Podcasts about national democratic alliance

Following the 19th Indian General Elections in June, Narendra Modi has become prime minister for a third consecutive term. However, his National Democratic Alliance, while winning 294 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha, still garnered far fewer than they expected. Dr Rahul Mishra, Associate Professor at the Centre for Indo-Pacific Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi shares his analysis.Image Credit: Shutterstock.com

After India's 2024 general elections, the National Democratic Alliance, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has formed the government. How will India's new political direction impact Nepal? Senior Nepali journalist Yubaraj Ghimire spoke to SBS Nepali about the potential effects on the political and economic relations between the two neighbouring countries. - भारतमा हालै सम्पन्न भएको निर्वाचन पछि भारतीय जनता पार्टीका अध्यक्ष नरेन्द्र मोदीको नेतृत्वमा रहेको राष्ट्रिय जनतान्त्रिक गठबन्धन सरकार बनाउन सफल भएको छ। यसै सन्दर्भमा नेपाल र भारतबिच राजनीतिक, आर्थिक लगायत सम्बन्धमा पर्न सक्ने सम्भावित असरबारे नेपालका वरिष्ठ पत्रकार युवराज घिमिरेले एसबीएस नेपालीसँग गरेको कुराकानी सुन्नुहोस्।

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, June 13, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: Indian equity benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, surged on Wednesday to hit fresh highs, driven by heavyweights RIL, HCL Tech, and HDFC Bank. However, by the end of the session, the indices came off their day's highs and closed with mild gains. N. Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as the 18th chief minister of Andhra Pradesh yesterday. Naidu's term begins under challenging conditions, as he inherits a financially strained state that has been largely overlooked industrially. His Telugu Desam Party (TDP), along with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners, secured a sweeping victory, capturing 164 out of 175 seats in the state assembly. During his campaign, Naidu promised to enhance governance and kickstart economic development, aiming to revive industrial activity and generate two million jobs. However, the financial reality of Andhra Pradesh could complicate these plans. The state is grappling with a high debt level—44% of its GDP—and its finances are stretched thin, primarily going towards revenue expenditures rather than building productive assets. This fiscal strain makes the ambitious welfare promises and the revival of the Amaravati capital project, initially estimated to cost ₹50,000 crore, particularly challenging. Mint's senior editor N. Madhavan explains the challenges Naidu faces as he takes over from Jagan Mohan Reddy as the CM of Andhra Pradesh.  During the recent Lok Sabha elections, many voters, especially in urban areas, seemed reluctant to visit their polling booths. The Election Commission highlighted this trend, noting that urban voters were particularly hesitant. Ultimately, only about 65.8% of eligible voters cast their ballots, down from 67.2% in 2019. In some regions like Nagaland and Manipur, turnout significantly decreased, while Jammu and Kashmir saw an increase. Why does this matter? Niti Kiran from Mint's data team explains through charts and maps. Lower turnouts can sometimes indicate voter satisfaction with the current government, which appeared to be the case in this election. The National Democratic Alliance held more seats in areas with lower voter turnout. However, it's not just about the numbers—it's about who shows up, or rather, who doesn't. Metros saw a sharper decline in turnout compared to rural regions. Despite this, the overall gender gap in voting was virtually non-existent, similar to the previous election. Women turned out in higher numbers than men in nearly 20 states. The reasons behind voter participation or apathy can vary widely from state to state, influencing everything from local policy to national politics. India is on the verge of significant changes to its organ transplant policies, aiming to address the massive shortfall between the supply and demand of organs. The Union government is considering allowing organ exchanges between unrelated individuals to bridge the gap when blood groups within families do not match, potentially shortening the long wait times endured by patients. Currently, India sees a stark contrast between the need and the actual transplants performed annually, with only 6,000 kidney transplants against a requirement of about 200,000, and even fewer heart transplants, with only 10 to 15 done yearly. One significant move under consideration is the introduction of "swap" donations, where families could exchange organs with one another if they are compatible, a practice currently not allowed for non-relatives. Additionally, the government is in talks with the insurance regulator to extend health insurance coverage to organ donors, who are presently excluded from most health insurance plans. Mint's Priyanka Sharma reports. India's economy is showing signs of resilience in the early part of fiscal year 2025, with industrial activity picking up and retail inflation slightly easing. Mint's Rhik Kundu reports that inflation dipped to 4.75% in May, the lowest in a year, aided by slower increases in food prices. Despite this, food inflation has consistently stayed above 8% since November, largely the result of uneven and below-normal monsoon rains in 2023, which hit India's crop production. The Reserve Bank of India has maintained the repo rate at 6.5% since last February, cautiously waiting for inflation to stabilize closer to its 4% target before considering any rate changes. On the industrial front, output rose by 5% in April, supported by growth across the manufacturing, mining, and electricity sectors. Consumer durables saw a particular surge, likely boosted by rural spending and seasonal purchases.  Boeing, the US aerospace giant, is on a mission to regain trust following several unsettling incidents involving its planes. Recent problems, such as the uncontrolled decompression on an Alaska Airlines flight and stuck rudder pedals on a United Airlines flight, have intensified scrutiny on the company. Top executives from airlines like United and Emirates are closely monitoring the situation. They believe Boeing needs to return to its roots—prioritizing solid engineering and quality over financials. They remain hopeful but cautious, expecting Boeing to improve its performance. Mint's aviation correspondent Anu Sharma reports on the company's plan to enhance its safety and quality standards, including increased workforce training and streamlined processes to prevent future issues. We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at feedback@livemint.com. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: Mint Primer | Why Naidu faces a daunting task in Andhra PradeshLok Sabha poll: The mystery of the absent Indian voter in 2024, in chartsRetail inflation eases, factory output ticks higher in May, boosting Indian economySwap organ donation for other than near relatives, health cover for organ donorsAirlines ready to trust Boeing again, but want quality and safety in place

his is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It's the 12th of June and here are today's headlines.Hours after a Central Reserve Police Force personnel died following an encounter with militants during a search operation in Kathua, the Jammu and Kashmir Police today killed a second militant hiding in the area. The slain militant had managed to flee on Tuesday night after the death of his accomplice. The police and paramilitary forces had then launched a search operation in the Kootah area. The two militants had entered a house in the village last night and asked for water, following which they opened fire and injured a civilian.Calling the newly-sworn National Democratic Alliance dispensation “crippled”, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to change his attitude. Rahul told voters at Ernanad assembly constituency under Wayanad, which has voted him as MP for the second consecutive time. This is his first visit to the constituency since his election, quote “The Opposition has dealt a fatal blow to the BJP. Even Prime Minister Modi's attitude will have to change, because the people of India have sent him a clear message." Unquote.On Tuesday, Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa and his friend Pavithra Gowda were arrested over the recent murder of a 33-year-old man in Bengaluru. The victim has been identified as Renukaswamy, a resident of Chitradurga district and a fan of the actor. Bengaluru City Police Commissioner B Dayananda said their investigations so far suggest that Darshan was upset with Renukaswamy for allegedly sending “abusive comments and messages” to Pavithra on Instagram.A fire broke out in a building housing workers in the city of Mangaf in southern Kuwait early on Wednesday, killing at least 41, including several Indians, and injuring more than 50. The building reportedly had nearly 160 people living in it, who are workers of the same company. The Kuwaiti health ministry said about 43 people were hospitalized due to the fire, and four of those people had died. Posting about the incident on the social media site X, External Affairs of India, Dr S Jaishankar expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the deceased. The Indian ambassador visited the Al-Adan hospital in Kuwait, where the injured are undergoing treatment.A day after Chinese Premier Li Qiang congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his re-election for a third term, spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi today said that Beijing was willing to work with India to push forward bilateral relations in the right direction. A post on X stated and I quote, “#China and India are important neighbouring countries. Relevant border issues should be handled properly. A sound and stable #ChinaIndia relationship is in the interest of both countries, and conducive to the peace and development in this region and beyond,” Unquote.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

Narendra Modi has secured a third term as India's Prime Minister. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 293 seats, although, unlike the 2019 elections, the BJP itself did not achieve a majority. As Modi 3.0 begins, PM Modi has promised a “new chapter of big decisions” for India. But, considering the BJP is not a party with a brute majority anymore and relies on an NDA coalition instead, the scope of these decisions might be limited. Will major foreign policy decisions be hindered?  And will Modi 3.0 tweak India's foreign policy at a time when foreign media is reporting about the state of Indian democracy and calling press freedom, political freedom and human rights into question? In this episode of Geeta's World, our host, Anna Priyadarshini, and the foreign affairs editor at India Today, TV Today Network, Geeta Mohan, discuss! Listen in! Produced by Anna Priyadarshini Sound Mix by Sachin Dwivedi

