Climate change is now killing people, their livelihood, ecosystem, biodiversity, houses, businesses and livestock in developed countries also. A whole host of European countries like Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Greece and a few others are recording highest ever temperatures in their history. On 19th July, Britain broke its record for highest temperature with 40.3 degrees Celsius and France recorded 40.5 degree Celsius. Temperatures hit 47 degree Celsius in Portugal last week amid the harshest heat wave, searing swaths of Europe. In several other countries of the continent too, temperatures are hovering around 40 degree Celsius and causing unprecedented problems to the people, who otherwise are accustomed to living in temperate conditions. Extreme heat is proving to be deadly especially for the vulnerable group of people like elderly, small children, those with preexisting medical conditions and the people with little or no access to cooling. Portugal has reported over one thousand deaths due to the heat-wave till date.

In Europe, people normally don’t need an AC as the temperature remains moderate even during summer, hence they are unprepared for the onslaught of extreme heat conditions. For example, in Britain, estimatedly only about 3% of homes have AC. In that case, the tormenting heat wave causes much trouble to the people, particularly when it remains high during night, depriving them of much need respite. In the wake of extreme heat conditions, Britain triggered a national emergency alert with met scientists blaming climate change and wildfires for the situation. The situations become much worrying as meteorologists predict hotter days ahead with frequent episodes of extreme weather conditions as wildfires start very easily and spread rapidly when conditions are hotter.

Massive wild fires in France, Greece, Portugal, Spain and in some parts of Britain, have already destroyed thousands of hectares of land, forcing thousands of residents to flee to safer places. Extreme heat conditions are displacing people in thousands in southern France, Spain, Portugal and other countries with at least 28,000 evacuated in France alone. Efforts are on to quell the fire, however, the burning blazes are too difficult to be controlled, putting even several apartments on the highest state of alert. Soaring temperatures are causing grass fires in several countries and cities including London, one of the financial capitals of the world. In certain parts of Britain, people have been asked not to travel unless absolutely necessary as the extreme heat has started disturbing rail, air and bus services and disrupting power supplies also. Flights from London were temporarily disrupted and diverted after searing temperatures caused a small section of the runway to lift.

Environmentalists across the globe say, the crushing heat is largely being caused by climate change, which is fairly coupled by the wild fire in some parts of the globe. The air mass responsible for this extreme situation in Europe, is said have been originated in northwest Africa with a heat dome and an area of low pressure. Successive researches also show that certain heat extremes would not have been possible if we had taken the required initiatives well in time. Human caused climate change is now costing us dearly. Warmer temperatures over time change weather patterns and disrupt the usual balance of nature, besides posing many risks to human beings by increasing heat related illnesses, making it difficult to work and move around. Climate changes also seriously affect other forms of life on the Earth. Major parts of the globe are now seeing more hot days and heat waves with 2020 being one of the hottest years on record. Hence, it is now or never for us to wake up to the environmental realities.

Few years back, the entire world experienced the tremors of the bad impacts of the US-China trade tussle. This was followed by COVID-19 Pandemic and then the Ukraine-Russia Crisis. These instances are clear indication that any deviation from the Path of ‘Sustainability, growth and Peace’ is going to lead the world towards damage and disruption. The 21st century World order thus has some very serious lessons to impart to the mankind and that is understanding the reality, potential and practicality of the changing times and keeping focus on maintaining a multi-polar world order.

This makes keeping a watch on China highly imperative. When China says it will beat America in ‘space race’ also with its scientific adventures, many may disbelieve terming it a bombastic statement of sort, however Dragon has often taken the world aback by doing something which no one had earlier anticipated. Getting the facts straight, China- presently the second biggest economy of the world, plans to fly to the Mars in late 2028 to collect rock samples and then delivering them back to the earth by 2031, which is two years ahead of NASA and the European Space Agency, which jointly have planned on a multi-year mission for the red planet. It sufficiently reflects how US-China rivalry appears to be cranking up in space missions also, where Dragon now appears to be romping ahead.

Besides, it is also important to take in note China’s continuous thrust on tech-based undertakings which it may very likely be using in its economic, strategic, and even geopolitical expansion. China launched the world’s first AI-operated crewless ‘mother ship’. This unmanned carrier is capable of launching dozens of drones. The ship named ‘Zhu Hai Yun,’ has been described as epoch making as the world’s first artificial intelligence driven vessel navigates autonomously. Though, China has claimed that the ship would collect relevant data and contribute to disaster mitigation and environmental monitoring only, apprehensions are that the drone mothership could also be used to gather intelligence inputs in the contested zones for military purpose. This must not go unnoticed in a world that often irks on the growing military assertiveness of China around and beyond its territory. The disputes regarding its growing influence in the South China Sea, Tibetan territory, Doklam, Indian Ocean, Siachen, Senkaku Islands etc.

As suggested by the top strategic masters, China’s scientific ventures could be a precursor to a greater and stealthier military plan as information collection systems often have multiple use applications, helping in various ways including enhancing China’s military capabilities through surveillance and data collections. Being the world’s biggest shipbuilder, China already has ambitions to be a maritime super power, which it has reflected not vaguely on many occasions. China’s economic prowess does help it to invest considerable resources into various unmanned platforms like drones and autonomous vehicles with an objective to strengthen its navy. This puts other world powers like US, some within the EU, Japan, etc. to ramp up intelligence, defence capabilities, technology, strategic cooperation, and strong economic cover.

Besides, Pentagon is lagging behind in a new technology called ‘hypersonic weapon’ that China has demonstrated in a space launch and Russia has already used it during its ongoing conflict with Ukraine. The Pentagon has accepted that nation’s first operational hypersonic weapon is late by a year under the new schedule. This weapon is very important as it is very hard to track and destroy it, as it flies five times the speed of sound and can also be maneuvered as per the need of the moment. America’s Lockheed missile has been reported to have failed three consecutive booster motor tests last year, forcing the first test of the entire missile shifting to the end of this year.

