomes, and speed up the work to upgrade economic and trade cooperation.
He called for an early conclusion of the negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) so as to lay the foundation for East Asia’s economic integration, and the implementation of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area Upgrade Protocol to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.
Li said China and ASEAN countries should enhance strategic mutual trust and safeguard peace and stability in the region.
The Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea is an upgraded version of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). Last year, China proposed that all parties should try to finish the COC talks in three years. The first reading of the single draft negotiating text of the COC in the South China Sea has been completed ahead of schedule, and the second reading has been launched.
Li said he hopes all sides will actively carry forward the consultations according to the previously agreed timetable, meet each other halfway, and safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea.
The premier also said China and ASEAN countries need to carry forward their friendship from generation to generation, and stay ready to enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges in such areas as media, health, education and tourism.
China is willing to train 1,000 administrative health staff and technical professionals in the following three years for ASEAN and will support projects such as the China-ASEAN Young Leaders Scholarship, said the premier.
Stressing that China will unswervingly pursue the path of peaceful development and an opening-up strategy of mutual benefit, Li said China is willing to synergize the Belt and Road Initiative with the development strategies of ASEAN as a whole and its members as well.
He urged to accelerate the construction of the existing economic corridors, promote infrastructure connectivity cooperation, as well as support the building of the Brunei Darussalam Indonesia Malaysia Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area.
Li encouraged innovation cooperation in the areas including digital economy, artificial intelligence, big data and cyber security, and the establishment of a China-ASEAN partnership on blue economy to enhance maritime exchanges and cooperation.
Thailand’s Prime Minister, also the rotating chair of ASEAN, Prayut Chan-o-cha, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Brunei’s Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Myanmar’s State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen attended the meeting. Li and Prayut co-chaired the meeting.
At the meeting, ASEAN leaders expressed congratulations on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, saying that the ASEAN-China partnership is the most dynamic one in all the partnerships ASEAN has forged.
Speaking highly of the new cooperation progress over the past year, the leaders said their countries would like to take an active role in building the Belt and Road, expand cooperation in areas of inter-connectivity, science and technology innovation, e-commerce, smart cities and blue economy, and increase two-way investment.
They also expressed the hope that the ASEAN-China trade volume can exceed 1 trillion U.S. dollars at an early date.
The leaders also applauded the new progress made in the COC negotiation, saying that their countries would like to maintain the momentum and advance the process.
During the meeting, China and ASEAN agreed to make an action plan to implement The Joint Declaration on China-ASEAN Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity (2021-2025), issued statements on the Belt and Road Initiative, smart cities and media exchanges, and announced that the year 2020 will be the year of China-ASEAN digital economy cooperation.
Li arrived in Bangkok late on Saturday for an official visit to Thailand and a series of events including the 22nd China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders’ meeting, the 22nd ASEAN-China, Japan and South Korea (10+3) leaders’ meeting, and the 14th East Asia Summit.
People practice yoga at a park in New Delhi, India, June 21, 2019. TO GO WITH: Spotlight: Film, yoga, smartphone industries enhance China-India links (Xinhua/Zhang Naijie)
by Xinhua writers Chen Jian, Zhao Xu, Zhang Xingjun
CHENNAI, India, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) — “I would like to see a lot of collaboration between creative people from China and India, making stories that people from both countries would love to see,” said Bollywood star Aamir Khan before a film-promotion trip to China in early 2018.
As one of the most recognized Indian actors in China, Khan’s biographical sports film “Dangal” raked in nearly 1.3 billion yuan (190 million U.S. dollars) in the Chinese box office in 2017, making it the highest-grossing Indian film of all time in China.
Inspired by the real journey of an Indian wrestler, Khan acted the part of a strict father who turned his daughters into world-class athletes.
From “Dangal” and “Secret Superstar” to “Hichki” and “Thugs of Hindostan,” Bollywood hits have been immensely popular among Chinese moviegoers in recent years. Older generations were impressed by Indian films like “Awara” (1951) and “Caravan” (1971), which featured spectacular song-and-dance scenes.
