MUMBAI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was set to meet his allies on Wednesday to discuss forming the government, a day after his Hindu nationalist party lost its outright majority in parliament in a surprise election verdict.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 240 seats on its own in the general election, 32 short of the halfway mark in the 543-member decision-making lower house, according to official results announced late on Tuesday.
India’s NSE Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex were down about 0.1 percent each in early trade after dropping about 6 percent each on Tuesday as the weaker-than-expected mandate for Modi triggered record foreign outflows and spooked investor sentiment on worries over the pace of reforms.
Volatility rose to the highest since March 2022 on Tuesday, before easing a bit on Wednesday.
The weakened majority for Modi’s alliance could pose challenges for the more ambitious elements of the government’s reform agenda, ratings agency Fitch said.
However, it added: “Despite the slimmer majority, we do expect broad policy continuity to persist, with the government retaining its focus on its capex push, ease of doing business measures, and gradual fiscal consolidation.”
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP won 293 seats, more than 20 ahead of the 272 needed to form a government, but Modi would now have to depend on disparate regional parties whose political loyalties have wavered over the years.
Newspaper said Modi’s halo had dimmed, with the Indian Express’s banner headline reading “India gives NDA a third term, Modi a message.”
Modi’s own victory in his seat of Varanasi, considered one of the holiest cities for Hindus, was subdued, with his margin of victory down from nearly 500,000 votes at the last general election in 2019 to a little over 150,000.
But this reduced victory may not necessarily mean reform paralysis, the chairman of a government finance panel, Arvind Panagariya, said in an editorial in the Economic Times newspaper.
“Despite the reduced majority in parliament, the necessary reforms are entirely feasible. Delivering sustained growth at a accelerated pace can only strengthen the government’s hand in the coming years,” he said.
The opposition INDIA alliance led by Rahul Gandhi’s centrist Congress party won 230 seats, more than forecast. Congress alone won 99, almost double the 52 it won in 2019 — a surprise jump that is expected to boost Gandhi’s standing.
The INDIA alliance was also expected to meet on Wednesday in New Delhi, and discuss a future course of action.
But any efforts at government formation by the opposition were likely stymied by two of the BJP’s key allies endorsing Modi and saying their pre-poll alliance with the party was intact.
India’s Modi, allies to meet after humbling election verdict
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India’s Modi, allies to meet after humbling election verdict
- Modi’s BJP won 240 seats, 32 short of halfway mark in 543-member decision-making lower house
- Modi would now have to depend on disparate regional parties whose political loyalties have wavered
War-torn nations face growing poverty and hunger crisis
- World Bank warns that 39 fragile states are falling further behind as conflicts get deadlier
WASHINGTON: The world’s most desperate countries are falling further and further behind, their plight worsened by conflicts that are growing deadlier and more frequent.
That is the sobering conclusion of the World Bank’s first comprehensive study of how 39 countries contending with “fragile and conflict-affected situations’’ have fared since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020.
“Economic stagnation — rather than growth — has been the norm in economies hit by conflict and instability,” said Ayhan Kose, the World Bank’s deputy chief economist.
Since 2020, the 39 countries, which range from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific to Mozambique in sub-Saharan Africa, have seen their economic output per person fall by an average 1.8 percent a year. In other developing countries, by contrast, it grew by an average of 2.9 percent a year over the same period.
FASTFACT
The World Bank finds that countries involved in high-intensity conflict — which result in more than 150 deaths per million people — experience a cumulative drop of 20% in their gross domestic product, or the output of goods and services, after five years.
More than 420 million people in the fragile economies are living on less than $3 a day — the bank’s definition of extreme poverty. That is more than the combined total of everywhere else, even though the 39 countries account for less than 15 percent of the world’s population.
Many of these countries have long-standing problems with crumbling infrastructure, weak governance, and low educational standards.
People in the 39 countries get an average of just six years of schooling, three years fewer than those in other low- and middle-income countries. Life expectancy is five years shorter, and infant mortality is twice as high.
Increasing conflicts have made things worse.
In the 2000s, the world saw an annual average of just over 6,000 conflicts — in which organized groups used armed force against other groups or civilians and caused at least one death. Now the yearly average exceeds 20,000.
The conflicts are more lethal, too: In the 2000s, they took an average of fewer than 42,000 lives a year. From 2000 through 2024, the number averaged almost 194,000.
Of the 39 countries, 21 are involved in active conflicts, including Ukraine, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Gaza.
The World Bank finds that countries involved in high-intensity conflict — which result in more than 150 deaths per million people — experience a cumulative drop of 20 percent in their gross domestic product, or the output of goods and services, after five years.
More conflict also means more hunger: The World Bank estimated that 18 percent — around 200 million — of the people in the 39 countries are “experiencing acute food insecurity’’ compared with just 1 percent in other low and middle-income countries.
Some countries have managed to escape the cycle of conflict and economic fragility. Kose cites Nepal; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Rwanda; and Sri Lanka as relative success stories.
And the World Bank report notes that the 39 countries do enjoy strengths, including natural resources such as oil and natural gas, and a lot of young, working-age people at a time when many economies are aging.
