Tag Archives: Modi
Conspiracy To Assassinate PM Modi Uncovered
From Zee News:
An email has been sent to kill PM Narendra Modi, according to reports. The sender has reportedly saud that he has 20 kg of RDX and can kill thousands of people. “I’m planning 20 attacks across the country,” the sender says in the mail. Going by the email, it sems that the person has grievances against PM Modi and says he has “destroyed his life”. In the mail, the sender further mentions that he is ” in touch with people who can do this job and will create major tragedy for this country. I have activated sleeper cells on February 28.”
RDX is otherwise known as cyclonite and is a chemical used in explosives, apparently.
Is this an April Fool’s Day prank or for real?
Unlock 1.0: “You Can Keep Walking”
Ruchir Sharma in The Times of India:
“After three weeks the government began replacing lockdown 1.0 with looser versions, but rather than relax many upper class Indians were learning to love life under lockdown. They posted odes to recipe sharing, Netflix, Zoom cocktail parties, the clear view of the sky and moon as the smog lifted over an idle nation. They gasped over images of leopards venturing into shuttered cities like Chandigarh, 250 kilometres from Delhi. Ah, nature!
When I looked out of my living room window, I saw dorms for the community staff, and had to wonder how sublime this life could be for them. Does social distancing have any meaning for labourers packed six to a 200 sq ft room? Does a lockdown make any sense in such crowded living conditions?
Meanwhile the crisis was liberating for Indian bureaucrats and the police, self-important in normal times, “essential” during this crisis. Videos posted on WhatsApp showed police beating people caught on the streets without a satisfactory excuse, or forcing them to perform squats while holding their ears – a punishment common in government schools. The commentary was often less horrified than humorous, including one mash-up that went viral with cricket style play-by-play.
By mid-April many rich countries had started to debate reopening their economies. Protests were breaking out against lockdowns in the United States. In India, there was little public debate, much less protest.
[Lila: This is not true. There was plenty of debate, but it doesn’t get into the major English media, which is largely leftist, favor of an expansion of government, and inclined to criticize Modi reflexively from that angle. While, Modi appears to have followed the dictates of the globalists at every turn, he is commonly derided as being too insular. ]
The hardest hit, the poor and unemployed, seem to accept their misery as fate, likely unaware of evidence that the most stringent lockdowns are generating the most severe economic damage.
While the pandemic quickly became the leading cause of deaths in many countries, in India many more still die each week, mostly in rural areas, from diseases like tuberculosis or diarrhea. Still, the urban elite has the political influence and most continued to support a tough lockdown
“If the government lifts restrictions millions of illiterate Indians will pour into the streets and super-spread the disease,” says a friend.
Of estimates showing that each week the lockdown is pushing tens of millions of Indians below the poverty line, the elite’s standard answer is “The government should take care of them, just look how much the United States is spending on displaced workers.” Never mind that India has one-twentieth the average income of the United States, or that no bureaucracy, including those of much wealthier nations, is equipped to handle a sudden exodus of tens of millions of workers.
The irony now is that with India headed for what could be its worst post-Independence recession, economic pressure is forcing a retreat to lockdown lite, even as the virus case count surges.
Lockdown fatigue has set in. Confronted on the street by a police patrol after Delhi’s 7pm curfew last week, a friend pleaded that it was insufferable to go out earlier, with daytime temperatures around 45 degrees. “It is my job to make these announcements,” said the weary officer. “You can keep walking.”
BJP, Modi win Indian elections with largest mandate in 30 years
The coalition led by the Hindu nationalist party, the BJP, and its leader Narendra Modi, have won the just concluded Indian elections, with the largest mandate in the last 30 years.
The international reaction:
British business interests were enthusiastic:
“British business is particularly buoyed by Mr. Modi’s victory and expects his government to quickly take forward economic ties, the groundwork for which has been laid by Mr. Cameron during his visits to India.
Patricia Hewitt, Chair, United Kingdom India Business Council, in her congratulatory message said: “The election of a new Government of India — and the improvements in the business environment that will follow — should prompt those British businesses who have been hesitating about entering the Indian market to put aside their doubts and seize the India opportunity with both hands.””
“To my observation, this general election was fought on India’s domestic agenda and China was not a significant topic. This indicates the China-India relationship has become more mature and shock-resistant. Relations are national interest-centric, not party-oriented.
Indian parties don’t have much policy differences towards China. Historically speaking, China has been even more skilful in dealing with “right-leaning” political entities.”
It will be fascinating to see if Modi can replicate his success in Gujarat on the national stage. Many, though not all, economists believe the Indian economy needs another wave of liberalization that builds upon the one that Singh introduced in the nineteen-nineties, when he was minister of finance. Those measures cut the budget deficit, stripped away some of the country’s infamous licensing restrictions, and made it easier for foreigners to invest in Indian companies. Jagdish Bhagwati, the Columbia University economist who is one of Modi’s most prominent supporters, has criticized Singh for not following up on these reforms during his time as Prime Minister.
It has been widely reported that Bhagwati and his Columbia colleague Arvind Panagariya, another supporter of free-market reforms, will play some role in the new Indian government. Modi, however, also has his critics in the academy. Some studies suggest that Gujarat, despite enjoying stronger than average growth, has a questionable record relative to other Indian states in reducing poverty, improving child nutrition, and promoting education and social inclusion. Last year, Amartya Sen, perhaps India’s most famous economist, came out strongly against Modi’s candidacy, criticizing his failure to protect religious minorities, and saying, “His record in education and health care is pretty bad.”
Indians and people the world over will be watching to see how far Modi goes in the direction of liberalization. Reforming India, which has many powerful states and innumerable vested interests, is much harder than reforming an individual state like Gujarat. And while Modi has obtained a historic mandate for his economic agenda—the B.J.P. will be the first party in thirty years to have an outright majority in Parliament—there are still widespread concerns that the fruits of economic progress are not being spread widely enough, concerns that more business-friendly reforms are unlikely to alleviate. “It felt like a vacuum period,” Modi said on Friday, addressing his supporters in Ahmedabad. “Now we will fill that vacuum.”
Comment:
I don’t have a clear-cut opinion of the man yet. I’ll wait and see…. and hope that the massive PR efforts (APCO, billionaire Adani) poured into his election are justified by something more than whose bread he can butter.
India’s Muslim and Christian minorities are probably more than a bit worried, but the stock market, not surprisingly, took off…..