Maharashtra: Heat stroke claimed 25 lives, mercury crossed 45 degrees in many areas

Health department data shows that more than 374 cases of heat stroke have been registered in March and April.

So far 25 people have lost their lives due to heat stroke in Maharashtra this year . This is the highest number of deaths in the last six years. Health department data shows that more than 374 cases of heat stroke have been reported in March and April, although experts say the actual number may be much higher.

The death toll due to heat stroke is highest in Vidarbha region, where 15 people have lost their lives due to the scorching heat. There have been 11 deaths in Vidarbha's Nagpur, 3 in Akola and one in Amravati.

After this, there have been six deaths in Marathwada and four in Jalgaon in North Maharashtra. Two deaths have occurred in Jalna of Marathwada, while one each has occurred in Aurangabad, Hingoli, Osmanabad and Parbhani. Nagpur division has the highest number of 295 heat stroke cases.

The mercury has also crossed 45 degree Celsius in some areas of Vidarbha including Nagpur. In the month of April, the name of Chandrapur was recorded as the fifth hottest city in the world. The mercury had gone up to 46.4 degree Celsius in Chandrapur. In Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, especially in Chandrapur, Akola, Yavatmal, Wardha, Yavatmal, Brahmapuri, Amravati, the mercury has reached above 45 degree Celsius.

The temperature in North Maharashtra, Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada also reached 42 degrees to 44 degrees Celsius. The temperature in most of the districts of Maharashtra was recorded above 40 degree Celsius in the month of April.

No death toll from heat stroke has been reported in Maharashtra in the last two years. Nine deaths were reported in the year 2019.

Let us tell you that heat stroke is a severe heat related emergency, which occurs when your body becomes unable to regulate its internal temperature after being exposed to heat.

Financial Times: Beijing summons foreign bank executives to discuss how to deal with financial sanctions

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is subject to international sanctions, which has made China a warning. Chinese financial regulators have invited bank executives to discuss how to protect overseas assets from U.S.-led sanctions similar to those of Russia, according to the Financial Times. The analysis points to the reason for this discussion being directed at China's invasion of Taiwan.

According to the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter, China is concerned that in the event of a regional military conflict or other crisis, European and American countries may impose the same sanctions on Beijing as Russia.

So on the 22nd of last month, China held an internal meeting that included officials from the People's Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance, as well as executives from dozens of local and international banks, including HSBC. All major domestic and foreign banks operating in China were represented at the meeting, the Chinese Ministry of Finance said at the meeting.

"The Xi administration has been wary of the ability of the United States and its allies to freeze the dollar assets of the Russian central bank," a senior Treasury official said.

Officials and attendees gave no specifics, but said a possible trigger for such sanctions was China's invasion of Taiwan, the report said. China has long maintained that Taiwan is part of China and has threatened to use force against it.

"If China attacks Taiwan, the decoupling of China's economy from the West will be much worse than that of Russia, because China's economic footprint touches every corner of the world," said one participant.

Senior regulators, including China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Yi Huiman and former chairman Xiao Gang, asked the bankers present how to protect the Chinese state's overseas assets, "especially its $320 million in foreign exchange reserves."

"No one at the scene could come up with a good solution to the problem," said another person briefed on the meeting, the report said. "China's banking system is not ready to freeze its dollar assets or exclude them from the SWIFT system, as the US did with Russia."

However, China's status as the world's second-largest economy, large holdings of dollar assets and close trade ties with the United States, some bankers present doubted Washington's ability to sever economic ties with China.

“It’s very difficult for the U.S. to impose large-scale sanctions on China,” said Andrew Collier, managing director of Orient Capital Research in Hong Kong. “It’s like mutually assured destruction in a nuclear war.”

China's growing military and economy China assesses when it's best to act

Zheng Zhengbing, a professor at the Department of Finance of Yunlin University of Science and Technology, analyzed in an interview with this station that at the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, China was a little bit lost. Because Western countries led by the United States imposed a series of sanctions against Russia such as SWIFT bans and asset freezes to frighten China, China then decided to adopt a neutral and independent position, not entirely in favor of Russia.

He analyzed that the United States is alert to China's continued development, and the ability of the United States to deter China will gradually weaken in 5-10 years. And China is also aware that there are many signs that, regardless of whether there is substantial support for Russia, the United States will sanction China through military alliances or Western economic alliances. If the SWIFT system is involved, these major banks are the key.

"In China, we need to consider whether he will do it now or in 5-10 years, which has a higher success rate. Now it is not just the opinions of a few people in China. Their decision-making authorities already know that this possibility is getting higher and higher." Zheng Zhengbing said .

Nihon Keizai Shimbun and the Japan Economic Research Center have estimated the effect of sanctions on Russia's trade a few days ago. If Russia cannot export any goods, it will lose up to about 460 billion US dollars equivalent to 30% of its nominal gross domestic product (GDP).

The importance of military crimes against Taiwan consolidating historical positioning overwhelms the bitter fruit of sanctions

If China invades Taiwan and the same sanctions are imposed on China, will China be able to bear it?  

Mr. Ren, a financial and economic scholar in Jiangsu who requested anonymity, told this station that if Xi Jinping wants to attack Taiwan, think from his point of view, what sanctions are? After the June 4th crackdown, foreign countries still came to China to invest again, and the closure was at most 3-5 years, or even 8 or 10 years. China would not be afraid at all.

Mr. Ren: "If Taiwan can be taken down, during my tenure, I will be famous in China and in the CCP, and no one will be able to push me down, because Taiwan was taken back under my rule."

He explained that it is the common people who suffer from sanctions and blockades. As long as he wins Taiwan, Xi Jinping's position in the party will be more consolidated, so why should he be afraid of blockades? The outside world understands the CCP from the perspective of democracy and freedom. The CCP and the outside world are completely two systems, and they have nothing in common with each other. Western countries may find it embarrassing to be sanctioned and boycotted at the United Nations, but China doesn't care, and Putin doesn't care either.

"If it seems scary from the perspective of economic sanctions, we see two phenomena. First, Russia doesn't seem to be frightened; second, Russia doesn't, and China theoretically won't be frightened." Zheng Zhengbing also holds the same point of view.

Zheng Zhengbing believes that if there is a war in the Taiwan Strait, the alliance between China and Russia, the third world countries along the Belt and Road, and many countries in Southeast Asia, China is not all weak, so China is likely to take a gamble.