Sen, Satyarthi call for $2.5 trn virus response plan Macca pilgrimage: Indonesia pulls out
United Nations, June 2: Indian Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and Kailash Satyarthi and economist Kaushik Basu are among the over 225 global leaders who have jointly called for a meeting of the G20 nations to agree to a $2.5 trillion Covid-19 global health and economic recovery plan. The letter, signed by over 225 past and current leaders from around the world, calls for the G20 Summit to be convened urgently to address the health and economic crises in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and to put forth a global recovery plan.
Amartya Sen
The G20 countries had on March 26 pledged $5 trillion to counter the impact of the pandemic amid forecasts of a deep recession. The pandemic has killed over 378,000 people worldwide, ravaged the global economy and left millions jobless. Sen, Satyarthi and Basu are signatories to the letter along with other leaders from every continent, including former UK prime ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, former president of the UN General Assembly María Fernanda Espinosa, former president of Sri Lanka Chandrika Kumaratunga and Director-General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi, Suman Bery.
They said that action is urgent because only a fraction of the $2.5 trillion that poorer countries need to fight Covid-19 has been allocated.
Jakarta, June 2: Indonesia is pulling out of the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Macca over Covid-19 fears, the religious affairs ministry said Tuesday, removing the largest contingent of worshippers. More than 220,000 people from the world’s biggest Muslimmajority country were set to take part in this year’s hajj, which all Muslims must perform at least once in their lives if able. On Tuesday, Indonesia said it was pulling out of the pilgrimage, which last year drew about 2.5 million Muslims to Saudi Arabia from across the globe.
“This was a very bitter and difficult decision,” religious affairs minister Fachrul Razi told a televised press briefing.