Between October 1, 2021 and May 11, 2022, India witnessed more than 106 communal incidents. The most number of incidents took place in the state of Karnataka, which saw more than 27 incidents, followed by Maharashtra with 12 incidents and West Bengal with 10 incidents.
The Evergrande debt crisis has created volatility in global markets and commodity prices, especially metals, in the second half of September. The BSE Metal Index (see below) dropped by ~7% in response to the crisis on September 20.
The power crisis in China has worsened in recent weeks with reports in the first week of October stating that almost two-third of China is facing power rationing (see map below). Cases of city-wide blackouts have also been reported. The problem is most pronounced in Northeastern, Eastern and Southwestern China.
On September 3, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne met her Bangladeshi counterpart Dr AK Abdul Menon and Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka. Economic development was a significant subject of discussion at the meeting, this included investments in Bangladesh’s Special Economic Zones (SEZ’s).
India felt the impact of the global energy crisis in October, 2021 as coal shortages brought the country to the brink of a power crisis. The energy crisis is mainly a result of a faster than expected recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This recovery has resulted in demand for energy skyrocketing as industries try to maximise production and cover up losses incurred in 2020. Simultaneously, energy producers and policy makers failed to account for this surge in demand, which has led to production-side shortages and supply bottlenecks.
On October 27, the US President announced killing of the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in the north western Syrian province of Idlib in an intelligence driven security operation.
Reports from August 27 announced the arrest of Jamaat ul Mujahideen (JMB) cadre, Ejaz Ahmad alias Taufique Raza by the Kolkata Special Task Force (STF) from Bihar’s Gaya district on August 26. While arrests of the members of this Bangladesh based militant group have become a common feature, the latest announcement remains highly notable given the fact that Ejaz was one of the senior most members of the India affiliate- Jamaat ul Mujahideen India (JMI). The JMI was announced by the JMB in February 2018.