Khan, who has visited China several times, said he felt Chinese and Indian people have many things in common. For example, both peoples attach great importance to family, he told Xinhua.
“Many people get to know a certain country through watching their movies. Through my work, quite a few foreign viewers start to know the sorrows and happiness of ordinary Indian people,” Khan said, adding that artists can help people with different cultural backgrounds understand each other.
Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji, whose Hindi comedy-drama film “Hichki” was screened in China last year, said Chinese audience watching her film with Chinese subtitles reacted similarly to Indian fans.
“You realize that you don’t have to know the language to connect with the film. I think that’s what makes movies so, so special … If the emotions are universal, it can connect anywhere,” she told Xinhua in an interview earlier this year.
In “Hichki,” Mukerji played the leading role of an aspiring teacher with Tourette Syndrome, who must prove herself by educating a group of underprivileged students.
Taking note of Bollywood’s developed industrial system and China’s huge film market, the Indian actress is also looking forward to India-China film co-productions.
“I am actually very keen to do India-China co-productions where I can be part of a Chinese film or Chinese actors can be part of Indian films,” she said.
YOGA IN CHINA
Before Yu Songsong, a young man from southwest China’s Guizhou Province, started to practice yoga, he knew little about India, where the practice originated.
Having spent the last six years learning yoga, he is attracted by the yoga culture and eager to travel to India.
Yu used to suffer from an emotional disorder. “It was yoga that turned me around. I was no longer lost. I’ve found a direction for my life,” he said.
Yu started to practice yoga when he was a freshman and became a vegetarian. “The physical and mental practices relieved me of psychological distress,” he said.
Through yoga, Yu is engaging in a comparative study in the philosophies of China and India, two ancient civilizations in the world.
“In the class, we discuss and compare the traditional Chinese theory that ‘man is an integral part of nature’ and the Indian idea that ‘the Buddha and I are one.’ Through this, we explore the similarities that underline the culture and civilizations of the two countries,” he said.
The China-India Yoga College, established at Kunming’s Yunnan Minzu University in June 2015, is China’s first yoga college. Fifty branches are planned to be opened in China’s major cities in the next three to five years, and are attracting batches of Indian yoga teachers to China, with 38-year-old Subbulakshmi Velusamy being one of them.
Velusamy arrived in Kunming in late 2015 and quickly adapted to the climate and life there. She said the local diet is light, which is very palatable to yoga practitioners and vegetarians.
Velusamy said teaching yoga in Yunnan was a wonderful experience as the Chinese people around her were very helpful and kind.
“They often chat with me after class and invite me to parties,” she told Xinhua in an earlier interview.
Velusamy said she was eager to learn about the ancient Chinese civilization. At the same time she introduced yoga to more Chinese as a unique and valuable Indian cultural asset.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played a significant role in spreading yoga at home and abroad. He was instrumental in urging the United Nations to mark June 21 as International Yoga Day.
“Beyond exercise and health, yoga is about life, self-awareness and a connection with your soul. So I expect my students to understand their consciousness in today’s technologically-driven world,” said Rama Rathore, a yoga trainer in New Delhi.
CHINESE SMARTPHONE BRANDS
Smartphones are becoming easily available to everyone thanks to their affordable prices. With the exploding growth of Internet data usage and its access across the country, millions of Indians are now connected with the world thanks to their smartphones.
“It is the people’s window to the world and the growth opportunity in this sector is huge,” said Saifi Ali, a head researcher associated with a leading telecom operator located in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi.
“India has overtaken the United States in the smartphone market,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chinese smartphone brands, such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, have been successful in India’s fast growing market, according to global market research firm Canalys.
Xiaomi has been the leading smartphone brand in India for eight consecutive quarters, with a 28.3-percent market share for the second quarter of this year.
Xiaomi has become the first brand in India to sell more than 100 million smartphones within a span of five years, since the company began operations in the country in 2014.
Jobs and technical training provided by the Chinese companies have helped many Indian workers to enhance their technical skills and earn good money.