“Some of them are very rich when it comes to their tourism potential,’’ Kose said.
“But you need to have security established. You and I are not going to go and visit these places unless they are safe, even though they might be the most beautiful places in the world.’’
Man pleads not guilty to hate crimes in attack on Colorado demonstration for Israeli hostages
- Mohamed Sabry Soliman was indicted earlier this week on 12 hate crime counts in the June 1 attack
- Soliman’s attorney, David Kraut, entered the not guilty plea on Soliman’s behalf during a quick hearing
DENVER: A man accused of hurling Molotov cocktails at a group of people who were demonstrating in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages pleaded not guilty Friday to federal hate crime charges.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman was indicted earlier this week on 12 hate crime counts in the June 1 attack. He is accused of trying to kill eight people who were hurt by the Molotov cocktails and others who were nearby.
Soliman’s attorney, David Kraut, entered the not guilty plea on Soliman’s behalf during a quick hearing.
Magistrate Judge Kathryn Starnella noted that lawyers had acknowledged that a plea agreement in the case was possible later.
Soliman, wearing a khaki jail uniform, entered the courtroom smiling and holding an envelope in his handcuffed hands. His right hand and arm were wrapped in a thick bandage as they were when he appeared in court last week, when an investigators testified that Soliman had burned himself as he threw the second of two Molotov cocktails at the group.
He listened to a translation of the hearing provided by an Arabic interpreter through headphones. He did not speak during the hearing.
Investigators say Soliman told them he intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly demonstration on Boulder’s Pearl Street pedestrian mall. But he threw just two of his over two dozen Molotov cocktails while yelling “Free Palestine.”
Soliman, who is also being prosecuted in state court for attempted murder and other charges, told investigators he tried to buy a gun but was not able to because he was not a “legal citizen.”
He posed as a gardener, wearing a construction vest, to get close to the group before launching the attack, according to court documents. He was also indicted for using fire and an explosive to attack the group and for carrying an explosive, which were included in the hate crime counts.
Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, has been living in the US illegally with his family.
Soliman is being represented in state and federal court by public defenders who do not comment on their cases to the media.
Prosecutors say the victims were targeted because of their perceived or actual national origin.
At a hearing last week, Kraut, Soliman’s defense attorney, urged Starnella not to allow the case to move forward. Kraut said the alleged attack was not a hate crime. He said it was motivated by opposition to Zionism, the movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel.
An attack motivated by someone’s political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.
Two sentenced in Texas for role in deaths of 53 migrants
- Felipe Orduna-Torres, 30, headed a network that brought adults and children from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico into the US
- District Judge Orlando Garcia of the Western District of Texas sentenced Orduna-Torres to life in prison
HOUSTON: The leader of a human smuggling ring convicted of involvement in the deaths of 53 migrants in a sweltering truck in Texas in 2022 was sentenced to life in prison on Friday.
Felipe Orduna-Torres, 30, headed a network that brought adults and children from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico into the United States between December 2021 and June 2022, according to prosecutors.
He was convicted in March of transporting aliens within the United States resulting in death, causing serious bodily injury, and placing lives in jeopardy.
District Judge Orlando Garcia of the Western District of Texas sentenced Orduna-Torres to life in prison on Friday and a $250,000 fine, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Another convicted member of the smuggling ring, Armando Gonzales-Ortega, 55, was sentenced to 83 years in prison for his involvement in the deaths of the 53 migrants.
“These criminals will spend the rest of their lives in prison because of their cruel choice to profit off of human suffering,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. “Today’s sentences are a powerful message to human smugglers everywhere: we will not rest until you are behind bars.”
Five other defendants have pleaded guilty to their roles in the fatal smuggling operation and are to be sentenced later this year.
Another alleged member of the smuggling ring, Rigoberto Ramon Miranda-Orozco, 48, was extradited to the United States from Guatemala and is scheduled to go on trial in September.
According to the US authorities, the smugglers charged $12,000 to $15,000 per person to bring the migrants, who mostly hailed from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, into the United States.
At least 64 migrants including eight children and a pregnant woman were loaded into a 53-foot (16-meter) tractor-trailer on or around June 27, 2022 to be moved across the US-Mexico border.
The trailer’s air conditioning was not working properly and the temperature inside the truck soared as it drove north to San Antonio.
Forty-eight people were dead when the trailer reached San Antonio and five more died later in hospital. Six children and the pregnant woman were among the dead.
Surge in conflicts fuels extreme poverty: World Bank
- Development lender says 39 economies are classified as facing conflict or instability, including Gaza, West Bank and Iraq
- Report concludes moves to prevent conflict are far more cost-effective than responding after violence erupts
WASHINGTON: Conflicts and related fatalities have more than tripled since the early 2000s, fueling extreme poverty, the World Bank said Friday.
Economies in fragile and conflict-affected regions have become “the epicenter of global poverty and food insecurity, a situation increasingly shaped by the frequency and intensity of conflict,” the bank added in a new study.
This year, 421 million people get by on less than $3 a day in places hit by conflict or instability — a situation of extreme poverty — and the number is poised to hit 435 million by 2030.
