THE WISDOM FUND: News & Views
May 6, 2021
The Economist

Narendra Modi: Paper Tiger

India's national government looks increasingly hapless

Confronted with catastrophe, the state has melted away

EDITORIAL

Two short months ago Narendra Modi's government was one of the most popular and confident in India's history. Now, judging by fresh election results, by the eruption of criticism even in the largely docile mainstream media, by sharp reprimands issued by top courts, by thumbs-down judgments by seasoned analysts and by a level of rage on social media unusual even for India's hothouse online forums, the prime minister and his government are in trouble. . . .

FULL TEXT: Paper Tiger



Karan Thapar, "Messiah Modi: 'Anti-Muslim Prejudice is in Modi's DNA'," The Wire, February 17, 2020


In 10 Minutes: What Has Been The Government's Response To COVID-19, The Wire, April 14, 2021

Jessie Yeung, Manveena Suri and Swati Gupta, "The world sent India millions in Covid aid. Where has it gone?," CNN, May 5, 2021


A look back at how India's coronavirus crisis unfolded, ABC News, May 5, 2021

COVID-19 DATA (number of deaths; population in millions)
China 4,858; 1.44M; | India 230,168; 1.39M | USA 572,987; 332M

Source for number of deaths: WHO, May 6, 2021


India's COVID-19 deaths hit record high, CBS, May 8, 2021

[The coronavirus thrives off of complacent leaders, such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi--Steve Coll, "The Politics Behind India's COVID Crisis," newyorker.com, May 9, 2021]


Gravitas Plus: A crisis that shook India, WION, May 9, 2021

[At the end of the night the team had counted more than 200 bodies. But the next day, Ahmedabad counted only 25 deaths.--Soutik Biswas, "India's Covid crisis: The newsroom counting the uncounted deaths," bbc.com, May10, 2021]

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Inside India's Catastrophic Second Wave, Bloomberg, June 8, 2021

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