Watch for this week: IPL, Oscars, TB Day
PremiumFrom an annual day to raise awareness about tuberculosis to the start of a new season of the Indian Premier League, here’s what you need to watch for in the coming seven days.
Every Monday, Mint’s Plain Facts section features key data releases and events to look for in the coming week. India is set to resume international flights on pre-pandemic schedules once again. World Tuberculosis Day will be observed on Thursday to raise awareness about the infectious disease that impacts Indians disproportionately. Sports lovers will await the Indian Premier League, while cinema fans will watch the Oscar awards ceremony. Here’s more:
1.International flights resume
After two years, India is all set to resume regular international flight operations with 100% capacity from 27 March. Scheduled commercial international flights had been suspended since 20 March 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic. Since September 2020, India had started operating special international flights through air bubbles with 35 countries, but normal schedules had yet to resume. An attempt to restart in December had to be postponed due to the Omicron wave.The resumption could bring relief to airlines, tourism and hospitality sectors, which were among the hardest hit by the pandemic. Foreign tourist arrivals saw a steep drop of 75% in 2020, and remained modest despite some recovery even in 2021. Airlines are also reeling under surging crude oil prices and restricted airspace due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Moreover, last month, state-owned oil marketing companies had raised jet fuel prices for the fourth time this year to record levels.
2.World Tuberculosis Day
The date 24 March is observed as World Tuberculosis Day in an effort to create awareness and galvanize action against the respiratory disease. Once known as “white plague", tuberculosis today is the biggest killer among infectious diseases after covid-19. For years, India has had the greatest tuberculosis burden globally, with an estimated 2.7 million Indians suffering from it as of 2019. The theme for this year is: “Invest to End TB. Save Lives." The global fight against TB faces its toughest moment in decades as the pandemic has severely hit both diagnosis and treatment, and funding. Global spending on TB services fell in 2020 for the first time since 2016. This has cost lives: as crucial resources got diverted to pandemic relief, deaths due to tuberculosis rose for the first time in over a decade in 2020, said the World Health Organization. India, too, has slashed funding to its already under-funded national TB programme in the last three years, increasing its reliance on international donor organizations.
3.UK inflation
Inflation data for February is due from the UK on Wednesday. Retail inflation soared to a 30-year high of 5.5% in January, forcing the Bank of England to raise benchmark rates for the third meeting in a row last week. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) attributes the sky-high inflation to a surge in energy prices and the rising cost of daily household items and rents as the country emerges from covid-led restrictions. The rise in inflation in January was broad-based, with several sectors contributing to the spike. The crisis in Ukraine has further worsened matters, with the Resolution Foundation, a UK-based think tank, projecting that a typical household will see its real income drop by £1,000 in 2022-23 as inflation rises more. No relief seems to be in store for now: the central bank has warned that inflation could reach about 8% in April.
4.IPL begins
The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to start on Saturday. The cash-rich cricket tournament returns to India for a full-fledged season after two years, and will run till 29 May. The last two editions were mostly held in the UAE due to covid-19 risks in India. This year’s edition will feature revamped teams after a mega-auction held in February. But the big highlight is two all-new franchises: Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans, backed by the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group and CVC Capital Partners, respectively. This takes the team count to 10.
The 74-match tournament will also see a new format, with the teams being placed in two groups during the league phase and playing 14 matches each. The matches in this phase will be restricted to Mumbai and Pune, and the venue for playoffs will be decided in April-May. The BCCI has also said that plans are afoot for a women’s IPL from next year.
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5.Oscar awards
The 94th Academy Awards will be given away on 27 March in a ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The telecast will begin at 5 pm local time (5.30 am on 28 March, India).
The nominations had seen several firsts, such as Jane Campion becoming the first woman to be nominated twice for Best Director and Flee, an animated documentary, being nominated in three categories at the same time.
Steven Spielberg won his eighth Best Director nomination.
Netflix could well emerge the star of the evening as its films are frontrunners across categories, including the coveted ‘Best Picture’ one.
With 27 nominations, the streaming service is the most nominated company for the third straight year, beating legacy studios such as Warner Bros., and Disney.
Its film The Power of the Dog, which scored a leading 12 nominations, is in the pole position among movie pundits for the ‘Best Picture’ award.
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