Find me and the show on social media @DrWilmerLeon on X (Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube. Facebook page is www.facebook.com/Drwilmerleonctd   FULL TRANSCRIPT Wilmer Leon (00:00): Did you know that the world's largest democracy India is holding its lo Saba or lower house elections right now? And I don't think we can talk about India without talking about nuclear weapons. India is a nuclear power. How does that play out on the world stage? Announcer (00:32): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge. Wilmer Leon (00:41): Welcome to the Connecting the Dots podcast with Dr. Wilmer Leon. And I'm Wilmer Leon. We have a tendency to view current events as though they occur in a vacuum, failing to understand the broader historic context in which these events take place. During each episode of this podcast, my guests and I have probing, provocative, and in-depth discussions that connect the dots between these events and the broader historic context in which they occur. This enables you to better understand and analyze the events that impact the global village in which we live. On today's episode. The issues before us are what will the election results mean for India? What will the results mean for the global geopolitical landscape? And we'll throw in a few other things as well for insight into this. Let's turn to my guest. She's a professor in the Department of Political Studies and director of the Global Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg Canada. She's the author of numerous books. She's recently returned from a couple of trips to her home country of India. She is Dr. Rekha Desai. Dr. Desai, as always, welcome back to the show. Dr Rekha Desai (02:03): Great being with you again. Wilma Wilmer Leon (02:06): Narendra. Modi is a Indian politician. He has served as the 14th Prime Minister of India since May of 2014. He had a simple campaign slogan of Good Days are Coming. Those who support him seem to love him. His opponents argue he's done little to improve their quality of life and the quality of life across the country. What's going on with the current elections in India? Dr Rekha Desai (02:38): Well, this election has, it's actually, I should say that the election itself is not going on today. The election has been going on for the last seven odd weeks, 45 days. So it started more than 45 days ago and it ended, the last voting day was June the first. It was a seven phase election in which the Election Commission organized elections in different parts of the country over seven phases. The counting is what's going on today. It's not complete yet. So we basically have an idea mean roughly a little over half the votes have been counted, and we can say that pretty well. The trends seem to be set. Nothing has changed very much over the last two or three hours. And what we see here is that Mr. Modi has been humiliated. Let me explain why Mr. Modi went into this election campaign with the Hubristic slogan of this in Hindi, you say ispa. (03:49) So this time we will go beyond 400, 400 seats in a 543 member Loba or Parliament, the BJP at the moment, I mean that was for the larger alliance, the NDA, the National Democratic Alliance, of which the BJP is the biggest part by far. And the BJP itself was supposed to get about 370 seats. At the moment the BJP is at 240 seats, so that is 130 seats less than what they had projected to win. So that is a pretty big humiliation. What's worse for Mr. Modi is that it's going to be in the past two elections, what has been remarkable, and one of the facts which has permitted many people to say that he's some kind of very unique, amazing sort of leader who is much beloved by the country and so on. In 2014 and 2019, his party won a parliamentary majority that is more than 272 seats in the Parliament. (05:02) On its own, it didn't need its allies. And this is the first time a single party has won a majority since the election of 1984 when if you remember, Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated and the Congress party rode to power with the highest percentage of vote and highest seat count ever in its history on a sort of sympathy wave. And so since that time, no party has ever won a majority, and Mr. Modi won a majority twice. Now in this election, it does not look as though he's going to have a majority. If the present trends continue, he will be somewhere around two 40 seats and he needs 2 72 for a majority. This will be an even bigger humiliation for him. Wilmer Leon (05:49): What does this mean, if anything, in the context of governance? I understand in the parliamentary system that you can win and lose seats and that can be a humiliation as you've just indicated, but that doesn't necessarily translate into your ability to form coalitions, your ability to govern. And if you still have the ability to govern, how difficult does it become? So for example, we can look at Netanyahu in Israel and now you got Morich and others threatening to leave and that's going to break up his coalition. What does this mean for Prime Minister Modi in terms of governance? Dr Rekha Desai (06:34): Well, it means that he will have to concede a lot to his coalition partners if he needs them. But before we get there, let me just say two other things, which is that depending on how, what is the final result, two additional things may or one of two or two or more things may happen, which will put into question more these ability to form a government. The first thing is that if the BJP is truly humiliated as it seems to be, it is going to be, it is very possible that there will be big opposition within the party, within the BJP knives will come out for him because he has basically ruled again in this very hubristic fashion disdain pretty well, all the second level leadership of the party, disdain, all the other organizations with which his party is affiliated and so on. So we will have to wait and see what will happen. The second thing that could happen, I'm not sure that it will, but it could happen, is that his coalition partners who he now needs may abandon him particularly sensing that this Mr. Modi is going nowhere. Good. Wilmer Leon (07:54): So it's that dramatic. Dr Rekha Desai (07:57): It could be is what I'm saying. We are not sure at the moment I'm looking at it and it's still showing me BJP at two 40 leading in two 40 seats, 63 seats short of its previous tally. That's pretty bad when you are claiming, and you asked me another question, and I just want to throw this one thing in there, contrary to what has been reported in most of the mainstream media in the West and certainly in India, because in India, the Modi government has the mainstream media in its back pocket. So contrary to what these sources have reported, the Indian economy is doing exceedingly badly. It is not doing well. And if you ask me the most fundamental reason for the bad performance of the BJP and Mr. Modi is that imposing the kind of economic pain that he has imposed on the country for the last decade, I would say, and we can discuss what happened in 2019, why did he get reelected? But he has imposed nothing but economic pain on the ordinary Indian for the last decade. This cannot be electorally, costless. And this time around the cost has caught up with him. Wilmer Leon (09:14): So when you talk about economic pain, the word that comes to my mind, well, two words that come to my mind are neoconservative and austerity. Are those, because I also, if I looked at some of the data, I want to say that youth unemployment is incredibly, incredibly high in India. And when your youth unemployment is that high, boy, you're the economist, not me, but you're setting a groundwork for discontent going forward amongst your youth. Those youth grow into adults and they carry that mindset forward. Speak to that please. Dr Rekha Desai (10:03): Okay, so I would say that there are a number of points I want to make. Number one, India's growth figures are highly exaggerated. That's the first thing is that they have changed the way in which they compile growth statistics, which depending on which economist you are talking to is exaggerating. India's growth rate anywhere between two to 4%. And if you factor that in, then India's growth rate, which is often touted as being the fastest of any major developing country faster than China's, et cetera, does not have any of those qualifications. India should be growing much faster, has in the past grown much faster and Mr. Modi's performance is actually very poor. The second point I have to make is that even the growth we have has been powered by unsustainable stimuli and it has created exceedingly high levels of inequality. So that is a problem. (11:02) So growth is low, inequality is high, inflation is high, unemployment is high including youth unemployment. So the unemployment crisis in India is very high, even though India's labor force participation rate, that is to say the number of people who are actively either employed or seeking employment out of the working age population is actually quite low. So even with this sort of social, shall we say, benefit that India has, granted, the BJP unemployment levels are very high. Youth unemployment is so high that for individual jobs, maybe the government advertises or some company advertises a dozen jobs and there will be literally hundreds of thousands of applications for a dozen jobs. I'm not kidding you. And there have been riots around issues of employment and so on. So we can again discuss that. So unemployment is that. Now, if this whole litany is not bad enough, Mr. (12:10) Modi has willfully in order to show what a strong man he's who can take decisive decisions and actions has imposed pain on the Indian economy on at least three separate occasions, which is completely, it's uncalled for unnecessary. But again, to do this, the first was if you remember the demonetization exercise when overnight the government declared that currency notes over the value of 500 rupees were considered invalid and gave everybody a short period of time to go and exchange them for lower denomination notes. Now, for an economy which runs on cash primarily, this was a disaster. Remember that India's economy, the formal employment in India's economy is only about 7%. So 93% of Indians work in an informal economy where cash is king. These people were suddenly thrown into a crisis. People who had squid away savings in high denomination notes had to go and exchange them. And many very often they had to stand in long lines and it created a huge mess. Secondly, Wilmer Leon (13:25): Well, wait a minute, what was the objective of doing that? Dr Rekha Desai (13:28): Well, he claimed that he was going to try to create a cashless economy and remove the black money from the economy, et cetera, but none of this was proved true. I believe that he was simply talking to certain, shall we say, big financial wizards who want to introduce cashless payment systems in India and want to benefit from the bonanza. And he basically doesn't talk to a lot of people. So one or two people who have his ear can actually get him to take these decisions. I mean the demonetization exercise. And a third thing was that he was trying very desperately to win an election in the giant state of UTA Prade elections were due. And he thought that somehow by doing this, he would prevent the opposition from essentially spending any money. So then he declared a covid lockdown at a time when there was no covid detectable in India. (14:26) And then a year later when you saw all those bodies floating down the Ganges and all those funeral pies, he was nowhere to be seen. He was missing in action. There was no government policy. People just had to somehow make do with what they had. State governments did do a lot, but not, he did not. And then finally he imposed a goods and services tax, which again, given that India operates on so many small and tiny enterprises, it was simply another burden on people who are already too stretched to keep records in order to pay taxes. And moreover, it's a regressive tax. There is so much inequality that the need of the R is to tax the fabulously wealthy. So in India, we now have literally a two tier society where if you are one of the five or 10%, life's never been better. And if you are one of the 90 to 95%, it's really, really bad. Wilmer Leon (15:23): So please forgive my ignorance of Indian culture, but I understand that there's a cultural strata within India. So you add the economic strata to the cultural strata, and then I would think you have a big mess on your hands. Dr Rekha Desai (15:46): Well, it exacerbates the inequality. What you're referring to is the caste system, which is quite widely misunderstood. But let me just, I mean the caste system people think is a kind of a layered, like a many tiered wedding cake with a small number of, so-called twice born cast at the top and then everybody else. But in reality, caste works in the sense of having, there are various caste groups and each caste group is either higher or lower in the hierarchy and that, so a small number of caste groups are in the, so-called twice born casts that are essentially the high castes, and then there is a big fat middle of the middle casts. And then there are the, so-called untouchable cast, and then there is a group of tribals who are outside the caste structure. So the thing, I don't want to give a long disposition on that, but the thing to know about the class structure in India is that the upper cast are also generally the upper classes, the well to do. So, the cultural or social privilege and economic privilege largely coincide, not completely, but largely. So this creates an additional layer of resentment and so on. So that's the situation. Wilmer Leon (17:13): I want to get back to my austerity question because I know that Modi is very, very close to Joe Biden, and that's why when you mentioned early on about the economic issues, Neo Khan and austerity were the two words that came to my mind. So are there similarities between the objectives of Modi's economics and the economics of the West? Dr Rekha Desai (17:41): Yes. Essentially the Modi government, like the previous BJP government engages in a certain politics of neoliberalism or economic policy of neoliberalism where you privatize as much as you can, you reduce social expenditure, you reduce state capacity, you contract out, that sort of thing. And that has really penetrated very deep. Now the Indian economy, so for example, he has recently privatized Air India sold it off essentially, and many other state assets have been privatized. A lot of the way I look at it, I think that this would go for President Biden as well as Narin Modi, essentially they have a one point economic policy. The one point economic policy is to do what benefits the really big corporations. And India has a lot of big corporations, so that that's the economic policy Bohi has pursued. So essentially there is a handful of big titans who destroyed the Indian economy. (18:54) You must have heard of Gata Madani who is a particular favorite of the Prime Minister. There are the Bannis and a few others. And essentially what Mohi has done in terms of economic policy is initiate projects. For example, building roads or bridges or highways or ports or airports or what have you, which involve giving very lucrative contracts to a small number of big corporations. And that's, those are the ones who have benefited. Whereas he claimed that he had a make in India a policy or program which was going to expand the manufacturing sector. Well, if anything, the manufacturing sector has shrunk under Modi. So the kind of good jobs that manufacturing tends to create has actually shrunk under Modi rather than expanded. So this is the kind of economic policy you have. And of course that makes India all the more unequal, Wilmer Leon (19:52): As I have read, particularly in Western media, it's been portrayed over years that it was expected that India would rival China. That modi's objectives were to the one China policy, I'm sorry, the Belt and Road initiative and that China China's economy, one of the leading growth economies in the world, and that Modi was trying to rival China and in the West it was being portrayed as though he was actually successful in doing so. Speak to that, please. Dr Rekha Desai (20:33): Yeah, I mean the West would dearly love India to emerge as an economic giant and Wilmer Leon (20:40): Competitor to China. Dr Rekha Desai (20:41): Exactly, and a counterweights to China. And so India would be sort of in the Western camp and help count to China. Unfortunately, the West has had to swallow considerable amount of disillusionment because I noticed that even in some of the more mainstream western media, which would, as I say, which have been praising India until recently, there has been a certain amount of stepping back, realizing that Modi has been not as economically successful, and also realizing that Modi has been very authoritarian so that India's democracy is often has been rated by under, Modi has been rated by some international agencies as an electoral autocracy, the press freedom in India, India has been criticized on those grounds. And I think that if anything, the west has been forced to come to these conclusions and it has reluctantly come to these conclusions. And if anything, criticism of Modi is still much milder than it should be, but it is there because the facts are too difficult to look away from. (21:53) Having said that, as I said, the West's desire for India to be this counterweight to China has not gone away. And I should also add that particularly this party, the BJP to which Mr. Modi belongs, has historically pursued a policy of getting closer and closer to the United States. And I should also add in the process, getting closer to Israel, reversing a very longstanding Indian policy of anti-imperialist support for the Palestinian cause and so on. So these trends have certainly been exacerbated under Modi, and we'll have to see now what happens in the coming weeks and months and so on. Wilmer Leon (22:35): India shares, I want to say about a 2200 mile border with China. India is part of bricks, the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and now a number of other countries have joined that economic block. So it seems as though Modi is trying to walk a very fine line in terms of being a member of Brix, which means good relationships with China working, I'll say working, working relationships with China, working relationships with Russia, while at the same time trying to be the friend of the United States. Is that a fair assessment of his effort? And that I would think that's a very, very difficult and fine line to walk. Dr Rekha Desai (23:26): I think it is. And at the same time, Mr. Modi has not had much choice because for several reasons. Number one, Modi would really love to distance himself distance India from Russia, which of course has had longstanding economic ties as well as defense cooperation ties. Wilmer Leon (23:51): But wait a minute, let me jump in. And just to that point, didn't India just sign a huge oil and gas deal with Russia and they are buying Russian gas in rubles? Dr Rekha Desai (24:08): Yes. So let me exactly. I was about to come to that. Wilmer Leon (24:14): I'm channeling my inner, not Dr Rekha Desai (24:16): Really like that. But what has happened in the interim, of course, is that with the Ukraine crisis, India and the rise in the price of oil, and remember India imports a lot of oil and the rise in prices of oil in India has ripple effects throughout the economy because the cost of everything goes up because transport is a central part of the cost of anything. So inflation is already bad enough in India. If India did not have this oil deal with the Russians, then it would be even worse and it would tell on Modi even greater way. Secondly, some of his best paths like Mr. Adani and Mr. Banani and so on are actually engaged in the lucrative and shady practice of buying Russian oil at a discounted price and then processing it to power, not for that matter, and then selling it forward to essentially Europeans who can say, well, we are not buying Russian oil, but we are buying these oil or oil products from the Indians. (25:18) And so this India has become a sort of conduit for this oil trade and so on and gas trade with the Europeans. So that's another important thing and why India needs Russia. Secondly, India also has these border disputes with China, which go a long way. And Mr. Modi, of course, loves to sort of rattle his saber every so often in order to Ghana support across the border with China. But in India has also become dependent on cheap Chinese imports, inexpensive Chinese imports, I should say. I don't want to suggest that they're low quality, but because Indian manufacturing has declined and India's has become ever more reliant on importing cheap Chinese products. So in all of these ways, India's room for manure is actually shrinking largely thanks to the sad state of its economy, which Mr. Modi is doing nothing to improve. So in that sense, what Mr. Modi would like and what he must do are increasingly further apart. Wilmer Leon (26:33): Here comes a very basic simplistic question. India, I believe is the largest population in the most populous country in the world. That says to me that there's a very large accessible labor force. The United States is moving or trying to move off of Chinese labor and fine labor elsewhere. Allah, Haiti, why isn't Modi, or why isn't the US trying to tap into that unemployed labor force, expand production in the country? Because when we think of India, a lot of people in West think of, for example, call centers. They think about engineers, but not necessarily with IIT, for example, the Indian Institute of Technology, which is supposed to arrival. MIT, supposed to be one of the best engineering school in the world, but people don't necessarily think of engineering coming out of India. So why isn't the world or why isn't the west tapping into this labor force? Is that a sensible question to ask? Dr Rekha Desai (27:58): No, it's a good question to ask. So let me take another step back. You are right. India is the most populous country. India has a very large young population, and people often have been talking about the demographic dividend that India has the opportunity to employ these people and to grow much at a very fast rate and benefit from this. However, in order to harness or in order to benefit from India's demographic dividend, you have to invest in your young people. You have to educate them, you have to give them the skills Wilmer Leon (28:34): You need like China has done, Dr Rekha Desai (28:36): And then you have to create the larger kind of ecology, which will stimulate growth. None of these things are being done in India. Primary education is basically, I mean, as opposed to China, where the state puts in a lot of effort into primary education in public schools, what you have is essentially a proliferation of private schools, which if your parents can afford it, you're lucky, and otherwise you go to a sadly and badly run state school, which often does not even have a sufficient number of teachers or teachers who show up, et cetera, et cetera. So there is this problem. Then on top of that, increasingly what used to be a rather good university system has also been allowed to essentially be privatized the proliferation of private universities and colleges which charge enormous fees for questionable forms of education, which is also why you see an enormous flood of Indians, Indian young people leaving the country to obtain education abroad. (29:44) I mean, I was educated abroad, but as a graduate student, what's happening now is lots of Indian young people are leaving as undergraduates and going abroad to various, usually other English speaking countries, but also places as you, I don't know if you remember, but when the Ukraine war occurred, there was a crisis of Indian students having to return, and I had no idea that there were Indian students in Ukraine, but are, and there are Indian students all over the place. So the government is not doing anything. And finally, there is another problem, which is that in general, the Make India program was supposed to be, which Mr. Modi advertised with great fanfare. It was supposed to attract foreign direct investment into India, but then the idea was that India would then become a platform for producing export products for the whole world market, et cetera. (30:37) But in reality, in general, foreign direct investment only comes in when or only comes into countries like India because these countries, these investors are interested in selling to the Indian market. They don't particularly want to sell to the foreign market. And secondly, also, the contracting out where the kind of contracting out that happens with China, and increasingly now with Vietnam and so on, that also has not been particularly good because we basically don't have a layer of manufacturing firms that are able to deliver quality timeliness and all those sorts of things. So essentially we haven't had any kind of big flood of contracting out either. Wilmer Leon (31:27): I'm going to go back to the same question because as I was listening to you, this thought just popped in my head. When I look at again, the Belt and Road initiative from China, when I look at China meeting with African countries, India has, again, it's the largest most populous country in the world. That means markets, people are there to sell to and a labor force. So I'm wondering why, and I remember, I think when Modi came in in 2014, he met with President Xi. There was a, I think 20 billion of investment deals signed. I'm thinking about Russia wanting to come in. So there's an incredible growth opportunity there in terms of markets. So China can come in and build railroads. China can come in and build bridges, build electric infrastructure, build water infrastructure. Is that not happening? And if not, why not? Dr Rekha Desai (32:34): Well, because, well, okay, let me take Wilmer Leon (32:39): Again, is that a sensible question to ask? Dr Rekha Desai (32:42): Yeah, yeah. No, no, it is. So first of all, let me say that the Indian market, you talked about the Indian market markets are not just composed of people of people. Markets are composed of people who have money. And if you are running down your economy in the way that I've just described, ordinary people in India do not have the kind of money that makes India an attractive market. The market in India, as far as foreign capital is concerned, is basically a small sliver of the upper 10% or so of the Indian population. And that is not a very big market. I mean, India may have 1.4 billion people, but if only 140 million of them are capable of consuming at anything like the level of the rest of the world, and it's not, it may have a small one or two or 3% who are, Wilmer Leon (33:36): I should have used the word potential. Yes, I should have used the word potential. And what comes to my mind, and if I'm historically inaccurate, please correct me. Many economists and others will say, and this is maybe a stretch of an example, but one of the things that brought