A convict for support.

Remaining elections to state assemblies in 2024 are being held with Jammu & Kashmir from 18 September to 1 October, Haryana from 5 October, Maharashtra in November and Jharkhand at the end of November. wikipedia. By the time the last results are declared campaigning will start in Delhi where election to its assembly will be held by February 2025. wikipedia. In the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, the BJP, won 240 seats, well short of 272 required for absolute majority. wikipedia. The election results were announced on 4-5 June and by 08 June, President Draupadi Murmu appointed Mr Modi Prime-Minister designate. ET. After losing 63 seats in the Lok Sabha Elections, the BJP is unsure of how it will fare in the state elections. In a rape of India's democracy, "Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict is set to walk out of jail ahead of yet another election after the Election Commission approved his parole." "The release of Ram Rahim Singh, who wields influence in Haryana and Punjab, comes days ahead of the October 5 Haryana Assembly elections." India Today. Such is the fear and tension in the BJP that they are depending on a convicted murderer and rapist to scrounge some votes in Haryana where the BJP has formed the government since 26 October 2014 (wikipedia). In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP lost its seat in Faizabad constituency which includes the city of Ayodhya (Mint) where Mr Modi had inaugurated the newly constructed temple to Ram Lalla (5-year old Lord Ram) in January 2024 (BBC).  "The BJP won 53% of the seats where PM Modi gave speeches as part of his campaign," whereas in 2019, the BJP-NDA won 85% of the seats he campaigned in. "In 2019, he lost only 17 of 103 constituencies he made speeches in." In 2024. the NDA lost 15 of the 18 seats in Maharashtra where Mr Modi held rallies. The Wire. The 'Mood of the Nation Survey' (MOTN) by India Today showed that Mr Modi's performance rating has dropped from 78% in August 2020 to 59% in August 2024, "with 22% now viewing his performance unfavorably", while his popularity rating has dropped by six percentage points to 49%. BS. When people are not buying your bluff, blame the 'Foreign Hand'. "From Hindenburg and George Soros to international human rights organisations to an assortment of spooks and spies, the Foreign Hand is back in India." "Many political analysts have often remarked that Modi has borrowed much from the political toolkit of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi." "Except, that Gandhi was operating in an era wherein heads of government were being bumped off by shadowy elements." The Wire. Yesterday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesman said, "NGOs are sleeper cells of certain agencies sitting abroad." "Poonawalla further alleged that American billionaire George Soros had declared publicly that he has kept USD 1  billion to destabilize India." ET. George Soros is 94 years old and donates to Democratic presidential candidates. Britannica. The BJP has to be completely disorientated in its desperation to vilify Soros and NGOs while depending on a convicted murderer and rapist. A reminder: Mrs Gandhi was killed by her own bodyguards. wikipedia. Respect the citizens of India and work for their benefit. They will defend against foreigners.   

Depending on festivals.

 "Goods and services tax (GST) revenue growth rate declined to 6.5% in September at Rs 1.73 trillion as the rise in collections from domestic transactions as well as imports slowed. However, with the festival season ahead, collections are expected to be better in the coming months, tax experts said." HT. GST collections have been rising every year since its start in June 2017, reaching a high of Rs 2.1 trillion in April 2024, except for April to August 2020 (wikipedia), when people were dying in their millions due to Covid (BBC). The government portrays the rising collections as a sign of increasing consumption due to economic growth. However, "GST collections have been so robust over the past year or so that it has prompted the Ministry of Finance to discontinue issuing monthly press releases of the data. The reason? The high collections were breeding resentment among the public, who felt the government was collecting too much tax." The Print. Public anger is justified because GST, being a percentage of the retail prices of goods and services, has soared because of uncontrolled consumer price index (CPI) inflation. Average CPI inflation was 6.6% in 2020, 5.1% in 2021, 6.7% in 2022 and 5.7% in 2023. RI. High and rising prices will eventually erode household spending as income lags inflation. "India's economic pulse has slowed just as the festive season approaches," as "Manufacturing activity has dropped, GST collections have lost steam and domestic cars sales continue to skid." Non-performing assets (NPA) at SBI Card rose in the April-June quarter of 2024. "Provisions for write-offs rose by Rs 510 million from the previous quarter, while write-offs themselves rose by Rs 1.05 billion over the same period." Household debt has increased from 30% of GDP in March 2015 to 40.1% currently. Although this is not high per se, it is significant because India's per capita income is lower than South Africa, Mexico, Brazil and Poland. Household consumption accounts for 60% of GDP. "A household faced with an increasing burden of interest payments and no additional sources of income (or increases in income), will be forced to cut back on expenditure." Mint. As a result, "CEOs in India are confident of the recovery of the global economy over the next three years," but "confidence in their individual company's growth has declined to 68%, down from 71% last year, the KPMG CEO Outlook 2024 said." TOI. Layoffs across the tech sector continued into the second half of 2024, with several high profile companies slashing jobs as part of their restructuring efforts." ET. These are high earners. Lower down the scale, "Six migrants died after Mexican soldiers opened fire on a group of 33 migrants traveling in a pick-up truck that tried to evade a military patrol," and "Another 10 migrants were injured in the incident." "The group included people of Egyptian, Nepalese, Cuban, Indian and Pakistani nationality." Reuters. People will observe the festivals because of religious beliefs and the government will celebrate higher tax collections. But, will the festivals be joyous? For some, certainly.

It won't be the rupee.

