Why World’s High Hopes for India May Be Headed for Disappointment; Sarkari ‘Research’ Says Narendra Modi Thought Boosted Public Health

Australia says 'no reason to dispute' Canada's claims on Nijjar killing, dissecting BJP's Pasmanda Muslim play, Namo Bharat trains shows Modi cult on high speed, TV anchor's sari irks Israeli expert

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Seema Chishti, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sushant Singh, Sidharth Bhatia and Tanweer Alam | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK | Editor: Pratik Kanjilal

---

Snapshot of the day

October 19, 2023

Pratik Kanjilal

No, Canada’s accusation that India assassinated a Sikh activist on Canadian soil has not gone away. Mike Burgess, head of Australia’s spy agency ASIO told the ABC he would have "no reason to dispute what the Canadian government has said in this matter". "There's no doubt any allegation of any country being accused of carrying out an execution of a citizen in that country, it's a serious allegation, and something that we don't do and something that nations should not do," he said.

If you are interested in India’s political economy—as an investor or a concerned citizen or well-wisher—then the one piece to read today is the analysis by Robert Armstrong and Ethan Wu, who write the ‘Unhedged’ column for the Financial Times, and Columbia University historian Adam Tooze, editor of ‘Chartbook’, a history and economics newsletter. Armstrong and Wu note that in an increasingly polarised world in which ‘democratic’ and ‘authoritarian’ blocs are facing off, “the most important country standing between these poles is India". Western leaders and corporations have pivoted to India but the idea that Narendra Modi’s India “can neatly replace China as a growth market, manufacturing hub and destination for capital faces both political and economic question marks”, they say. They describe the economic positives – rising equity markets, total factor productivity and demography – but worry the “Indian geopolitical story” is “overbought”. Tooze’s response is