about the end of slavery or enslavement in the United States was an understanding we've got this newly formerly enslaved population. We need these people to be consumers, not a drag on the economy. So we're going to create an economic system that allows the manufacturing access to this labor force. So that's what was driving my question. Dr Rekha Desai (34:23): Well, exactly. And the thing is that unless you have adequate levels of employment, and not only adequate levels of employment, but adequately well compensated employment, that is to say with high wages, you're not going to create a market. You've got to create a sufficiently, you've got to create good jobs, essentially. And that is not something the government has done that, in fact, it has done everything to retard that process because as I said earlier, the government's policy is to favor a small number of big corporations. Now, the vast majority of the Indian economy is accounted for by what we call SMEs or small and medium enterprises. These are the guys who actually create the jobs. They may not be very high paying, but at the very least, they're paying jobs. And even that with the imposition of GST, for example, with demonetization, all for that matter, with covid policies in every possible way, the SME sector has been set back and it is not creating, it's not allowed to create the kind of employment that you do. And if you give a contract to Mr. Adani to build a port, that's not going to create a of employment because what Mr. Adani does is he has all the freedom in the world to import all the things that he needs. So he imports high technology products from the west and so on, and he creates a state-of-the-art port, but that is not going to create a lot of jobs for Indians. Wilmer Leon (35:54): Does he import labor as well, or does he access Indian labor, or does he import labor as well? Dr Rekha Desai (36:02): No, no. He accesses Indian labor, but it's a very small amount. It's a drop in the bucket compared to what Indians to actually absorb and to realize this demographic dividend, you need to create a lot more jobs, and they're not going to be created by Mr. Adani and his friends. And in fact, in the absence of such a strategy to really create a larger market, to create more employment, to create more opportunity in India, in the absence of a strategy to do those things, India is not going to enjoy a demographic dividend. India is at the moment sitting on a demographic time bomb because, and we have seen some of the results of that. Let me also give you an example. Not only does the government not create employment, it does the reverse. It creates, it removes good jobs and replaces them with bad jobs. (36:54) Consider the Indian army. Now, you think Indian army is one of the largest armies in the world. It's a large standing army, and that was one of the relatively secure forms of employment that people in many parts of India, young men in particular, but there are also women in the Indian Army would aspire to. What this government has done is replace the ordinary soldier's job, which could then you join the army as a soldier, and you move up the chain if you are good and so on, you get promotions to higher levels. This has kind of been the number of such jobs has been reduced, and they have been replaced by the so-called Agni vu scheme, which sounds very fancy. You are a fire hero or something. Anyway, this Agni Vu scheme essentially will hire soldiers for four years on a four year contract. So at the end of those four years, you could be let go. There is no guarantee of employment. Now, even if you are a right-wing, security obsessed nut, you will say this is the wrong way to have a good army. Wilmer Leon (38:00): But Dr Rekha Desai (38:01): That's Wilmer Leon (38:01): What you need career soldiers. Dr Rekha Desai (38:05): Exactly. Wilmer Leon (38:06): Exactly. And you don't form careers on four year contracts. Dr Rekha Desai (38:09): And in this election, I have noticed that in all the areas which have, traditionally in every country, there are some parts of the country that are recruitment from which the army recruits disproportionately, and there are such parts of India as well. And in all those parts of India, the BJP vote has gone down because people are so sore about this scheme. In fact, the other thing, because in India what happens is that when the counting takes place, they count the postal ballots first. And very often the postal ballots have a disproportionate number of army veterans or army people in them, because army people tend to get posted around and they use the postal ballot to vote in their place of registration. And so these postal ballots also showed a significant decline in the vote of the BJP. So that was quite interesting as well. So you see, Mr. (39:03) Modi thought that he could visit this kind of economic punishment on Indian people, but somehow then still win them over by showing them what a strong leader he is. And through spewing hate, because you see in the, as I told you, this is a seven phase election at the end of the first phase, which occurred on the 19th of April. That was the first day of voting within a couple of days, I'm sure the BJP, which is backed by the way, absolutely generously by the corporate elite of India. So they have plenty of money. They must have conducted exit polls for themselves. You're not allowed to publish them, but you can conduct exit polls how you're doing. And it became very clear to the BJP and to Mr. Modi that their party was doing badly. And so within two days of that, the entire campaign rhetoric changed. (40:00) It went from how we are going to create a developed India with a 5 trillion economy and the whatever, the third largest economy in the world, and all this completely castles in the economic castles in the air. But we've seen that to essentially demonizing Muslims, which is what the BJ does. Whenever they realize that they're in trouble, they shift to this anti-Muslim rhetoric. So this, and the kind of rhetoric that has issued from the mouth of Mr. Modi has been absolutely horrific. I mean, it has plumbed depth of, how can you say, of coarseness that has never been witnessed, ever. And people have criticized him, but it is very clear that they were already panicking, and now the results are out and they're panicking because as I say, this kind of economic pain that you are visiting on Indians cannot be electorally costless. And you see, in 2014, Mr. (41:04) Modi won. It was a novelty. He was fully backed by the corporate capitalist class. The propaganda machine was in full motion, and the opposition was divided. It was not united. In 2019, they would've lost, actually, many people were saying that they were going to lose. Many seasoned psychologists were saying that. But at the very last minute, Mr. Modi pulled a defense and security rabbit out of his hat. There was an incident in which he claimed to be striking, making strikes across the border on Pakistan, on a place called Bako. And that these strikes were going to show that India was ruled by a tough leader and who was not going to give into Pakistans dastardly infiltration, et cetera, et cetera, and terrorist activities and blah, blah and so on, all of which is heavily you should take with barrels of salt. But nevertheless, this apparently transformed the election campaign, and there was the pre court assessments and the post bar court assessments, and he won. And even then he won, but he added a mere 20 something seats to his tally. So it was not such a great thing. Even with the Bala coat effect this time around, he wanted to add fully 70 seats to his tally. It's not going to be that. It's not that easy, as you can see. So there were exceptional circumstances, and this many people are saying is a more normal election. And in this normal election, Mr. Modi, it looks is headed for a humiliating setback, if not defeat. We'll have to see. Wilmer Leon (42:43): And I don't think we can talk about India without talking about nuclear weapons. India is a nuclear power. How does that play out on the world stage, in spite of all the things that you've just articulated and very clearly, thank you very much. That's always in the background. India is a nuclear power. How does that play on the world stage as related? Go ahead. Dr Rekha Desai (43:15): Yeah, I mean, in India, so the India's nuclear weapons are really not very substantial or not very many. I think it matters most in the confrontation between India and Pakistan. Pakistan, but also to some extent this border of dispute that India has with China, which we can discuss. But historically, if you think about it, India went in for a nuclear weapons development program in the sixties after being defeated in the 1962 war with China, in which China did not take any territory. China inflicted defeat on India and then withdrew to the original position just to say, look, we don't wish to solve this problem militarily. We wish to solve it through negotiation. And the Chinese have more or less stuck to that. But China has always been a very big factor in India's nuclear program. And so as you know, in 1972, India had conducted its first nuclear test. (44:19) India has never joined the nuclear non-proliferation treatment. And then in 1998, when Mr. The Prime Minister who headed the previous JP government, BJP LED government, I should say, that was a coalition government, but the BJP was the leading element of that coalition. Mr. Wapa, within days of coming to office, conducted a second nuclear test and then wrote a letter, this was back in 1998, wrote a letter to President Clinton, more or less explicitly saying that India having conducted its next nuclear test, was available to the Americans as a counterweight to China. So that is the larger configuration. I don't think India imagines that it is going to win a war with China, but I hope they don't anyway, because it was certainly not going to. But the weapons are supposed to be some sort of a final defense. So the nuclear weapons matter to India vis-a-vis Pakistan, and to some extent vis-a-vis China. Wilmer Leon (45:25): And quickly you've made reference to the India China relationship. Elaborate on that before we get into the discussion about American domestic politics. Dr Rekha Desai (45:36): Well, very briefly, I would say that India is increasingly outclassed by China. China is economic dynamism, puts India to shame. I would say that the previous government, the UPA government that ruled India from 2004 to 2014 began to embark on a strategy of creating greater employment and putting more money into the pockets of ordinary Indians and taking care of basic needs and so on, which if continued, would have put India on a much better track. Certainly not as good as China, but certainly on a much better track. But of course, Mr. Modi interrupted that, and we've had 10 years of exceedingly harmful economic policies under Mr. Modi. So economically, India is outclassed by China, and I would say that India, whereas up until now 2014, when Mr. Modi was elected, India was making small progress in resolving some of the border disputes with China, which can easily be resolved. (46:46) Some progress was being made. Mr. Modi has largely reversed that progress. Now, very briefly, let me just say that really I think that if India were to give up its insistence on lines on the map, which were drawn by the colonial powers, and try to seek an amicable, try negotiate with China amicably in a way that takes the interest of the people in these border regions, places them foremost, rather than claim to this or that piece of territory, I think that India and China can easily resolve their border disputes. Think of it this way, China has many borders with many countries, and it has resolved all its border disputes with all its neighbors except the one with India. India by contrast also has many neighbors. It has many border disputes, and it has resolved none of them. So that's the one very simple way of looking at it. So India's position has been unreasonable that Unreason was beginning to be unraveled to considerable extent, I think under the previous Congress led government. But under Mr. Modi, all that progress has been reversed Wilmer Leon (48:04): In your explaining India's inability to resolve those conflicts is part of that, because in the minds of many leaders, conflict brings about coalition that Israel is an example of that. One of the tenets of Zionism is, and Netanyahu says this all the time, you all need me to protect you because the wolves are at the door, and if I'm not here, they'll devour us all. Joe Biden, many believe right now is in deep trouble and is trying to create himself to be a wartime president. Is that in any of the thinking or logic of why these border disputes are not being resolved? Dr Rekha Desai (48:52): Well, okay. So first of all, let me just say that I think conflict brings consolidation, consolidation of your social base, not necessarily coalition, because you have to remember one very important respect in which the Israeli electoral system is completely different from the Indian election. Wilmer Leon (49:08): Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I was speaking on a very broad level. Dr Rekha Desai (49:13): Well, because Israel has an exceedingly permissive form of proportional representation, so that parties with even a tiny number of votes can have representation in parliament. And this allows the more extreme parties, extreme right parties to also get representation in the Israeli parliament. India does not have a PR system at all. It has a first pass the post electoral system. And that of course, can translate a small, for example, in this election, a relatively small change in the percentage of the vote can translate into a very big change in the number of seats won by a given party. So India has this first pass, the post electoral system, and that has been very important in giving Mr. Modi his majorities. And yes, rattling the Sabre and raising the issues of defense and terrorism can certainly help. Mr. Modi has helped Mr. Modi in the past, in 2019 in particular, to essentially win a majority, again, even a slightly increased majority. So that certainly helps. And historically, yes, defense issues have been to consolidate a social base, but on the whole, I would say that the Congress has been much less willing to sort of weaponize defense issues. And the BJP has been much more willing to do. So Wilmer Leon (50:43): Switching to, well, is there anything else you want to be sure that we cover on this election issue before we move on? Dr Rekha Desai (50:50): No, I think it's good. Okay. Wilmer Leon (50:54): Okay. Alright. Well then with that, quickly, your thoughts on the current state of the Biden administration. His numbers are horrible. According to real clear politics, he has a 55.8, or we could say 56% disapproval rating. He has a 65.8 or 66% of those believe the country's on the wrong track. In the wake of Trump's guilty verdict in the New York Business Documents trial, Trump is still up by nine percentage points. And also when you look at the Battleground states eight, by many calculations, Joe Biden isn't winning one of them. It's becoming harder and harder to see how Joe Biden gets to the 270 electoral votes that he needs. Your thoughts? Dr Rekha Desai (51:58): Well, I think that what you're looking at in the United States is really the sort of cumulative result of following neoliberal policies basically, so that essentially neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Biden are anything other than neoliberal. Mr. Biden will pepper his neoliberalism with a certain amount of socially progressive politics, but that's the only difference between them. And so what you are seeing is on the one hand, a very large protest vote against these sorts of policies going to Mr. Trump because Mr. Trump is essentially saying to people, I know you guys are suffering and I know how to solve your problems. You're suffering because of China. So instead of saying that you're suffering because of neoliberalism, which he's not going to give up on, he's offering a false solution to the problems of the people. But nevertheless, this seems to work better than what Mr. Biden is saying, which is offering more of the same. (53:02) And Mr. Biden's. So-called omics is actually not working either. So that, because again, it is not that different by the way, from the policy pursued by Mr. Modi. Mr. Biden also pursues a policy whose overriding priority is to look after the interests of the big corporations of the United States, not to solve the employment crisis or solve the housing crisis or to solve the health and indebtedness crisis or anything like that. And in the United States, the only people who seem to be talking a different type of economic policy are the non duopoly candidates, chiefly Jill Stein, and of course to Dr. West. These are the people who are talking about progressive economic policies. The existing duopoly has nothing to offer the American people. And let me say that by contrast, one of the heartening things about this election and the last few years in India has been that Congress, which was, I would've faulted it in the past 10 years ago, for still being too neoliberal Congress, having suffered a drum in 2014. (54:15) And in 2019 has improved its game on two fronts very, very well. Number one, it has engaged in some major exercises of reconnecting with the people, particularly essentially this walking journey that that Rahul Gandhi did across the country from south to north, stopping in everywhere and literally walking thousands of miles. That was a very good way of reconnecting and re-energizing the Congress organization. And very importantly, they seem to have understood that if you are to win in India in the present circumstances, you need to proclaim and pursue a far more progressive set of economic policies that look at issues of employment. And I haven't even mentioned, you asked me whether there was something else I should mention. I haven't yet mentioned agrarian distress being squeezed on both sides on the one side, by rising prices of inputs, which are increasingly produced by big corporations, and on the other side by diminishing prices of outputs, which again, which are typically bought by big corporations. So you can see these poor farmers being squeezed. The spate of farmers suicides in India are very high. So Congress has learned from all this that you need progressive policies for farmers, for the urban sector, for creating employment, for dealing with debt issues, providing education, all of these things. And they have actually come out with a pretty decent manifesto. And I would say that if they were to get a chance to implement it, I'm sure that they will only go further in a progressive or left-wing direction rather than pull their punches. Wilmer Leon (56:07): Interesting. You mentioned that the suicide rate of farmers is up in India because the suicide rate is up dramatically, particularly among white males in the United States. You mentioned the omics, Joe Biden doesn't mention omics that much on the campaign trail, and we hear the American economy is doing so well. But to your point about Joe Biden as looking out for the elite, that's the financialized side of the American economy that is doing well. The banks are doing well, corporations are doing well, but the regular part of this economy, debt is up dramatically. Prices are up, inflation is up, and unemployment, if you really look at the numbers in terms of the number of people working compared to people here have a, I think, try to make a false equivalency that every job means one person working. What we're dealing with here is one person working multiple low wage jobs just to remain poor. Hence we see the unhoused, the rate of the unhoused in the United States is up. So when you look at the real numbers and speak to this, please, as an economist, when you look at the real numbers, things aren't going nearly as well as Joe Biden and the Biden administration would want people to believe. Dr Rekha Desai (57:55): Absolutely. I mean, the whole employment issue has long been a boondoggle in the United States. The United States loves to advertise itself as this job generating machine of an economy, but what is the quality of the jobs generated by them? If you have to have two or more jobs in order to keep body and soul together in order to feed your children, then what kind of a job is that? Wilmer Leon (58:18): And many of those jobs don't come with health benefits don't come with vacation. They're low wage. In Dr Rekha Desai (58:25): Fact, I don't know if you remember, but this is not a new problem. This goes back to the election of George Bush Jr. When he was running for reelection. Apparently some poor lady said to him that, oh, she was working three jobs and so on. And she said, look, she's such a great hero. She's working three jobs, completely missing the point that why should anyone have to juggle three jobs in order to make a living? And that too, as you rightly say, not really a living in order just to be poor. And this is the situation. And by the way, in India, as I say, a lot of people are also claiming that they are going to look at so many, there's so much entrepreneurship in India. There's so much self-employment, a lot of what is called self-employment in India isn't self-employment. It's desperation. If you have no job, of course you will do anything. You'll buy bottle brushes and go sell them on or buy peanuts and go sell them on the train for the few rupees you will make. And the difference between your buying costs and your selling costs. And that may still not give you anything more than a meal or maybe half a meal or two square meals a day if that. But what about clothing? What about food? What about what? I mean housing, what about education? All these things are not there for people. Wilmer Leon (59:43): It's the difference between living and existing. Dr Rekha Desai (59:46): Exactly. Exactly. So this is the situation in India, and I think that these election results are showing that. And as I say, I think by the way, there was another parallel between the American situation and the Indian situation. A lot of people felt essentially unenthused by this election. So they may not have those people who Modi was trying to enthus to support him, may have simply sat at home and said, we are not going out. And as you know, the election campaign was very long drawn out because it would give Mr. Moy a chance to campaign in each phase. You see, because he regards himself as the only board deliverer of his party, which means there is no second level leadership in the party, which Wilmer Leon (01:00:39): Is in fact, isn't he on record as saying, I don't have a successor. The people are my successor. Isn't he on record as saying something ridiculous like that? He's Dr Rekha Desai (01:00:50): Been saying some pretty peculiar things recently. In fact, one of the most outlandish things he said recently, he said some, he gave a spate of interviews just before the election, and in fact during the election, and the purpose of this was that some phoning media person who is not a tall critical, who throws them all sorts of soft balls in order to make him look good. So one particularly phoning interviewer asked him, Mr. Modi, where do you get your amazing energy from? You've been campaigning, blah, blah, et cetera. So he said, he says, well, as long as my mother was alive, I didn't quite credit this, but I have always felt that I'm not biological, essentially, that I have not been born of my mother, that the Almighty has created me and sent me here to fulfill a certain purpose. Now, I mean, just imagine the guys, I mean, it's, it's madness. If you told me this and you were a politician, I would say Wilma. Okay, it's all right. You told me this. But don't tell anyone else. Just keep quiet about it, even if you think so. Wilmer Leon (01:01:58): In fact, you'd say, I have a friend I'd like for you to talk to who is trained to talk to people like you. Dr Rekha Desai (01:02:10): So anyway, so he's been saying some completely nonsensical things recently because as I say, he has been in a panic mode and he'll say anything basically and trying to, so anyway, he's been trying to garner votes. And the other really interesting thing is that you will remember that in January, the Mr. Modi elaborately conducted this elaborately stage managed consecration of the temple to Lord Ram, which is being built on this moss that was destroyed back in 1992. It's a big vo. We can't discuss all of this. But let me just say that this consecration exercise, which was, as I say, carefully choreographed to highlight Mr. Modi and his role, and he was, in fact, it was not the priests who were consecrating it as though it was he who was consecrating it. And it was a practically fascistic exercise I'll have. And he thought that this was going to be his baah court, that in the now 2019, there were those strikes and that this would deliver him the votes. There was next to zero temple effect in the electorate. You asked people, most of them didn't bring it up. They said, where are the jobs? Look at the inflation. How are we supposed to eat well enough? Et cetera, et cetera. So this did not work. Wilmer Leon (01:03:34): And as we get out, you mentioned anticipated low voter turnout in India. I have been saying for a very long time that a huge problem that is on the horizon for President Biden is not going to be people changing parties, is going to be and voting for Donald Trump or voting for Joe Stein or Dr. West. It's going to be people staying home raking leaves. That's going to be his huge problem. Your Dr Rekha Desai (01:04:07): Thoughts. I think that certainly this year in India, the voter turnout is only marginally lower than the previous time. But given that it is in roughly two thirds of the people have voted in the last election and this one. But I suspect that it's a question of who votes, right? So maybe his supporters stay at home and the supporters of the India block, which is the Congress led coalition, came out and voted. It's very possible that that's kind of what's happening. Wilmer Leon (01:04:38): Well, let me say as always to you, Dr. Ika Desai, thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining me today. Dr Rekha Desai (01:04:48): It's always a great pleasure, Wilma. Wilmer Leon (01:04:50): Folks, thank you all so much for listening to the Connecting the Dots podcast with me, Dr. Wilmer Leon. Stay tuned for new episodes every week. And by the way, if there are issues, if there are topics that you need me to connect the dots on for you, then please provide your suggestions in the comments below. Also, please follow and subscribe. Leave a review, share the show, go to the Patreon account and please make a contribution. This is where analysis, culture, politics, and history converge. Talk without analysis is just chatter. And as you can see with brilliant guests like Dr. Desai, we do not chatter on connecting the dots. See you again next time. Until then, I'm Dr. Wilmer Leon. Have a great one. Peace. We're out Announcer (01:05:50): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge.

Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.Modi claims victory in India's election but drop in support forces him to rely on coalition partnersSummary: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won a third term in office following an election that was expected to be a landslide for his BJP party, but which ended up being a relatively close victory that will necessitate he rely upon allied parties to maintain a majority.Context: The BJP's National Democratic Alliance, which is a right-wing coalition of parties led by Modi and the BJP, won a total of 294 seats—which is more than the 272 required to lock-in a majority—but this is the first time the BJP wasn't able to achieve that many seats itself since 2014 when it originally swept into power; it only attained 240 seats on its own, compared to the 370 Modi predicted they would receive while on the campaign trail, which means his party may have to cater to the priorities of its allies more than was anticipated.—The Associated PressOne Sentence News is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.In shift, Biden issues order allowing temporary border closure to migrantsSummary: On Tuesday, US President Biden issued a new executive order that prevents migrants who enter the country illegally from seeking asylum when illegal crossing numbers are high, allowing border officers to return those who enter the country to Mexico, or to their home countries.Context: This rule, which the ACLU has said it will challenge in court, activates after the seven-day average for illegal crossings hits 2,500 migrants, which is fairly common at this point; the border then reopens after the number of such crossings drops back down to 1,500 people for a continuous seven days, and then remains at that point or lower for two weeks; this is very similar to policies that former President Trump enacted and attempted while in office, and it's similar to a piece of legislation that almost made it through Congress earlier this year, before being blocked by Republicans in February, apparently at the behest of Trump, who reportedly told supporters that allowing Biden to take action at the border would hurt Republicans in the upcoming election.—The New York TimesNew Texas stock exchange takes aim at New York's dominanceSummary: A new stock exchange that plans to file with the SEC later this year is being set up in Texas, and has raised around $120 million from some major players in the investment world.Context: The Texas Stock Exchange is meant to complete with the Nasdaq and NYSE by doing away with some of the regulations that apply to businesses trading on those exchanges, like those related to board diversity and compliance costs; the TXSE is planned to be entirely electronic, with a symbolic physical presence in downtown Dallas; other exchanges have popped up around the US over the years, likewise attempting to compete with New York's duopoly, but all of them have faltered and plateaud, so far, though the folks backing this Texas-based entrant, including Blackrock and Citadel, suggest this one might have a little more prestige and weight behind it than those that have come before.—The Wall Street JournalDespite tariffs that are being deployed or discussed throughout the Western world, Chinese EVs—which are generally considered to be high-quality, and are almost always cheaper (sometimes substantially so) than their competitors—have seen a large number of new registrations across Europe, jumping a quarter this year so far, alone.—Financial Times$2 billionValue of the US audiobook market in 2023, according to new data from the Audio Publishers Association.That's up about 9% from the previous year, this growth attributed to an increase in the popularity of the format amongst US adults, about 52% of whom have listened to an audiobook, and 38% of whom have listened to an audiobook in the past year.—Publishers WeeklyTrust Click Get full access to One Sentence News at onesentencenews.substack.com/subscribe