Moreover, US and China have perennially been fighting geopolitically, ideologically and economically for decades, however, this new dimension, which is space, is something that the United States has always dominated, but the way things appear to be going on with both countries, China may march ahead its top rival as is also the case in economic competence. This needs to be taken very seriously for nations at individual level as well as on multilateral platforms when consider economic and diplomatic ties.

The ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, restricting the food exports from these countries besides giving a sharp rise to inflation, has worsened the already nagging food crisis in dozens of developing countries of the world. The situation has pushed the Food and Agriculture Organization’s ‘Food Price Index’ to an all-time high since the index began in 1990. According to the recent ‘2022 Global Report on Food Crises’, hunger levels had surpassed all previous records in 2021 itself, throwing around 19.3 crore people in acute food insecurity with Ukraine conflict, disrupted supply chains, Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, social and political unrests and instability and pests being the main drivers. The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have further warned that this acute food crisis could worsen during June, 2022 to September, 2022 in 20 countries or so.

Recent surveys by the World Bank in 83 countries are equally alarming, which suggest a significant number of people are running out of food. These surveys also show that a good number of people are forced to reduce their food consumption and reduced calorie intake in the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, which also indicates to the worsening health crisis that could have lasting impacts on the cognitive development of lakhs of children globally.

Inflation continues to rise across the globe with majority of the countries experiencing high food prices. According to the World Banks’s April 2022 Commodity Markets Outlook, as on June 16, 2022, the global agricultural price index is 14% higher compared to January 2022 and maize and wheat prices are 27% and 37% higher respectively compared to January 2022. The Ukraine conflict has further altered global patterns of trade, production and consumptions of commodities that may keep prices at historically high levels through the year of 2024, exacerbating the food inflation and food crisis.

Rising food prices have a serious impact on especially the people belonging to low and middle income countries as they spend a significant part of their income on food than high rich countries. Higher prices of energy and fertilizers along with trade and supply disruptions owing to the shutting down of major ports, may further worsen the situations.

However, India appears to be in a comfortable position. In recent years, the present government at the Centre has brought into action several ground breaking measures and methods for faster and more inclusive growth of farmers. The measures including land reforms, soil testing, augmenting water availability, agriculture productivity, credit and insurance, food security, crop insurance and farmers competitiveness, which have resulted in augmented food production. India- the world’s second largest producer of the grain has had five consecutive years of record harvests of wheat till 2021. As per the second advance estimates for 2021-22, total Food-grains production in the country is estimated at record 316.06 million tones, which is higher by 5.32 million tonnes than the production of food-grain during 2020-21.

The 16th-century economy experienced the most remarkable changes perhaps in the field of Global banking and finance. Through letters of exchange drawn on the various bourses that were growing throughout Europe, bankers were able to mobilize capital in fabulous amounts. This way, the otherwise resource-starving economies of Europe were able to setup global empires due to innovations and advancements in banking. This led to exponential growth of western European economies even in modern times after WW II. Similar bright fate was expected even in the ‘now prevalent’ digital era. To be fair, these economies have been doing well but India seems to have leapfrogged in adopting digital economy, especially under the leadership of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his drive for Digital India.

Recent data has revealed that in May 2022, UPI recorded transactions worth Rs. Rs 10.4 lakh cr. The growth has been so tremendous that within just the first five months of 2022, the platform has crossed almost 80% of transaction volume of 2021. And as UPI makes entry in to the European Union Market, it will further log phenomenal growth. EU’s acceptance to UPI as a legitimate payments mode has paved a way for India to explore similar opportunities in many other nations across the globe. The expansion is inevitable because of the agility, reliability and instant ease that UPI can provide. Apart from EU, UPI Global is already live in Nepal, UAE, Singapore and Bhutan, while the NPCI International is also in talks to extend UPI services in the United States and Western Asia.

Another fact worth taking note of is that before the indigenously-developed UPI payments method, the country had high dependence on foreign payments platforms. Such a reliance on foreign platforms always resulted in a significant amount of money going out of the country. UPI has reversed this unprecedentedly. The success of UPI lies in its flexibility as it offers users to pay through easy QR codes and quick PINs, while the world still struggles and stays on traditional methods, such as card systems, which are still dominant in developed states across the globe. Cheque payments are still very common in various parts of the European countries. UPI is simple and doesn’t require users to carry anything extra other than their smartphones. RuPay and UPI, together are beating cash and card-based transactions in the country with whopping margins. The continuation of this trend may lead to them taking over the global competitors like American express, VISA and Mastercard, and other Global Giants that have ruled the Indian payment systems for decades. UPI is becoming popular in other foreign countries at a right time, as absence of a similar Open, Simple & Powerful payments interface may leverage India’s position in the foreign markets.

In order take digital payment to every nook and corner of the country, various steps have been taken by MeitY. Incentive schemes like the promotion of RuPay Debit cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (P2M) facilitate Banks in building a robust digital payment ecosystem. Additionally, Incentive/cashback schemes were launched by MeitY for changing the customer/merchant behavior for faster adoption of digital payments in India. Some of them were BHIM Cashback schemes for Individuals & Merchants, BHIM Aadhaar Merchant Incentive Scheme, BHIM-UPI Merchant Onboarding Scheme Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), etc. Another step towards improving digital infrastructure was the scheme titled “Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)” to usher in digital literacy in rural India. Concept of QR scanning for making digital payments has also contributed in increasing the number of digital payments because of the added ease and flexibility.