Global attention has been focused on conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East for the past three years, said World Bank Group chief economist Indermit Gill.
But “half of the countries facing conflict or instability today have been in such conditions for 15 years or more,” he added.
Currently, 39 economies are classified as facing such conditions, and 21 of them are in active conflict, the Washington-based development lender said.
The list includes Ukraine, Somalia, South Sudan and the West Bank and Gaza.
It also includes Iraq although not Iran.
The report flagged that moves to prevent conflict can bring high returns, with timely interventions being “far more cost-effective than responding after violence erupts.”
It also said that some of these economies have advantages that could be used to reignite growth, noting that places like Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo are rich in minerals key to clean tech like electric vehicles and solar panels.
“Economic stagnation — rather than growth — has been the norm in economies hit by conflict and instability over the past decade and a half,” said Ayhan Kose, World Bank Group deputy chief economist.
The bank’s report noted that high-intensity conflicts, which kill more than 150 per million people, are typically followed by a cumulative fall of around 20 percent in GDP per capita after five years.
Community schools offer hope for Rohingya refugee children as US aid cuts hit education
- Aid cuts are worsening education crisis for 437,000 school-age Rohingya children, HRW said
- Community schools operate by charging small tuition fees, as they lack donor funding
DHAKA: As US aid cuts have forced the UN’s children agency UNICEF to suspend thousands of learning centers for Rohingya refugee children sheltering in camps in Bangladesh, a small number of community-led schools have now become their only source of education.
The Rohingya, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority, have fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to neighboring Bangladesh for decades to escape persecution, with more than 700,000 arriving in 2017 following a military crackdown that the UN said was a textbook case of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar.
Today, more than 1.3 million Rohingya on Bangladesh’s southeast coast are cramped inside 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar — the world’s largest refugee settlement.
The refugees, who are almost completely reliant on humanitarian aid, recently faced another blow, after the US suspended aid funding worldwide in January. Washington has been the largest donor, having contributed $300 million in 2024, or 55 percent of all foreign aid for the Rohingya.
Those and other foreign aid cuts “have worsened the already existing education crisis for 437,000 school-age children in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh,” Human Rights Watch said in a report published this week.
It is only in schools established by the Rohingya community that some children are able to get their education now, the group said, after UNICEF-run learning centers were forced to shut due to a lack of funding.
These schools offer a small glimmer of hope for many young children in the refugee camps.
“School is important for me because it gives me knowledge, enhances my life skills, makes me think for my community, makes me a better person and makes me hopeful for a better future. As a refugee, I don’t have many opportunities, but education can open doors for me and help me build a better life,” Mohammed Shofik, a 15-year-old Rohingya boy enrolled at a community school in Cox’s Bazar, told Arab News on Friday.
His dream is to become a scientist or doctor. At school, he is learning how to experiment and use tools, as well as how to listen and observe carefully, which he thinks are helpful to achieve his goals.
“Education is the only way to reach my dream and help my community,” he said.
But only a small number of Rohingya children are able to enroll in the community-led schools, as they do not receive any charitable support, Arif Salam, a teacher in one such school in the camps, told Arab News.
“Community schools are not funded by any donors and NGOs. Our only funding source is the tuition fees received from the parents of our students. But we can’t provide services to all the children,” he said.
“Only a few students in the camps can afford the learning in the community schools. Most of the students are enrolled with the UNICEF-run learning centers. The children who are enrolled with UNICEF learning centers are now sitting idle as they have nothing to do. It will create an irreparable loss for their education.”
There are about 150 community schools across the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar. Each of the schools have about 10 to 15 teachers, who provide education for 150 to 400 students.
Without government support or private donor funding, the schools charge parents monthly tuition fees ranging from around $0.50 for class one up to $6.50 for class 12, a fee that many cannot afford, as the Rohingya are not allowed to work.
“The closure of learning centers brought huge educational losses,” Salam said. “For our Rohingya children, it’s a hopeless situation.”
While the Bangladeshi government has not encouraged any informal system of education, such initiatives should be considered to address the education crisis, said Asif Munir, a renowned Bangladeshi expert on migration and refugees.
“Some kind of education is required for them because otherwise there is a possibility that the younger children, as they grow up, not just uneducated, they might be getting involved in informal work or even sort of risky work as well,” Munir warned.
“With education they can still hope for some kind of proper work where they can use their education in their life. So, in that sense, at least, the government can consider this as a good sort of coping strategy.”
HRW had also urged the Bangladeshi government to “recognize and fund community-led schools to increase their capacity,” and highlighted that recognition could help encourage donor support.
For the young Rohingya whose lives have been plagued with increasing uncertainties, going to school helps them chart a path for the future.
“My dream is to become a motivational speaker. In school, our teachers teach us good listening, delivering strong messages, storytelling, using body language, confidence-building techniques and leadership skills,” 10th-grader Rohul Amin told Arab News. “I think with all these knowledge and skills, I can achieve my dream one day.”
For Amin, school also helps him learn about his identity as a Rohingya.
“I especially focus on the history subject because history makes me understand our identity. As a Rohingya, I have no identity. I mostly try to remember our land and our identity.”