pWotD Episode 2591: National Democratic Alliance Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.With 356,392 views on Wednesday, 5 June 2024 our article of the day is National Democratic Alliance.The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) (ISO: Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāṁtrika Gaṭhabaṁdhana) is a right-wing conservative Indian political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded in 1998 and currently controls the government of India as well as the government of 19 Indian states and one Union territory.Its first chairman was then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee. L. K. Advani, the former Deputy Prime Minister, took over as chairman in 2004 and served until 2014, and Amit Shah has been the chairman since 2014. The coalition ruled from 1998 to 2004. The alliance returned to power in the 2014 general elections with a combined vote share of 38.5%. Its leader Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014. In the 2019 general election, the alliance further increased its tally to 353 seats with combined vote share of 45.43%. In the 2024 general election, the alliance lost 60 seats, but the alliance won enough seats to form a coalition government, the first in over 10 years.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:47 UTC on Thursday, 6 June 2024.For the full current version of the article, see National Democratic Alliance on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm Arthur Neural.

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It's the 5th of June and here are today's headlines.The National Democratic Alliance is likely to stake a claim to form government for the third consecutive time today, after the meeting at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence. Earlier today, Modi tendered his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu along with his Council of Ministers. He is likely to take oath for a third consecutive term on the 8th of June. This is the first time since Jawaharlal Nehru that a prime minister will be returning to power for a third consecutive term. With the BJP failing to go past the majority mark on their own, their allies Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar are in Delhi today for a meeting.As the INDIA bloc leaders prepare to meet at Congress President Malllikarjun Kharge's residence today, NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar said that there had been no discussion within the bloc on reaching out to the TDP or JD(U) to shore up the numbers of the alliance for government formation. Congress leader KC Venugopal said that the INDIA bloc's tally in the Lok Sabha Elections was “excellent” and that the alliance leaders would discuss their strategy at the meeting.While taking responsibility for the setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party Maharashtra in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha elections, Devendra Fadnavis today offered to step down as the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and work for the party. Fadnavisa said the Lok Sabha election results were way below the party's expectations.This is the second time that Fadnavis has expressed his wish to remain outside the government and lead the BJP unit.A city court has rejected Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's interim bail plea in a money laundering case related to the excise policy, even as it extended his judicial custody till 19th of June. Special judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Courts dismissed Kejriwal's plea seeking interim bail for seven days on medical grounds. The blow comes just a day after the Kejriwal's party AAP failed to make a mark in the Lok Sabha elections, with the BJP dominating the national capital for the third time in a row, winning all seven Lok Sabha seats.Wishes poured in from across the world for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance for a third term in a row as they won 293 Lok Sabha seats. The American daily The Washington Post called India's Lok Sabha election results 2024 as determined by Indian voters to be an "unexpected repudiation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership." British daily The Guardian said "it was clear that the landslide for the BJP predicted in polls had not materialised and instead there had been a pushback against the strongman prime minister and his Hindu nationalist politics in swathes of the country."This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

