BRICS to buttress Global South
India's efforts to amplify the voice of the Global South have gained momentum in recent years, culminating in the inclusion of the African Union into the G20 during India's presidency in 2023. This precedent is now mirrored in BRICS, which is undergoing significant expansion. With India's proactive involvement, countries such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE have joined the bloc, now termed BRICS+. Several more nations from West Asia, Africa and Latin America have expressed interest, viewing BRICS as a credible platform to champion their interests.
India's current standing can be better appreciated by revisiting the origins of BRICS in the early 2000s and the foundational RIC or Russia-India-China framework. At that time, the global order was markedly different. Russia was a member of the G8, China was seamlessly integrating into West-led institutions, and India-China relations were relatively cordial. The inclusion of Brazil and South Africa expanded the group into BRICS, bound by a shared vision for a new multipolar world.
Over the past two decades, the BRICS economies have surged. In purchasing power parity terms, the bloc's collective economy now stands at $60 trillion, surpassing the G7's $45 trillion, driven largely by the dynamism of Asian and other Global South countries. However, BRICS is not without contradictions. Border tensions in 2013, 2017 and 2020 have significantly altered India-China relations. While the bloc continues to espouse unity, there are heavy undercurrents of mistrust and apprehension. India's actions reflect an acute awareness of these realities.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
29 minutes ago
- Indian Express
As Nitish govt faces attacks on law and order, numbers show why crime in Bihar among India's highest
As Assembly elections approach, a recent spate of murders – the latest on Thursday, when five gunmen shot and killed a notorious criminal on parole inside a private hospital in Patna – has sparked a political row over law and order in Bihar. The Opposition has long been attacking the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government, with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav claiming that Bihar has descended into 'chaos' under the leadership of an 'unconscious CM'. Even Chirag Paswan, who heads the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and is a part of the NDA, has now said that the recent murders 'demonstrate the complete collapse of law and order in Bihar'. While Nitish Kumar is credited across the board for reversing the trend of 'jungle raj' in Bihar, over the last decade under him, data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and the Bihar Police's state-level figures accessed by The Indian Express shows that crime is rising. The rise in the overall number of crimes in Bihar has been 80.2% from 2015 to 2024, as per the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) data. In contrast, from 2015 to 2022, according to the latest available national-level data, India saw an increase in overall crimes of 23.7%. The number of crimes in Bihar has risen every year since 2015 – barring 2016, 2020 (when the Covid-19 pandemic struck), and 2024. The highest year-on-year increase was recorded in 2017, when crime rose by 24.4%. In 2022, there were 3.5 lakh crimes in Bihar, up 23.3% from the previous year. In contrast, crime fell at the national level – by 4.5% in 2022 and 7.7% in 2021. The latest SCRB data shows the number of crimes rose in 2023 to 3.54 lakh, before falling marginally to 3.52 lakh in 2024. As of June 2025, Bihar has seen 1.91 lakh crimes, more than half what was recorded in 2024. Since 2015, Bihar has been among the 10 worst states in terms of overall cases of crimes. Adjusted for population, though, Bihar's rate of crimes per lakh people has been significantly below the national average. In 2022, Bihar recorded the seventh highest number of crimes at a rate of 277 cases per lakh population. However, India recorded an overall crime rate of 422 cases per lakh population. In fact, after 2015, Delhi reported the highest crime rate for five years, while Kerala ranked the worst for three years. This, however, is also a factor of registration of cases, which could be higher in Delhi and Kerala due to the economic and educational status of its residents. Though Bihar's overall crime rate did not exceed the national average in any year since 2015, the NCRB data shows that Bihar's law and order issues stem from a consistently higher-than-national-average incidence of violent crime. Take murder, for instance. While overall murder cases have fallen from 3,178 in 2015 to 2,930 in 2022, Bihar has ranked second-highest in the country for the number of murders each year since 2015, behind only the much more populous Uttar Pradesh. The number of attempted murders has risen in Bihar, from 5,981 in 2015 to 8,667 in 2022, putting the state at second-highest after UP again. According to the latest SCRB data accessed by The Indian Express, Bihar recorded 1,379 murders till June 2025, compared to 2,786 in all of 2024 and 2,863 in 2023. [CHART: Murders and attempted murders in Bihar]Adjusted for population, in 2022 for example, Bihar recorded 2.3 murders and 6.9 attempted murders per lakh population, exceeding the national average of 2.1 and 4.1, respectively. Over the past decade, while Bihar's murder rate peaked at 3.1 in 2015, the rate of attempted murders was highest in 2017 at 9.1. However, owing to its large population, Bihar's rates of murder and attempted murder make it a middle-of-the-pack state – it ranked among the top-10 states for murder only in 2017 and had the 12th highest murder rate in 2022. However, the state has been in the top five for the rate of attempted numbers every year from 2015 to 2022, suggesting a persistent issue. In 2017, Bihar recorded the second-highest rate of attempted