Today being world Earth Day, its only fit we discuss the next big environmental crisis to hit Asia - e-waste or electronic waste. With consumerism on the rise, the rate at which we buy and dispose off mobile phones, Tv’s, laptops, PC’s, refrigerators etc is only making the problem of e-waste worse for Asia.

The star.com reported that despite international agreements that prohibit the import and export of hazardous waste, shipments of broken electronic devices continue to pour into the harbours of Kenya, India and China.The reason is strictly financial. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates it’s up to 10 times cheaper to export e-waste than to dispose of it domestically.

About 150,000 people are employed by the e-waste industry in Guiyu, China, and 25,000 more work in the scrapyards of New Delhi, India. The gold, silver, copper, aluminum and other metals salvaged become a vital resource for the manufacturing of new items. A typical wage for the arduous, dangerous work is $2 to $4 a day.

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Numbers: (1680,299)

If its not politicians and huge trade volumes that bond countries in Asia, its got to be films.

After 43 years of not a single Pakistani film being screened in India, Shoaib Mansoor directed “Khuda Kay Liye” (“In the Name of God”) was released to rave reviews in India. Its the first Pakistani film to have crossed the border since the India-Pakistan war in 1965, when Pakistani films were banned in India. 

The effect has been a cultural two-way mirror dividing the countries, with Pakistan able to observe India (or a gaudier Bollywood version of India), but with Indians unable to see beyond their own frontiers.

The film gives many Indians their first glimpse of Pakistan.  In a New York Times interview after the first screening of his film in India, Mansoor said “They had very surprising ideas about Pakistan. They asked: ‘Do you have taxis there?’ ‘Can women drive?’ ‘Are women allowed to go to university?’ Besides the initial shock of Pakistans development, the viewers were also amazed by the unexpected beauty of Pakistani houses 

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In its latest world economic outlook growth estimates, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the first time has used Purchasing Popwer Parity (PPP) exchange rates to measure world GDP and contribution to global GDP by individual countries.

As a result it reduced India’s contribution to world GDP in PPP terms from 6.4 percent in 2007 to 4.6 percent.  Similarly, it cut China’s share in world GDP from 15.8 percent to 10.8 percent. Consequently, U.S. contribution to world GDP has been revised upwards from 19.3 percent in 2007 to 21.4 percent. Global growth has also been revised from 5.2 percent in 2007 to 4.9 percent due to the PPP weights, according to a report in Business Standard.  

The new measurement method is the result of  a comprehensive survey by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other development banks in various countries in 2005. The survey found that the contribution by countries like China and India to world GDP has been overstated, Joshua Felman, senior resident representative of IMF in India said.

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Numbers: (4.4,4.5)

43 years after India and Bangladesh snapped rail ties, the two nations bridged the gap, by resuming train services between Kolkata and Dhaka yesterday, marking the begining of the Bengali new year. The train, named ‘Maitree’ or friendship in Bengali, will ply between Kolkata on India’s eastern seafront and Dhaka the capital of Bagladesh, a distance of 406 kms. The train is expected to help rebuild ties with India’s neighbor to the east, Bangladesh (earstwhile East Pakistan), just as the Samjhauta (Hindi for understanding) Express did in the west, with Pakistan last year.

At least 10,000 people braved hot and humid weather to “welcome the passengers with flower petals and bouquets as they arrived,” Bangladesh Railways chief commercial manager Abdul Haq told the AFP.

While pasenger train links between the two countries were suspended following the India-China war in 1965, cargo links continued, and in the 1990s a passenger bus service was launched between Dhaka and Kolkata.

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Asian economists walking the tight rope between inflation and development, are finding it extrememly difficult to keep their balance of late.

Consumer prices are on a 26 year high in Singapore, 12 year high in China, and a 4 year high in India. Inflation has has grown 20 percent since last year in Vietnam and 8 percent in Indonesia. To  add to Asia’s spiralling woes, General Electric (GE), a bellweather of the U.S. and global economies, underlined the risks to growth, confirming a slow down in the U.S markets, leading to a fall in Asian exports to the west.

In addition, India and China’s vast populations are now becoming richer fuelling demand for urban goods, meat and dairy products.  Western subsidies for biofuels and global warming are also changing the food equation. 

Asian governments on their part are pulling all the stops to reign in food and energy inflation and ride growth. While governments have been implementing trade and fiscal measures, central banks are soaking up liquidity and letting exchange rates appreciate. 

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The Philippine-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has warned that the price of rice will continue to surge because demand surpasses supply. According to sources, rice prices have hiked up by 70 percent in the past year with more price increases happening in recent weeks.

In Asia, rice producing countries that include India, China, Indonesia, and Vietnam have already started implementing restrictions on rice exports.

“Longer term demand-supply imbalance is clearly indicated by depletion of stock that has been going on for several years,” said Sushil Pandey, an agricultural economist at the IRRI told the BBC.

She added, “We have been consuming more than what we have been producing and research to increase rice productivity is needed to address this imbalance.”

IRRI explained that a number of factors led to the increase in rice prices: land previously used for producing rice being converted for industrial and urban uses, Asia’s burgeoning urban middle class most notably in India and China with an increased demand for the grain, and decreased rice production due to extreme weather conditions in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and China. Other sources also cite the strain of rice cartels that have been hoarding the grain to exploit the market once prices increase. (more…)

India, the world’s software hub ranks seven places ahead of China, the world’s hardware hub, according to the Global Information Technology Report 2007-08, released by the World Economic Forum. However, while India slipped four places this year to rank 50th, China improved its position by five places to rech 57. The report ranks 157 countries according to their ability to benefit economically from new information and communications technology.

Amongst the Asian nations, Korea ranked the best - at 9th place, up 10 places from last year. Other Asian economies featured in the top 20 are: Singapore (fifth), Hong Kong (11th), Australia (14th), Taiwan (17th), and Japan (19th). 

The failure of India and China to make it to the top 20 is mainly on account of their poor infrastructure for information and communication technologies (ICTs), Irene Mia, senior economist of the Global Competitiveness Network at the WEF and co-editor of the report told Indiatimes.  
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Numbers: (50,26)