US says response from Hamas on truce deal still awaited https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/live-blog-us-says-response-from-hamas-on-truce-deal-still-awaited-18169816 A response from Palestinian resistance group Hamas on US President Joe Biden's ceasefire proposal is still being awaited, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has told reporters. CIA Director Bill Burns will be in Doha to consult with Qatari mediators on the Gaza ceasefire proposal, Sullivan said. Qatar has been mediating on Gaza between Israel and Hamas. *) Urgent call in Morocco to bar suspected ship with Indian weapons for Israel https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/urgent-call-in-morocco-to-bar-suspected-ship-with-indian-weapons-for-israel-18169838 An activist group in Morocco has urged the government to block a cargo ship suspected of transporting Indian weapons to Israel from passing through its territorial waters. Sailing under the flag of Luxembourg, the commercial ship departed from India on April 18 and is set to arrive at the Spanish port of Cartagena on Wednesday, the National News reported. To enter the Mediterranean, ships travelling east from the Atlantic must pass through the Strait of Gibraltar, which separates Spain and Morocco. *) Prosecutors paint Hunter Biden as driven by addiction in gun trial https://www.trtworld.com/us-and-canada/prosecutors-paint-hunter-biden-as-driven-by-addiction-in-gun-trial-18169825 Jurors have heard unsparing accounts of Hunter Biden's drug use in his own words as his trial on gun charges, the first-ever prosecution of a child of a sitting US president, has gotten under way. Hunter Biden, 54, the only surviving son of President Joe Biden, is charged with lying about his illegal drug use when buying a handgun in 2018, a felony. He is also charged with illegal possession of the firearm. *) Two pilots killed as training aircraft crashes in central Türkiye https://www.trtworld.com/turkiye/two-pilots-killed-as-training-aircraft-crashes-in-central-turkiye-18169536 Two pilots were killed after a training aircraft crashed in central Türkiye, the country's National Defence Ministry has said. The SF-260D type aircraft belonging to the Air Forces Command, which took off from the 12th Air Transport Main Base Command in Kayseri for training, crashed for an unknown reason, the ministry said on social media platform X. Search and rescue efforts have begun. And finally… *) India's Modi declares historic victory, but fails to win ‘big majority' https://www.trtworld.com/asia/indias-modi-declares-historic-victory-but-fails-to-win-big-majority-18169400 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed victory for the ruling National Democratic Alliance, terming it a “historical feat” in the history of the South Asian country. As per the final tally, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies won 295 seats, while the opposition Indian National Congress and its allies were trailing with 231 seats. 17 seats were won by other candidates in the 543-member lower house of India's parliament.

①India's ruling National Democratic Alliance, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP, has secured a majority of the seats in the lower house of Parliament.(00:58) ②Foreign Minister Wang Yi has expressed China's willingness to maintain cooperation with Turkiye at various levels in his meeting with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.(11:30) ③British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faced off against Labour challenger Keir Starmer in their first televised debate before a general election next month. What are the key issues in the British election? (25:10) ④The U.S. labor market is showing further signs of cooling.(35:53) ⑤Chinese provinces have been rolling out policies to incentivize companies to offer flexible job roles and make it easier for families to balance work and childcare.(45:30)

PM Modi submits resignation to President, likely to be sworn in for 3rd term on June 8, Nitish, Tejashwi take same flight to Delhi for NDA, INDIA meets, West Bengal Lok Sabha Election Results 2024 Highligts: TMC retains dominance in West Bengal; wins 29 seats, 2014-2023 saw the highest level of decadal global warming ever recorded, PM Modi's smaller mandate to slow India's fiscal tightening, Moody's says

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Wednesday, June 5, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started: The people have spoken. Results of the 2024 General Election are here, and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is set to form the government at the Centre. This time, however, no single party got an absolute majority. Far from the centre's seat of power in Delhi, Dalal Street in Mumbai saw a milestone day. The last two days have been a rollercoaster ride for the Indian markets. The markets, which were soaring a day before results - on the back of a strong comeback predicted for the BJP by pollsters - saw a day of bloodbath on Tuesday. Investors lost more than ₹31 trillion on Tuesday as benchmark indices plunged. Both Nifty and Sensex saw a fall of close to 6 per cent - the biggest since the first pandemic-induced lockdown was announced on March 23 2020. Mint's markets correspondent Ram Sahgal reports on the biggest market crash in four years. Coalition politics is back. A decade after the BJP won a majority on its own for the first time, NDA - the coalition led by it, is seeing a comeback to power. Narendra Modi is set to become the Prime Minister for a third straight term. While the NDA's tally of about 290 is nowhere close to the government's call for “400 paar”, the coalition made a dent in key southern states. The BJP finally breached Kerala, winning one seat in the state. In Tamil Nadu, the BJP failed to open its account but saw its vote share rise to 11% from earlier 3.7%. The opposition INDIA bloc is likely to secure 234 seats led by the Indian National Congress, which has nearly doubled its strength in Parliament to 99 seats. The crown jewel of the BJP's electoral victories in the past - Uttar Pradesh - favoured the opposition alliance over the BJP. The Congress and the Samajwadi Party-led INDIA bloc outnumbered the NDA by 43 to 33. Modi's BJP also broke into new territories in the east - notably Odisha, where it not only swept the Lok Sabha election but also closed in on a majority in the state assembly. The results also imply that Modi will now have to rely on his allies - mainly TDP's Chandrababu Naidu and JDU's Nitish Kumar - for a stable government at the centre. Mint's Sayantan Bera and N Madhavan report on the results of the world's largest election. N Madhavan also explains the verdict of 2024 in today's Mint Primer. From a setback for the BJP in the heartland states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, to the return of regional parties, the 2024 verdict was full of surprises. Despite holding 206 public meetings and rallies over the course of the last 45 days, it became evident that Modi's magic too has its limits. The Lok Sabha will also boast of a stronger Opposition - something that was missing for a decade. Another insight from the verdict is how inaccurate exit polls can be. Most of the pollsters missed the mark massively this election.As the BJP-led NDA appears set to continue its tenure with a reduced majority, industries across India are looking forward to policy stability and the extension of current incentives. The technology sector is particularly focused on advancing India's semiconductor capabilities, enhancing AI regulation, and implementing crucial digital laws such as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act and the upcoming Digital India Bill. Meanwhile, the telecom sector anticipates the enactment of new rules under the forthcoming telecom bill, along with potential tariff revisions. The aviation industry hopes for the establishment of global aviation hubs, and a reduction in jet fuel taxes to improve operational economics. There's also a significant focus on incentives for electric vehicles and regulations affecting fuel economy and emissions, which are crucial for the road transport sector. Gulveen Aulakh takes a look at the expectations of major industrial sectors from the upcoming government at the centre. Yesterday's results had one outstanding result: that the BJP would not be able to form a government on its own. We invited Surjit Bhalla, economist and author, to opine on this historic result. Bhalla writes that no exit poll got this election right — especially the rise of the INDIA coalition. UP, West Bengal, and Maharashtra stood out for the new age coalition group. Bhalla also writes that the lower turnout could have hampered the NDA's chances at a greater majority. Lastly, he writes that this election is a victory for many stakeholders, but none bigger than the one for the average Indian voter, who has made their voice resonant.  We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at feedback@livemint.com. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes: Slender win for NDA queers pitch for street, investors lose ₹31 trillionINDIA heat wilts lotus, coalition saves the dayMint Primer: The 2024 verdict in three minutesMint Explainer: What major industries expect from the next governmentFailure has many mothers: The Indian voter gets it right again