Neeraj Sharma, 25, is an Indian employee at MCM, a Noida-based Chinese company of smart terminal equipment. Sharma said he has learned a lot from the company and his technical skills have also improved.
“From here I started learning practical knowledge. Everything I know about the technology we are using here for SMT (Surface Mount Technology) and also in assembly is from this company. I started from the very lowest designation and right now I am working as a floor-in-charge there,” he told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Thanks to his stable income from MCM, Sharma, who is from the northern Uttar Pradesh state, has fulfilled his dream of buying a house in Noida, outside New Delhi.
“I came here, so at that time I had planned to buy a house here for my family. Right now I have already bought a small house. Maybe further in the future I will have a flat,” he said.
Indians across the country celebrated the fifth international yoga day on Friday.
Temperatures are soaring in many cities, including the capital Delhi, but that didn’t stop people from gathering outdoors and stretching and bending their way through at least an hour of yoga.
And everyone joined in – even the dog unit of the Indian army!
Image copyright @SPOKESPERSONMOD/TWITTER
The Indo-Tibetan border police – and their dogs and horses – were not about to be outdone. They practised what they called yoga, doga and hoga.
And they were luckier than many of their counterparts – they got to practise their yoga in cooler climes, along India’s scenic Himalayan border.
Image copyrightI TBPOFFICIAL
Among those who did yoga in more hostile climates were the armed forces on board the naval aircraft carrier INS Viraat which is docked off the coastline of sweltering Mumbai city.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
In Gujarat, the soldiers got a little more creative with their yoga.
A yoga teacher clad in white robes and often seen meditating on the banks of the Ganges is the latest to join the billionaires club in India.
But Acharya Balkrishna is no ordinary yoga teacher. He controls Patanjali Ayurved Ltd., the consumer-products company founded by his guru, Baba Ramdev, and whose Ayurvedic soaps, shampoos and food supplements are increasingly becoming staples in middle-class Indian homes. Indians’ craze for the company’s Ayurvedic formulations has seen Mr. Acharya’s net worth skyrocket to $3.8 billion, according to Hurun’s India Rich List for 2016. That puts him at number 25 in Hurun’s list of richest Indians, ahead of industrialists like Ratan Tata, Adi Godrej and Anand Mahindra.
Such is the demand for Patanjali, which sells creams, cleaners and hair conditioners rooted in Ayurveda, India’s traditional system of medicine, that the world’s biggest consumer-products makers are tweaking their products to compete. India’s traditional system of medicine encourages therapies like yoga and believes everything from the common cold to diabetes can be fixed by certain herbs, foods and oils.
Colgate Palmolive last month launched a toothpaste flavored with basil, clove and lemon. L’Oréal SA in June launched a new range of shampoos infused with eucalyptus, green tea and henna, an Indian herb Patanjali also packs in its shampoo. Unilever PLC recently purchased an Ayurvedic hair-care company.
Mr. Balkrishna is a reclusive figure next to Mr. Ramdev, one of India’s best-known yoga teachers who founded Patanjali in 2006 and has since transformed it into a multi-million dollar consumer goods empire. Mr. Balkrishna controls the business because Mr. Ramdev has sworn off most trappings of wealth.
Messrs. Ramdev and Balkrishna are regularly seen practicing yoga on the banks of the Ganges in Haridwar, the Hindu holy city where Patanjali is based and where they run an ashram.
Ayurveda has produced other billionaires, too. The Burman family which runs Dabur India, another consumer-goods maker that draws inspiration from traditional Indian medicine, is 13th on Hurun’s India rich list.
Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, is the richest Indian with a net worth of $24 billion. Dilip Shanghvi, who heads generics-drug maker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, is second with $18 billion in his kitty.
India’s lack of toilets and poor access to sanitation are holding back its children, causing stunted growth and curbing their development, a new report says.
Is India Winning the Fight Against Childhood Malnutrition?
Why Is Indian Children’s Growth So Stunted? It’s Not Why You ThinkT
he country has more than 48 million under fives with impaired growth, the largest number in the world, the report from London-based international development charity WaterAid said.
