New Delhi: From leaders of two nations sitting on a swing to the Chinese troops intruding in India’s territory in the Himalayas, The New York Times highlights how New Delhi-Beijing ties have “almost completely broken” in the decade since PM Narendra Modi came to power.
“Mr. Modi, a strongman who controls every lever of power in India and has expanded its relations with many other countries, appears uncharacteristically powerless in the face of the rupture with China,” it says while mentioning that he is seeking a third term on the “overarching narrative” of making India a major global power.
With the world’s biggest election starting this week, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, explains how India’s foreign policy and its role in the world has become a talking point among its voters.
“The downward penetration of foreign policy is evident in big ways and small,” it says, citing the example of the Modi government going all out to hail India’s presidency of G20.
The think tank, however, warns that “foreign policy adventurism” — which work well at home — can be risky for India’s ties with the world. “Good politics, in other words, might not always make for good policy,” it adds.
As the country’s GDP growth “roared at 8.4%” in the fourth quarter of 2023, The Economist takes a deep dive into how fast India’s economy is actually growing, as “such figures tend to be treated with a pinch of salt”.
The report mentions how India revised its GDP calculation methodology in 2015, adopting the new base year 2011-12. “The data is noisy, the picture is mixed and yet most government economists would be satisfied with that outcome,” it surmises.
On the other hand, Financial Times breaks down the findings of the latest Brookings-FT Tracking Index for the Global Economic Recover (Tiger), to suggest that the US and India can offer hope that global growth in 2024 can modestly outpace last year’s reading.
In contrast, it quotes Eswar Prasad, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, saying that China was still “flirting with deflation” with confidence indicators at low levels.
Tension in West Asia & Trump’s trail
Iran’s strike on Israel Saturday to retaliate against the attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria has only raised more concerns about the escalating tensions in region. “Unlike past Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, and even those involving Israel and Lebanon or Syria, this one keeps expanding,” The New York Times analyses and mentions how Arab countries are now fearing an expanding conflict.
Donald Trump will be the first former US President to stand trial in a criminal case, with the hush-money trial set to begin Monday. Read this Wall Street Journal report to know more.
The people of Niger took to the streets demanding that the US troops withdraw from the territory as the military junta decided to cut ties with the West and engage in a military agreement with Russia. These BBC and DW’s reports share details.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)