More Chinese are turning vegetarian, vegan restaurants on the rise. But why?

Agencies
February 26, 2018

Beijing, Feb 26: China - the world's largest market for beef, pork and poultry - is steadily growing wary of meat as health-conscious Chinese are taking to a vegetarian diet that has sparked mushrooming of vegan restaurants in the world's most populous country.

China's restaurant industry over the past few years is reporting growing number of entrepreneurs looking to capitalise on the popularity of healthy eating, which usually means a meatless, organic and environmentally-friendly diet.

The niche market of vegetarian and vegan eateries has never been more competitive, a recent report from various cities compiled by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said.

Han Lili, a Shanghai-based artist who has tracked and mapped vegetarian and vegan restaurants in major Chinese cities including Shanghai, Chengdu, Lhasa, and Hong Kong since 2012, said it had been difficult to accurately count the number in operation in the past year or two because the market changed so rapidly.

In Shanghai, China's largest city, the number of vegan outlets soared from 49 in 2012 to more than 100 last year, she said. In Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, almost half the 80 eateries needed updating after her last count.

A report by research firm Euromonitor said though China is still the world's biggest market for pork, beef and poultry, the demand showed a decline in recent years.

A report by Chinadialogue.Net said sales of pork declined from 42.49 million tonnes in 2014 to 40.85 million tonnes in 2016. A new dietary guideline issued by China's health industry two years ago also suggested eating less meat, poultry and seafood.

The Chinese meat industry adds around 150 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere every year, according to one study.

The growing trend of vegetarianism showed more Chinese turning to fruits and vegetables. China currently consumes 40 percent of the world's fruit and vegetables, indicating the growing trend of vegetarianism in China.

UN trade figures show that between 2010 and 2016, China's imports of avocados rose from 1.9 tonnes to 25,000 tonnes a 13,000-fold increase.

According to one study, the vegan market in China is expected to rise by more than 17 per cent between 2015 and 2020. This will be the fastest rate of growth internationally in this time period and suggests a huge shift in consumer habits in Asia.

Health campaigns are also trying to influence people's habits. Environmental group WildAid held an event in Beijing in August 2017 to promote vegetarianism.

Popular actor Huang Xuan said his family is eating more and more vegetarian food, a change from the traditional diet in his native province of Gansu in China's northwest, which is high in beef and mutton.

He thinks it's because people are more aware of the links between meat-eating, high blood pressure and obesity.

In 2014, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Public Radio International, an independent non-profit multi-media organisation, reporting that China's vegan population has reached more than 50 million.

Dr Xu Jia, a dietician who leads the China programme at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a Washington-based NGO, said he estimated one percent would be closer to the truth.

A study conducted by researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2016 surveyed more than 4,000 people in the city and found that 0.77 percent were vegetarians.

According to the world vegetarian outfits, India where vegetarianism was rooted in religion and culture estimated to have over 500 million vegetarians who shun meat in their meal.

Significantly, the vegan culture is spreading among young people in China which has a population of over 1.3 billion.

The Shanghai Jiao Tong University study also surveyed eight popular vegetarian restaurants in downtown Shanghai and found that close to half their customers were aged between 20 and 29, even though the average age of vegetarians was 65.

Sixthtone.Com, a youth news portal has reported that in November last year Hebei University of Environmental Engineering in the city of Qinhuangdao has added a vegetarian counter in the canteen at the request of a student organisation called the Lohas Vegetarian Society.

"Sure, it might not be front-page news, but by serving meat-free meals to college students, the college is embracing a heartening trend toward vegetarianism in a society where most square meals contain pork, chicken, or beef," the report said.

Stories like this have played out across more and more Chinese universities, driven by the recently established Universities and Colleges Vegetarian Association (UCVA).

This organisation for college vegetarians was founded at Beijing's Tsinghua University on World Earth Day last year.

"Alongside the rise of animal protectionism...More and more young Chinese are viewing vegetarianism as a healthy, eco-friendly, and trendy lifestyle," the Sixthtone report said.