India also has 774 million people without access to adequate sanitation, and 76 million without safe water, the report said.
Children who are stunted because of malnutrition tend to be shorter and lag behind their peers cognitively. Poor access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene cause diarrhea and expose children to other intestinal infections during the crucial first two years of life.
Around 140,000 under-fives die in India every year because of diarrhea and other diseases caused by lack of access to these basic services, the report said.
Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has said in the past that he would rather build toilets than temples — setting a goal for every home in the country to have a place to go to the bathroom by 2019. But the program has suffered challenges: some Indians prefer to relieve themselves outdoors.
India is making some progress, however. The report said the percentage of its children who were stunted reduced from 48% in 2006 to 39% in 2014, the year Mr. Modi came to power.
Pakistan, India’s closest neighbor, ranked third with more than 9.8 million children who are stunted, according to the WaterAid study.
A year after the first International Day of Yoga was celebrated the world over, yoga enthusiasts were back again Tuesday morning lunging forward, raising and stretching their arms, and slowly inhaling and exhaling.
The day was introduced when Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi successfully lobbied the United Nations to dedicate 24 hours to the ancient discipline in September 2013.This year, Mr. Modi joined thousands of people in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh as they pulled their mats out for a massive demonstration. World over, 173 countries will celebrate the discipline Tuesday.
“We are disconnected from ourselves in today’s times. Yoga helps us reconnect with ourselves,” Mr. Modi said, addressing participants at his event.
On Monday, Mr. Modi also released a set of commermorative postal stamps showing the various steps of the “surya namaskar,” or sun salutation.In India’s capital city, President Pranab Mukherjee conducted a Yoga class at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, his residence-cum-office located in the heart of Delhi.
Images of different Yoga postures were displayed at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York in the build up to Yoga Day.
“Practicing yoga can help raise awareness of our role as consumers of the planet’s resources and as individuals with a duty to respect and live in peace with our neighbours,” said Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General.
While India has dramatically reduced its rate of child malnutrition, a new report points to the increasing burden of diabetes in the world’s second most populous country.
According to the 2016 Global Nutrition Report released Tuesday, India is reducing childhood stunting at double the rate it was a decade ago. Stunting, or low height for age, is caused by insufficient nutrient intake and frequent infections.
“That is highly significant given that India is home to more than one-third of the world’s stunting children,” the study said.
However, the country is facing a new health issue. India has a 9.5% prevalence of diabetes, putting it ahead of the U.K., with 7.8%, and the U.S., with 8.4%, the report showed.
Experts say the high sugar and trans-fat diet Indians consume are a key cause of the growing occurrence of diabetes, which is caused by a deficiency or inability of the body to effectively use insulin. Genetic factors and environmental influences exacerbate the issue.
In April, the WHO said that in India, more men die from diabetes than in any other country. The condition accounted for 2% of all deaths across age groups in India.
As a region, Asia has the highest prevalence of the condition, according to the Global Nutrition Report. Globally, one in 12 people have type 2 diabetes, the report said.“We must stem and tide,” Corinna Hawkes, co-chair of the Global Nutrition Report’s independent expert group said in a statement.
India also has a way to go to reduce stunting. India has the 18th highest prevalence, 38.7% among children under five, of 137 countries included in the Global Nutrition Report. That rate is down from 47.9% recorded a year earlier.
Indian states must set specific targets to help them meet global nutrition goals, while the federal government should devote $6 billion a year to combat nutrition, 13% more than it currently does, the report said.“At current rates of decline, India will achieve the current stunting rates of Ghana or Togo by 2030 and that of China by 2055,” the report said.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 
South Korea, China cast doubt on reports North Korean leader Kim gravely ill
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean and Chinese officials on Tuesday cast doubt on reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was ill after media outlets said he had undergone a cardiovascular procedure and was in “grave danger”.
Daily NK, a Seoul-based speciality website, reported late on Monday, citing one unnamed source in North Korea, that Kim was recovering after undergoing the procedure on April 12. The North Korean leader is believed to be about 36.