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Monday, June 3, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started:2024's marathon seven-phase elections finally came to an end on Saturday, with voters across 57 constituencies exercising their democratic rights. In just 24 hours, elections officers across the country will start counting votes that will decide the future of India. The pollsters, however, have already spoken. Almost all of the exit polls predicted a sweeping victory for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance , and along with a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Buoyed by the poll predictions, market experts expect Nifty to surge by 2.5-3% when markets open today. This expectation is leading to a scramble among foreign institutional investors and proprietary traders to cover short positions, anticipating the NDA securing well over the expected 300-310 seats. Exit polls predict around 350 seats for the NDA, with some forecasts even suggesting as many as 400 seats. This is likely to boost market sentiment as it solidifies expectations of continued policy and fiscal stability. Mint's markets correspondents Ram Sahgal and Dipti Sharma report the bullish sentiment among traders on D-street on the eve of election results. Artificial intelligence systems, often compared to "black boxes," work in complex ways that are hard to explain. Like the human brain, they process information through multiple layers but, unlike humans, their decision-making paths are not easily traceable. This makes it difficult to understand why an AI makes certain choices, such as a self-driving car failing to stop for a pedestrian. To address these challenges, the field of explainable AI or XAI aims to make AI decisions more transparent and understandable. Mint's senior editor Leslie D'monte explains the emergence of this new field, which involves developing methods to clarify AI processes, auditing these decisions, and implementing regulatory measures to ensure accountability. Companies like Google, Microsoft, and IBM, alongside research institutions and government bodies, are actively working on XAI technologies. India's external debt, at 18% of its GDP, is relatively low among G20 countries, as pointed out by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. However, to fully understand what India owes to other countries, it's better to look at the International Investment Position, which covers all foreign financial assets and liabilities. This includes the country's reserves and any domestic assets owned by foreigners, such as investments and loans. India's net international investment position is negative, meaning the country owes more to the rest of the world than it owns in foreign assets. This debt increased from 60 billion dollars in 2003 to 396 billion dollars in 2023, rising from 9.9% to 11.1% of its GDP. This status places India among countries that owe more internationally than they possess, writes Deepa Vasudevan. In India, the services sector is taking the lead when it comes to starting new businesses. Out of nearly 16,000 firms that popped up in April, 72% were in services, while manufacturing tagged along at 15%. That's what the latest data from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs tells us. This isn't just a one-off thing; services have been dominating the new business scene for a while. As of April this year, 65% of all active companies in India were in the services sector. That's a jump from 61% back in 2015. Throughout the last financial year, the services sector consistently claimed 70-72% of all new business registrations each month, dipping slightly to 69% in April 2023. So, what kind of services are we talking about? Well, it's a broad mix—everything from schools and hospitals to fitness centers and professional associations. Mint's senior editor Gireesh Chandra Prasad reports these numbers. India's savings landscape is seeing a potential shift, claim  economic analysts. After years of decline, financial savings—like cash, bank deposits, and investments—might actually be on the rise. In 2011-12, these savings were 7.4% of our GDP, but by 2022-23, they dropped to 5.3%. Now, Goldman Sachs and Crisil suggest we might see these savings bump up to 6% of GDP for 2023-24. What's driving this? Even though our economy grew by 8.2% last year, it looks like households might be tightening their belts, possibly boosting their savings as private consumption cools down. But what does this mean for the economy? Normally, if folks are saving rather than spending, it's not great news for economic vibrancy. However, these savings do provide essential funds for businesses to invest and grow, so it's not all doom and gloom.Looking at the broader picture, India's total savings rate, which combines savings from households, businesses, and the government, dipped from about 35% of GDP in 2011-12 to 30% by 2022-23. But for the current fiscal year, it's expected to inch up slightly above 31%. The drop over the past decade is mainly due to a decline in household savings, which fell from about 24% of GDP to 18%. This Long Story by howindialives.com takes a deep dive into the rise in India's savings, and whether it is a sustainable rise.  We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at feedback@livemint.com. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Show notes:Markets likely to open higher as exit polls signal sweep for NDAWill decoding AI ‘black boxes' make AI models safer? India can cheer its low debt, but here's the catchAt 72%, service sector dominates new business registrations in AprilIndians may have saved more in FY24. Is the rise sustainable?

First, we are joined by Indian Express' Santosh Singh and Vikas Pathak who break down Nitish Kumar's return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.Second, we talk about a 27-year-old model named Divya Pahuja, who was shot dead at a hotel in Gurugram. Indian Express' Aiswarya Raj joins us to share the details of the case.Lastly, we talk about how the suspension of 11 Rajya Sabha MPs was revoked in light of the upcoming Budget Session of Parliament.Hosted by Rahel PhiliposeWritten and Produced by Rahel Philipose, Shashank Bhargava and Niharika NandaEdited and Mixed by Suresh Pawar

On July 18, the top leaders of 26 Opposition parties joined hands to form INDIA (Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance), a coalition to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the 2024 general elections. The coalition plans to set up an 11-member coordination committee, prepare an action plan, and eventually work out a seat-sharing arrangement.  But is seat adjustment enough for Opposition unity? Here we discuss this question. Guests: Suhas Palshikar taught political science at Savitribai Phule University, Pune, and is chief editor of Studies in Indian Politics; E. Sridharan, the Academic Director and Chief Executive of the University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India Host: Sandeep Phukan

The Punjab is set to see its most crucial Assembly election in decades on 20 February and for the first time, the state is witnessing as many as five parties or coalitions for 117 seats. In the run-up to the election, the Punjab just in the past year has gone through many major developments, starting from the year-long farmers' agitation, which also led to the exit of the Shiromani Akali Dal from the Narendra Modi government as well as National Democratic Alliance. The ruling Congress party in the state has gone through an internal crisis, leading to the ouster of former Chief Minister  Captain Amarinder Singh and the induction of the state's first Dalit CM Charanjit Singh Channi. Months after the historic farmers' agitation ended and the contentious farms laws were repealed, the farmer unions have also joined the political fray, contesting as individual candidates and further changing the political equations. The old parties are also being challenged by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which entered the state's political arena in 2017 and had to content itself with only 20 seats. But this time around, there seems to be a wave of AAP support across the state, with some voters willing to give the 'Delhi model' of governance a chance. With a crowded contest up ahead, what are the big trends in the Punjab? Will the Congress' game plan of fielding CM Channi to rake in the crucial Dalit vote bank work or will the anti-incumbency wave lead to AAP taking away the baton? And how heavy will the farmers' agitation weigh against the BJP? To help us navigate through the ins and outs of this election, joining me today is Aditya Menon, The Quint's Political Editor. Host and Producer: Himmat Shaligram Editor: Aditya Menon Also check out: In Punjab's War Against Drugs, Women Battle Addiction, Assault, and Stigma Beyond Farmers' Protest, the Reality of 'Kisan-Mazdoor Ekta' in Punjab Which is the Real Home? UP Migrants in Punjab Speak on Being From Two States Punjab Elections: No Matter Who Wins, BJP Has Already Succeeded in Its Mission Music: Big Bang Fuzz Listen to The Big Story podcast on: Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQ Deezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5Ng Castbox: http://bit.ly/2VqZ9ur

In this latest SBS Hindi report from India: Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government is likely to withdraw the three contentious farm bills in parliament next week; Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav criticises Modi government's economic policies; Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait accuses AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi of helping the BJP in elections and more.   

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh paid tributes to martyrs and victims of the 26/11 terror attack on the incident's 12th anniversary. He was speaking on Day 3 of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2020. Singh said that the possibility of another 26/11-like attack is virtually impossible, given the changes in national security ushered in by the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government. He said that India has proof of Pakistan's role in not just 26/11, but also the Pulwama and Uri terror attacks. 

