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BIG STORY OF THE FORTNIGHT
India: Homing In
As the world's largest democracy comes to a decision about choosing its next leader, the world needs to wake up and take notice of India as the next rising superpower
May 9, 2014
Even as Indian elections are nearing a nail-biting finish, and Modi chants are reverberating across the polluted air of India, the world may just decide to wake up and take notice at the huge (albeit, curious) changes that 815 billion people are about to make.
Number One: Threat of Beef Ban?
With subtle intentions of Modi and BJP getting dominant every second, we now can get surer that India may ban the production of beef in the weeks coming up. This may mean about 20% of the global supply may end suddenly.
I heard a funny fact on Facebook the other day. Odd similarities between America and India, one of which was a ‘cow’. Both the countries revere cows. While various parts of a cow are revered in India in the form of various gods, various parts of the cow in America are referred to as various meat items: steak, short loin, short part, chuck, etc.
India accounts for a fifth of the global beef supply, including to markets in Africa and South East Asia. In 2013, the country exported 1.89 million tonnes of beef, about a 50% jump in a five-year period, overtaking Brazil as the world’s largest exporter for the second year. Indian buffalo meat exports are growing at 15% annually and in 2013 touched $3.2 billion.
What is significant is that 20% down in beef supply may actually make world bosses swivel in their cushy chairs and sit up. (Source: forbes.com, bbc.co.uk)
Number Two: Minority Trouble
Although, most understanding minority knows heart-of-heart that, if he wants, Modi can do good to the sagging economy and unabated inflation, their non-so-understanding counterparts definitely do not want to hear anything. They have held up a 2002 Gujarat carnage against the chaiwala (Modi was a tea-seller in his earlier days) and are now going for his guts.
However, Modi’s 14-year-old economic track record is undoubtedly impressive. He’s been chief minister of Gujarat, a state with 60 million people, for 12 years. During that time, he’s cut red tape, built substantial infrastructure and contained corruption. Business and investment have thrived. Gujarat GDP has grown 3x under Modi’s leadership. The state now produces 25% of Indian exports yet accounts for just 5% of the nation’s population. Most social indicators in the state have also improved under his watch. (Source: Forbes.com)
Number Three: Foreign Policy
(Read: Pakistan and US)
In a recent interview to an Indian news channel Modi hinted at a very autocratic foreign policy that he is about to adopt, if he wins and becomes the PM. This is indeed the call for the day as India has been wagging its tail to friends and foes alike for years. That would be a day to watch out when India calls the shots in its foreign stakes.
It’s not so much about BJP coming to power, it’s about Narendra Modi — the veteran politician who can convince you easily that the sun rises in the west, and that he has been responsible for it. The man can smoothly sell a blind man sun-glasses.
So if he wants, he can uplift India’s sagging economy, straighten the liberal foreign policy and remove corruption with an iron hand. He can bring in the change India so needs at this hour. And we may be looking at a sunrise over India we've never seen before.
That’s about the NaMo wave in the country, which has reflected even on chappatis and now, (chapattis are Indian’s staple food) . Namo mantra has been embossed on every hot chapatti that is sold to the public!! He even has pen drives that look like him.
Then there’s Arvind Kejriwal, fighting tooth and nail against the towering Modi, and Rahul Gandhi, whose glamorous sister, Priyanka, is doing all the fading cheerleading on his behalf now.
Whatever it may be, Indian elections are the best channel to tune into now, dear world. It’ll win in TRPS hands down with any other soaps/serials you are watching.
During the recent TV interview Modi kept turning around like a tiger every time the host tried to corner him. In the end, he convinced the host and his most staunch enemy that he is indisputably the best and the only choice for PM, and his authoritarian stance is the best India can adopt at this point.
Special Correspondent
British comedian and political satirist John Oliver trolling Indian elections and the US ignorance on YouTube.
(From left) Arvind Kejriwal, Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi.
I heard a funny fact on Facebook the other day. Odd similarities between America and India, one of which was a ‘cow’. Both the countries revere cows. While various parts of a cow are revered in India in the form of various gods, various parts of the cow in America are referred to as various meat items: steak, short loin, short part, chuck, etc.
Who is Boko Haram? Why are they threatening the world?
Boko Haram New 2014 Video: Wanted leader Shekau threatens to attack Nigeria & fight for Islam.
May 9, 2014
Nigeria's militant Islamist group Boko Haram — which has caused havoc in Africa's most populous country through a wave of bombings, assassinations and now abductions — is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.
Founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002, the organisation seeks to establish a "pure" Islamic state ruled by sharia law, putting a stop to what it deems "Westernization".
The group is known for attacking Christians and government targets, bombing churches, attacking schools and police stations, and kidnapping western tourists, but has also assassinated members of the Islamic establishment.
The group is known to be part of a jihadist Islamist organization that has been linked to al-Qaeda. is also and is responsible for a series of increasingly brazen attacks in Nigeria, currently the richest country in Africa by GDP
Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has resulted in an estimated 10,000 deaths between 2002 and 2013.
The abduction of almost 300 girls from schools in northern Nigeria in recent weeks has received worldwide attention, including a pledge from the US government to help investigate.
The group behind these kidnappings calls itself Boko Haram, a name that loosely translates as "Western education is a sin" in the local Hausa language of north-central Africa. Source: Various
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