CNN cited a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the matter as saying Washington was “monitoring intelligence” that Kim was in grave danger after surgery. Bloomberg quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying the White House was told that Kim took a turn for the worse after the surgery.
However, two South Korean government officials rejected the CNN report without elaborating on whether Kim had undergone surgery. The presidential Blue House said there were no unusual signs coming from the reclusive, nuclear-capable state.
Kim is the unquestioned leader of North Korea and the sole commander of its nuclear arsenal. He has no clear successor and any instability in the country could be a major international risk.
RELATED COVERAGE
The state KCNA news agency gave no indication of the whereabouts of Kim in routine dispatches on Tuesday, but said he had sent birthday gifts to prominent citizens.
An official at the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department, which deals with North Korea, told Reuters the source did not believe Kim was critically ill. China is North Korea’s only major ally.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing was aware of reports about the health of Kim, but said it does not know their source, without commenting on whether it has any information about the situation.
South Korean shares exposed to North Korea tumbled and the Korean won fell on the reports. The won traded down more than 1% against the dollar even as South Korean government sources said Kim was not gravely ill.
U.S. stock futures were trading 0.5% lower, but it was not clear how much of that weakness was owing to the collapse in U.S. oil prices and consequent concerns over global demand.
Daily NK said Kim had been admitted to hospital on April 12, just hours before the cardiovascular procedure, as his health had deteriorated since August due to heavy smoking, obesity and overwork.
It said he was now receiving treatment at a villa in the Mount Myohyang resort north of the capital Pyongyang.
“My understanding is that he had been struggling (with cardiovascular problems) since last August but it worsened after repeated visits to Mount Paektu,” a source was quoted as saying, referring to the country’s sacred mountain.
Accompanied by senior North Korean figures, Kim took two well-publicised rides on a stallion on the snowy slopes of the mountain in October and December.
KIM’S HEALTH KEY TO STABILITY
An authoritative U.S. source familiar with internal U.S. government reporting on North Korea questioned the CNN report that Kim was in “grave danger”.
“Any credible direct reporting having to do with Kim would be highly compartmented intelligence and unlikely to leak to the media,” a Korea specialist working for the U.S. government said on condition of anonymity.
Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, declined to comment on the reports of Kim’s health.
“We are regularly gathering and analysing information about North Korea with great concern,” he said. “We will keep gathering and analysing information regarding North Korea by collaborating with other countries such as the U.S.”
Kim’s potential health issues could fuel uncertainty over the future of the reclusive state’s dynastic rule and stalled denuclearisation talks with the United States, issues in which Kim wields absolute authority.
With no details known about his young children, analysts say his sister and loyalists could form a regency until a successor is old enough to take over.
Speculation about Kim’s health first arose following his absence from the anniversary of the birthday of its founding father and Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, on April 15.
On April 12, North Korean state media reported that Kim Jong Un had visited an airbase and observed drills by fighter jets and attack aircraft.
Two days later North Korea launched multiple short-range anti-ship cruise missiles into the sea and Sukhoi jets fired air-to-surface missiles as part of military exercises.
The missile launches were part of the celebrations for Kim’s grandfather, Seoul officials said, but there was no North Korea state media report on his attendance or the tests.
Reporting from inside North Korea is notoriously difficult, especially on matters concerning the country’s leadership, given tight controls on information. There have been false and conflicting reports in the past on matters related to its leaders.
Kim is a third-generation hereditary leader who rules North Korea with an iron-fist, taking over the titles of head of state and commander in chief of the military since late 2011.
In recent years Kim has launched a diplomatic offensive to promote both himself as a world leader and his hermit kingdom, holding three meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, four with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and five with China’s President Xi Jinping.
He was the first North Korean leader to cross the border into South Korea to meet Moon in 2018. Both Koreas are technically still at war, as the Korean War of 1950-53 ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Kim has sought to have international sanctions against his country eased, but has refused to dismantle his nuclear weapons programme, a steadfast demand by the United States.
Source: Reuters
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