murders. The most common motive for murder in Bihar has consistently been property disputes, which was the most cited reason in all but one year from 2015 to 2022. In 2018, there were 1,016 murders linked to property disputes, the highest on record in this period. As a share of all murders, property-related cases peaked at 36.7% in 2017. In 2022, personal vendetta was the most common motive for murder at 804 cases or 27.4% of all murders. In fact, Bihar has reported the most murders linked to property disputes every year from 2015 to 2022, except in 2018 when UP was on top. While Bihar had recorded the fourth-highest number of murders linked to personal vendetta in 2015, it has been first on this measure from 2018 to 2022. Data shared by the Bihar Police showed that the top motive in 2025 (till June) was personal vendetta, with 513 cases accounting for 37.8% of all murders. Property disputes, at 139 cases, accounted for 10.2% of murders. Behind the high incidence of murder in Bihar are violations of the Arms Act, 1959. The Bihar Police, in a report published earlier this year, identified the prevalence of fake arms licences, illegal firearms and unauthorised sale of ammunition as the primary reasons behind rising violent crime over the last decade. From 2015 to 2022, the number of Arms Act violations rose from 1,846 to 3,549 – an increase of 92.3% – with a majority of cases linked to unlicenced weapons. On this front, Bihar has ranked in the worst five states every year from 2015 to 2022, except in 2016 when it was sixth. In the same period, it was UP that recorded the most Arms Act cases. But as a rate, Bihar has gone from seeing 1.8 Arms Act cases per lakh population in 2015 to 2.8 in 2022, putting it consistently below the national average, which stood at 5.8 in 2022. Among other violent crimes, Bihar has reported an increase from 2015 to 2022 in the number of kidnappings (65.9%), robberies (39.2%), cases voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous means (61.3%), and cases of voluntarily causing grievous hurt (17.7%). In 2022, Bihar figured among the top five states for kidnapping, robberies and voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous means, and in the top 10 for voluntarily causing grievous hurt. Though cases of dacoity and extortion have dropped considerably in Bihar, it ranks third and seventh respectively among the states. Adjusted for population, Bihar falls below the national average for cases per lakh population for a number of violent crimes. However, in 2022, the state's 13.1 cases per lakh of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and 9.4 kidnappings per lakh are above the national averages of 6.2 and 7.8, respectively. But as per the Bureau of Police Research and Development, which falls under the Union Home Ministry, Bihar has the most stretched police force in the country as of January 2023. At 114.57 police personnel per lakh population, Bihar has the lowest such ratio among the states and higher than only the UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. With a sanctioned strength of 1.44 lakh, Bihar's police force is understaffed with as many as 42,000 vacancies, which is the third-largest such deficit among all states. This is despite spending a larger share of its Budgetary outlay on the police than states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana in 2022-23 and having the seventh highest number of police stations in the country.
Mint
29 minutes ago
- Mint
Stock market this week: US-India trade deal, Q1 earnings, macro-economic data top triggers that may dictate Dalal Street
Indian stock market indices—the Sensex and Nifty 50— ended on a weaker note on Friday, July 18, marking their third straight week of losses. The Nifty 50 slipped below the crucial 25,000 mark. Over the last three weeks, the Sensex has shed about 2,300 points, or nearly 3 per cent, and the Nifty 50 has seen a similar 3 per cent decline. On July 18, the Nifty 50 declined by 143 points, or 0.57 per cent, settling at 24,968.40, while the Sensex dropped 502 points, or 0.61%, finishing at 81,757.73. 'Markets edged lower on Friday, losing over half a percent, primarily due to weak earnings. A sharp decline in Axis Bank following its results made participants cautious ahead of upcoming earnings from other banking heavyweights, namely HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, which are scheduled over the weekend. Additionally, the results of another index heavyweight, Reliance Industries, expected after market hours on Friday, further added to the cautious sentiment. As a result, the Nifty index nearly tested the support zone of 24,900 before settling at 24,968.40 level,' said Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd. Markets continued to decline for the third straight week, as investor sentiment remained cautious amid a weak start to the earnings season and persistent uncertainty over the US-India trade agreement. Like the previous week, the benchmark indices initially showed some strength in the first three sessions, but the momentum shifted downward in the latter part of the week. By the end of the week, both the Nifty and Sensex closed near their weekly lows at 24,968.40 and 81,757.73, respectively. On the Nifty outlook next week, brokerage firm Bajaj Broking said, ' Nifty on the weekly chart formed a bear candle with a lower high and lower low signaling continuation of the corrective decline for the third consecutive week. Market activity was largely stock-specific, awaiting concrete cues on both macro and micro fronts. The market is expected to be volatile in Monday's session, driven by the quarterly results of key index heavyweights—Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank. These earnings will serve as a crucial trigger to watch. Key level to track remains at 24,900. A sustained breach below the same could prolong the corrective phase towards 24,600–24,400. Conversely, holding