Last week, the world saw two highly anticipated elections come to an end. The never-ending 2020 U.S. presidential election finally came to a close—with Democratic challenger and former Vice President Joe Biden capturing the White House. On the other side of the world, tens of millions of voters went to the polls in the north Indian state of Bihar. The election produced a narrow victory for the ruling National Democratic Alliance—a coalition principally made of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its regional ally, the Janata Dal (United) Joining Milan to talk all things elections are Grand Tamasha news-round up regulars Sadanand Dhume of the American Enterprise Institute and theWall Street Journal and Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution. The trio discuss the key lessons of the U.S. 2020 election, the implications for India, and what the election tells us about the configuration of power in the United States come January 2021. Milan, Sadanand, and Tanvi also discuss the Bihar elections, what they say about Modi’s popularity, and the trials and tribulations of the political opposition. Episode notes:“Donald Trump Mashup”Sadanand Dhume, “Will Biden Say Howdy Modi?”Milan Vaishnav, “US: The end of a corrosive chapter”Tanvi Madan, “For Delhi, US election result is consequential in terms of how the next administration approaches China”

The National Democratic Alliance is set to beat a resurgent opposition and 15 years of anti-incumbency to retain power in Bihar, which means Nitish Kumar is all set to take oath as CM for the seventh time.The Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the dominant partner in the NDA. Going by the available leads, its 74 seats are 31 more than what Nitish’s Janata Dal (United) have managed, and just one less than the RJD, which seems to have emerged as the single largest party with 75.ThePrint’s Neelam Pandey explains in this podcast how LJP’s Chirag Paswan’s unusual role also cut the JDU down to size

Belgium and Italy are among the latest countries to tighten restrictions over Covid-19. As cafes, bars and restaurants close for four weeks in Belgium, we get reaction to the move from Steven Rosseel of the Belgian Restaurants Association. Silvia Borrelli, Milan correspondent for the Financial Times, explains the changes being put into place in parts of Italy that are most heavily affected by the pandemic. Also in the programme, new rules that change the way India's farmers do business have sparked protests across the country. Naresh Gujral is an MP from the Shiromani Akali Dal, which describes itself as a farmers' party, and tells us why it has pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance, led by prime minister Narendra Modi, in protest at the reforms. We get the perspective of a farmer who fears that he may have to sell some land to make ends meet as a result of the changes. And Ajit Ranade, chief economist at the Aditya Birla Group makes the case for the new law. Plus, the BBC's Zoe Kleinman tells us why Instagram is being investigated by the Irish privacy watchdog over the way it handles children's personal data.

Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) has quit the Bihar alliance with JD(U) and BJP led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and has decided to fight the elections independently. But only against Nitish Kumar. It continues to be part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance at the Centre. In episode 586 of Cut The Clutter, Shekhar Gupta traces the remarkable trajectories of Ram Vilas Paswan and Nitish Kumar, and the art of using political leverage.

First, we’re speaking with The Indian’s Express’s Mohamed Thaver about why three of the Hindi film industry’s top actors were questioned in a drugs probe.  Then, Assistant Editor Liz Mathew explains the impact of the Shiromani Akali Dal leaving the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. (15:45) And finally, a quick look at an announcement on defence equipment acquisition announced by the government. (23:27) 

With the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Democratic Alliance managing to almost repeat their 2014 performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, from the looks of it the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party failed to stitch up an effective alliance to counter them. Even though issues of agricultural distress, jobs, and law and order featured prominently in discussions about the state, somehow the "Gathbandhan" failed to capitalise on it to reduce the BJP's tally by much. In this episode, we are joined by veteran journalist and editor Hard News, Sanjay Kapoor to make sense of the way in which UP voted in 2019.

Tamil Nadu was one of the only states (the others being Kerala and Punjab) to resist the otherwise comprehensive sweep by the National Democratic Alliance in 2019. Yet, in the simultaneously held Assembly bypolls, the state-level ruling AIADMK was not as comprehensively routed. TN is state that has seen seen some political upheavals lately, with the passing of two senior leaders, J Jayalaithaa and K Karunanidhi. Why did TN resist the NDA sweep? In this episode, Dr Andrew Wyatt from the University of Bristol joins us to talk about how the DMK-Congres alliance managed to hold off the BJP, the historical trajectory of TN politics, and the impetus of regionalism in the state. We talk to him about what the TN assembly elections (2021) in the last segment. You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

The National Democratic Alliance managed to repeat its 2014 election performance in Maharashtra winning 41 seats; the United Progressive Alliance, despite the alliance with the NCP did worse than 2014. This, in a state which has seen farmer mobilisations and caste based agitation (by Marathas and Dalits, but for different reasons) needs to be unpacked. In this episode, Sarthak Bagchi, Assistant Professor at Ahmedabad University joins us to talk about how the Bharatiya Janata Party- Shiv Sena alliance managed to hold on in the state through careful incorporation of disparate caste groups, the importance of entrenched networks and the role of turncoats, and the impact of the Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi and MIM alliance on Dalit-Bahujan politics, and what lies ahead in the Assembly elections for Maharashtra later this year. You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections was even more remarkable than the 2014 win as it covered an even larger expanse across the country. The Narendra Modi wave swept not just the Hindi heartland and BJP strongholds like Gujarat and Maharashtra, but also Karnataka, Assam and Tripura. The BJP also expanded in West Bengal, Odisha and even parts of Telangana. However, there are a handful of states and union territories – accounting for close to 100 seats – that seem to have withstood the Modi wave. In Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Meghalaya and Puducherry, the NDA could secure just five seats out of 100. On the other hand, the UPA did well winning 67 seats in these states.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance’s spectacular victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was propelled by a near complete sweep in the Hindi heartland. The BJP and its allies won 203 out of 225 seats in Hindi-speaking states, the United Progressive Alliance won just seven seats and the Mahagathbandhan won 15 seats. This was particularly surprising as the party had lost three key Hindi heartland states to the Congress in the Assembly elections just six months ago. Many have argued that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity cut across caste and economic backgrounds, at least among Hindu voters. This is largely accurate with a few state-specific exceptions. However, the Lokniti-CSDS post poll survey reveals that a sizeable chunk of Dalit voters in the Hindi heartland may still have voted for the Opposition even though the BJP’s popularity among Dalit voters did increase significantly.

On this episode of the podcast, Prakhar experiments with a new format, scramble- a free flowing, unstructured conversation/monologue focusing on a specific event, person or idea. This episode of Scramble focuses on the key takeaways from the historic victory of BJP led National Democratic Alliance's in the General Elections of India in 2019. Prakhar elucidates, point-by-point, on his analysis of this result while using comparative data from other recent electoral outcomes in India. The attempt is to communicate a post-hoc explanation of the phenomenon. Please note that the content is purely analytical and factual, and at most sprinkled with limited degrees of hypothesis, and in no way reflects on Prakhar's political stance. Prakhar, the host of this podcast, is a student of Economics and Psychology at Columbia University in the City of New York. He has been a student of accountancy, finance and corporate law in the past. He shares immense passion for politics and philosophy and is a ready debater on almost all issues that he comes to face with. TO SUPPORT THIS PODCAST, PLEASE LIKE, SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE. ALSO PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS, WE READ THEM AND EFFECT IMPROVEMENT QUITE RELIGIOUSLY.

Indian shares are set to open with gains on Friday as uncertainty around the Lok Sabha elections faded after a historic mandate won by the Narendra Modi government. Election commission data showed Modi’s National Democratic Alliance has secured 350 seats, with BJP alone winning 303 seats in the 2019 general elections. However, negative global sentiment could limit gains for Indian shares. Asian shares traded near four-month lows and crude oil plunged on worries the US-China trade conflict could turn into a more entrenched strategic dispute between the world’s two largest economies. Indian benchmark indices the BSE Sensex and NSE’s Nifty 50 hit all-time highs in the previous session but settled 0.7 percent lower. In intra-day deals, the Nifty touched 12,000 mark and Sensex crossed 40,000 amid strong sentiment after the trends indicated that the NDA was set for a massive win. Earlier, the BSE Sensex gained as much as 1,015 points to hit a new high of 40,125, surpassing the previous high of 39,571.73 hit on May 21. Meanwhile, Nifty also surged 303 points to hit a record high of 12,041, surpassing the previous high of 11,883, hit on May 21. However, after profit booking, the Sensex settled 299 points lower at 38,811, 1,314 points lower from a record high, while the Nifty50 lost 81 points to end at 11,657, down 384 points from a record high. At 7.00 AM, SGX Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50's trend in India, traded 62.50 points, or 0.54 percent, higher at 11,741.50, indicating a strong start for the Sensex and the Nifty. Stocks to watch: Reliance Capital, GIC Re, Cipla in focus.

Exit polls may have shown the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance returning to power, but the Opposition hasn’t given up the fight. This is clear in how they are holding the Election Commission to account on Electronic Voting Machines. As many as 22 Opposition parties have given a memorandum to the Election Commission, putting forward two key demands:

Most exit polls forecast a majority for the ruling BJP-led NDA in Lok Sabha polls with varying numbers as the seven-phase polling in the general elections ended Sunday Two exit polls telecast by Times Now gave the NDA 296 and 306 seats, while they projected 126 and 132 for the Congress-led UPA The CVoter-Republic exit poll has forecast 287 and 128 seats for the NDA and UPA respectively However, Neta-News X predicted that the National Democratic Alliance could fall short of the majority and win 242 seats. It gave the UPA 164 seats Elections to 542 seats of the Lok Sabha ended Sunday. The majority mark is 272 An exit poll on News 18 forecast that the NDA will win 292-312 seats while it gave 62-72 seats for the UPA Many exit polls predicted that SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh is likely to trump the BJP in the country's politically most crucial state. The BJP had won 71 and its ally Apna Dal two of its 80 seats in 2014 The saffron alliance may not touch even half way mark of 40 in Uttar Pradesh this time, some exit polls said.  The counting of votes will take place on May 23. Listen to this podcast for more.

Nearly half of Uttar Pradesh - 39 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats to be precise - has already voted. In 2014, the BJP won 35 of these seats and Samajwadi Party won four. Both the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress failed to win even one of these 39 constituencies. According to conservative estimates, this time the BJP could be down by around 15 seats in the first four phases alone. However, many other analysts say that the party could lose over 20 of the 35 seats that it had won from the first four phases. The bad news for the National Democratic Alliance is that the subsequent phases might actually be worse for it.

The National Democratic Alliance announced former Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind as its presidential candidate in the run-up to presidential elections next month, leaving the till-then united opposition in disarray.Journalist and author Urmilesh joins Madhu Trehan, Anand Vardhan, Manisha Pande and Atul Chaurasia to discuss how media was left wondering on Modi-Shah’s choice for the next president of the country. We also discuss, 15 people arrested for sedition in Madhya Pradesh for celebrating Pakistan’s Champions Trophy victory, BJP spokesperson’s complaint against journalist Rana Ayyub for criticising its presidential pick and protests in Darjeeling and a lot more. Listen up! There’s a song dedication too. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So, here’s a little sneak peek of the complete episode where we discuss National Democratic Alliance’s presidential pick Ram Nath Kovind, 15 people arrested for sedition in Madhya Pradesh for celebrating Pakistan’s Champions Trophy victory and more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.