 "De-dollarization describes a process of moving away from the world's reliance on the US dollar (USD) as the chief reserve currency." Investopedia. "Currently, around 84% of global transactions are done in US dollars, though estimates may vary. And, "approximately 64% of the world's debt is held in dollars." "Countries facing the risk of US economic sanctions or geopolitical tensions are more likely to move away from the dollar." But, "Nearly three-quarters of US assets abroad are held by America's closest allies, and these military allies are also major holders of the US dollar. Thus, security guarantees and political affiliations drive the holding of US assets," wrote Prof MJ Vinod. The USD, Euro, Japanese yen, Pound sterling, Canadian dollar, Chinese renminbi, Australian dollar and the Swiss franc are all held as reserve currencies. wikipedia. It is notable that Canada, with a nominal GDP of only USD 2.24 trillion (IMF), provides 2.58% of reserve currencies, while China, with a nominal GDP of USD 18.53 trillion (IMF) constitutes only 2.29% of reserve currencies. Therein lies the problem with de-dollarisation. The US dollar will be defended by strong economies like Europe, the UK, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and other strong economies and almost all NATO countries, which depend on the US for their security (nato.int), while China can count on Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Bangladesh and Iran (BI). India will never accept the renminbi. In 2022, "The Government of India has made suitable amendments in the Foreign Trade Policy and Handbook of Procedures to allow for International Trade Settlement in Indian Rupees (INR) i.e. invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports/ imports in Indian Rupees." pib.gov.in. That it needs a permission from the government to trade in INR shows how the currency is controlled. As a result of strict controls, an offshore non-deliverable forward (NDF) market has developed in the INR. "An NDF contract is similar to a regular forward currency contract,..with the main difference that an NDF does not require physical exchange of the underlying physical currency. Instead, it allows the counterparties to settle in a convertible currency like the US dollar." In fear of losing control over the INR, the RBI is asking electronic trading platforms to register with it. The Wire. Dollar notes are available all over the world. "Although the amount can't be precisely tracked, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors recently estimated that foreigners held $950 billion in US banknotes at the end of the first quarter of 2021, or about 45% of all Federal Reserve notes outstanding, including two-thirds of all $100 bills." stlouisfed.org. Also, "The US further satisfies this demand with different types of investment assets being available in the dollar - everything from stocks and startups to government bonds and private bonds," wrote Vivek Kaul. India accepted the IMF's Article 8 liberalising our external payments on 20 August 1994 and, yet, a tax deduction at source (TCS) of 20% was imposed on remittances in excess of Rs 700,000 under the RBI's liberalised remittance scheme (LRS). This is a regressive step wrote former Governor of the RBI Urjit Patel. ET. Can the dollar be replaced? May be. But it won't be by the Indian Rupee. Not while we have fascism by stealth.    

Hiding may not be enough.

Yesterday, "Iran launched around 180 missiles towards Israel, the Israeli military said. That would make it slightly larger than April's barrage, which saw about 110 ballistic missiles and 30 cruise missiles fired towards Israel." "Iran does not recognize Israel's right to exist and seeks its eradication." "Israel believes that Iran poses an existential threat and has spent years running covert operations against Tehran." BBC. In 2018, "The Mossad agents moving in on a warehouse in a drab commercial district of Tehran knew exactly how much time they had to disable the alarms, break through two doors, cut through dozens of giant safes and get out of the city with half a ton of secret materials: six hours and 29 minutes." "The agents arrived that night, Jan 31, with torches that burned at least 3,600 degrees," and "When time was up they fled for the border, hauling some 50,000 pages and 163 compact discs of memos, videos and plans." NYT. "Top Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in November 2020 in a sophisticated hit led by a Mossad team that reportedly deployed a computerized machine gun, required no on-site operatives, took less than a minute and did not injure anyone." "The whole device weighed about a ton and was smuggled into Iran in small parts ahead of the operation and then reassembled." The Times of Israel. In August 2020, "Iran's nuclear body has said that a fire last month at a major nuclear facility was caused by sabotage." "There were several fires and explosions at power facilities and other sites in the weeks surrounding the incident." BBC. On 3 January 2020, Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and others were killed in a US drone strike as they traveled from Baghdad International Airport. AP. In January 2024, "At least 84 people were killed and 284 others injured" "in the Iranian city of Kerman after twin blasts near the burial site of slain military commander Qasem Solaimani." "Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi blamed Israel for the explosions." CNN. In May 2024, "President Ebrahim Raisi and seven other people were killed...when the helicopter they were traveling in came down near the border with Azerbaijan." BBC. The accident was put down to bad weather but two other helicopters accompanying the president were able to land safely. Raisi was a hardliner who killed hundreds of protesters following the killing of Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini by the morality police for not wearing a hijab. Reuters. On 31 July, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran while attending the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. He was staying in a residence for veterans and "Iranian state media IRNA reported that an 'airborne guided projectile' had targeted the building at 2 am local time." Other reports claimed that a bomb was hidden in his bed two months previously. CNN. It seems as though Mossad agents are able to move freely within Iran and have willing collaborators to assist them. After Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was bombed in his secret bunker by Israeli Air Force on 27 September (Reuters) "Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been taken to a secure location inside Iran amid heightened security, sources told Reuters." Very wise to hide in a burrow somewhere. But, can he be certain that Israel doesn't know the exact location already? Nowhere is safe when your own people hate you. Don't use God for killing citizens.