above may trigger a technical rebound towards last week high (25,255). However, only a breakout past last week's high would confirm a pause in ongoing correction and open upside potential towards 25,500–25,600 in the near term.' Meanwhile, on the Bank Nifty outlook, it added, ' Bank Nifty formed a sizable bear candle signaling profit booking at higher levels for the second session in a row. The index on Friday's session breached the last 10 sessions consolidation range 56,500-57,600 signaling extended decline. A follow through weakness will open further downside towards 55,000 levels. Key short-term term support is placed at 56,000–55,500 region, representing a confluence of the 50-day EMA and the key retracement level.' India and the United States have completed the fifth round of discussions for the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) in Washington. The four-day talks, held from July 14 to 17, were headed by India's chief negotiator and special secretary in the commerce department, Rajesh Agrawal. This round of negotiations is especially significant as both countries are working to finalize an interim trade pact before August 1. This date marks the conclusion of the suspension period for the Trump-era tariffs, which had introduced additional duties of up to 26% on imports from several nations, including India. According to reports, Donald Trump has increased pressure in trade talks with the European Union by insisting that any agreement include a minimum tariff ranging between 15% and 20%. On the macroeconomic side, key data indicators like India's Infrastructure Output and HSBC Flash PMI figures for Manufacturing, Services, and Composite sectors will be closely monitored. The focus will stay on the ongoing earnings season as a number of major results are expected. In the coming sessions, several leading companies such as Infosys, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Bajaj Finance, Nestle India, and Cipla are set to release their quarterly earnings. The IPO buzz in the primary market is all set to continue as 10 new public issues, including five in mainboard segment, are scheduled to open for subscription next week. Apart from new issues, the market will also witness listing of Monika Alcobev IPO in the coming week. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded shares worth ₹ 3,694 crore in Indian equities, whereas Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) made net purchases amounting to ₹ 2,820 crore, as per provisional data from the NSE, on Friday, July 17. DIIs bought shares totaling ₹ 13,523 crore and sold shares worth ₹ 10,702 crore. Meanwhile, FPIs purchased stocks worth ₹ 11,633 crore but sold ₹ 15,327 crore during the day. Cumulatively for the year, FPIs have been net sellers of equities valued at ₹ 1.32 lakh crore, while DIIs have emerged as net buyers with a total of ₹ 3.67 lakh crore. Crude oil futures remained largely steady on Friday amid mixed signals from U.S. economic and tariff developments, along with concerns over supply due to the European Union's newest sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Brent crude slipped by 24 cents, or 0.3%, closing at $69.28 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined by 20 cents, or 0.3%, finishing at $67.34. Both benchmarks ended the week roughly 2% lower. Gold prices climbed on Friday, supported by a softer U.S. dollar and persistent geopolitical and economic uncertainties that increased the appeal of the safe-haven asset. Meanwhile, platinum prices dipped after touching their highest levels since 2014. Spot gold was up 0.4% at $3,351.18 per ounce, rebounding after a 1.1% decline in the previous session. According to Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, market indices to remain in a consolidation phase with a negative bias in the near term, driven by a weak start to the earnings season and prevailing global uncertainties. " Nifty ended the week below the key psychological mark of 25,000, indicating sustained caution. The index remains vulnerable to further downside if it breaks below the immediate support zone of 24,900. A breakdown could drag the index toward the 24,450–24,700 zone in the coming sessions. On the upside, the 20-day EMA—currently acting as a short-term hurdle—may restrict recovery around the 25,250 mark. A decisive move above this level is essential for any bullish reversal. Until then, the broader trend is expected to remain under pressure," Mishra said. Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, not Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
New Indian Express
29 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Every baby born with debt of Rs 1.5L in DMK rule: Edappadi K Palaniswami
NAGAPATTINAM: Mentioning that the DMK government has accrued a debt of Rs 4 lakh crore over the past four years and it is public money that is being spent to repay it, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday said, 'Every baby in the state is hence born with a debt of roughly Rs 1.5 lakh.' Addressing a gathering at Vedaranyam as part of his two-day 'Makkalai Kaappom, Thamizhagathai Meetpom' in Nagapattinam, Palaniswami also exuded confidence of the AIADMK-led alliance winning 210 seats in the upcoming state Assembly election. 'Stalin says the DMK and its alliance will win 200 seats. I say his dreams will turn into a mirage. The AIADMK-led alliance will win 210 seats,' he said. Earlier, while speaking in Nagapattinam town, Palaniswami touched upon the Nadanthai Vaazhi Cauvery project. The project which ensures supply of clean drinking water and water for irrigation to several districts, including tail-end areas, was conceived during the AIADMK's rule and got approval from the centre. No significant action, however, has been taken under the incumbent DMK government, the former CM said, adding that the project would be completed once the AIADMK comes to power.
