New Delhi: Investors have been reassured as Narendra Modi formed a coalition government supportive of his pro-business economic agenda after his party suffered a setback in the elections, reports The Economist.
The report — ‘What Indian business expects from Modi 3.0’ — tries to gauge business and stock market sentiments about Modi 3.0. “Investors’ panic proved short-lived,” the report says, noting the stock market crash after the exit polls turned out wrong, but they have now “clawed back” losses and feel the new government’s headed in the right direction.
Calling “exaggerated expectations” about Modi’s win among businesses a “mistake”, the report says Modi 3.0 “is looking much like the earlier versions”, with the coalition partners seen as “amenable” to “Modi’s vision for the economy”. A coalition, however, may not only refrain the BJP from “excesses” but also delay reforms, the report suggests.
Amid the ongoing G7 Summit in Italy, a DW report questions whether India will maintain close ties with Russia during Modi’s third term factoring in the “international pressure” to take a tougher stance on the war in Ukraine and “coalition dynamics”.
Wesley Rahn, editor of geopolitics at the DW, writes that India benefits not just from cheap oil from Russia but its backing of “India’s goal of becoming a leading voice in a ‘multipolar‘ world, which entails a greater role for the Global South”. However, the growing relationship between Russia and China, he says, threatens the India-Russia partnership.
‘Changed world will complicate Modi’s third-term agenda‘ — an opinion piece by businessman and author Abishur Prakash in Nikkei Asia outlines the challenges Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces in establishing an “Indian corner” in a world divided by wars and geopolitical crises.
Since Modi’s last election in 2019, COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war, Israel’s war, and escalating U.S.-China tensions have changed the fabric of the geopolitical landscape, he writes. “India is being pulled in all directions,” he says, adding, “The emergence of a new India though will be threatened by global instability.” In that case, the PM is likely to seek “his own model of stability and resilience” to “drive his larger vision of reinventing India”, he adds.
‘India’s message to Modi: Focus on economic justice‘ — an opinion piece in The Globe and Mail discusses why Modi could not win as many seats as he expected in the Lok Sabha polls, especially from Uttar Pradesh. Journalist and author Puja Changoiwala calls the mandate “a clear message for the Prime Minister: They prefer bread to bigotry”.
Changoiwala invokes pre-election surveys that found unemployment remained “the most important issue for Indian voters”, pointing out the consistent decline in manufacturing and salaried jobs amid rising living costs. Modi, however, “refused to acknowledge the crisis“, and “remained committed to his deeply polarising rhetoric”, she writes. “What distinguished the opposition alliance was its focus on the underprivileged, including caste and religious minorities, and saving rozi roti (employment),” writes Changoiwala.
Talks on Ukraine war at G7, UN calls for end of siege in Sudan
As world leaders meet for the G7 Summit in Italy, the war in Ukraine remains a top priority. The G7 Thursday agreed to extend a loan of 50 billion dollars to Ukraine from frozen Russian assets. Read the BBC report to know more and catch Day 1 updates on Al Jazeera.
The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution on Thursday, urging Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to cease the siege of El Fasher, a city in Sudan’s North Darfur region. To know more about THE ongoing violence and what the UN resolution demands, read DW’s report.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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