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Agencies
February 17,2020

Google on Monday announced it is gradually winding down its free public Wi-Fi Station programme currently available at over 400 railway stations in India, and will work with the Indian Railways and Railtel Corporation to help them with existing sites so they can remain useful resources for people.

Google launched its Station initiative in India in 2015 to bring fast, free public Wi-Fi to over 400 of the busiest railway stations in the country by mid-2020.

"We crossed that number by June 2018 and implemented Station in thousands of other locations around the country in partnership with telecommunications companies, ISPs and local authorities," Caesar Sengupta, Vice President, Payments and Next Billion Users, Google, said in a statement.

"Over time, partners in other countries asked for Station too and we responded accordingly. We're grateful for these partnerships, especially with the Indian Railways and the Government of India, that helped us serve millions of users over the last few years," he added.

According to Google, the decision to shut Station has been taken keeping the affordable mobile data plans and mobile connectivity in mind that is improving globally including in India.

"India, specifically now has among the cheapest mobile data per GB in the world, with mobile data prices having reduced by 95 per cent in the last 5 years, as per TRAI in 2019," said Sengupta.

The Indian users consume close to 10GB of data, each month, on average, according to reports.

"Our commitment to supporting the next billion users remains stronger than ever, from continuing our efforts to make the internet work for more people and building more relevant and helpful apps and services," Sengupta noted.

Global networking giant Cisco last year teamed up with Google to roll out free, high-speed public Wi-Fi access globally, starting with India.

The first pilot under the partnership was rolled out at 35 locations in Bengaluru.

Sengupta said that in addition to the changed context, the challenge of varying technical requirements and infrastructure among our partners across countries has also made it difficult for Station to scale and be sustainable, especially for our partners.

"And when we evaluate where we can truly make an impact in the future, we see greater need and bigger opportunities in building products and features tailored to work better for the next billion user markets," he said.

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News Network
May 6,2020

Hyderabad, May 6: Away from city lights, two hours before Sunrise, people in India and across the world can witness Annual Meteor Shower called Eta Aquarids till May 28.

Observed since time immemorial, Meteor shower are commonly known as shooting stars which are nothing but dust flakes of comet/asteroid entering earth atmosphere.

This Annual Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower peaked on Wednesday at 02.30 am on Wednesday whereas presence of Full Moon was an obstacle outshining bright streaks of lights of this meteor shower zipping across the South Eastern sky.

As this meteor shower is active till May 28, people can still watch this celestial spectacle in early morning every day, Planetary Society of India (PSI) Director N Sri Raghunandan Kumar interacting with UNI said.

As per International Meteor Organization (IMO), 50 meteors per hour are expected to be seen on day of peak today. And this number would vary as days pass on till May 28 while earth passes through dust cloud of comet debris in its orbit.

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Agencies
July 10,2020

In a first, the Supreme Court on Friday allowed the service of summons and notices, a necessity in almost all legal proceedings, through instant messenger like WhatsApp as well as by e-mail and fax.

A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde observed that it has been brought to the notice of the court that it is not feasible to visit post offices for service of notices, summons, and pleadings. The bench also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and R Subhash Reddy observed that notice and summons should be sent through e-mail on the same day along with instant message through WhatsApp and other phone messenger services.

The bench clarified that all methods should be deployed for a valid service on the party. "Two blue ticks would convey that the receiver has seen the notice," noted the bench.

The bench declined the request of the Attorney General for specifically naming WhatsApp as a mode of effectuating service. The top court noted that it would not be practical to specify only WhatsApp. The apex court also permitted RBI to extend the validity of cheques in the backdrop of lockdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

Senior advocate V Giri representing RBI informed the bench that he had circulated the note regarding validity of a cheque as directions issued on the previous hearing.

The bench noted that it will be in discretion of the RBI to issue orders which are suitable to alter the validity of the period of a cheque.

During an earlier hearing on the matter on July 7, the Attorney General contended before the top court that the Centre had some reservations in connection with the utilization of mobile applications like WhatsApp and other apps for service of summons. The Centre's top law officer informed the apex court that these apps claimed to be encrypted, and they were not trustworthy.

The RBI counsel had contended before the top court that it was considering clarifying the validity of a cheque which has been reduced to 3 months from 6 months.

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