RADIO ISLAM NEWS TEAM, 02/11/2015

A leading economic analysis group has warned that rising communal tensions in India were damaging Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reform plans and could scare off investors.

A report by Moody’s Analytics said members of Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, were fuelling strife with provocative comments, an apparent reference to recent controversies over beef consumption and other domestic issues that have riled minorities, particularly Muslims.

“While Modi has largely distanced himself from the nationalist gibes, the belligerent provocation of various Indian minorities has raised ethnic tensions,” the group said. “Modi must keep his members in check or risk losing domestic and global credibility.”

But the Moody’s report, titled “India Outlook: Searching for Potential” and written by Sydney-based economist Faraz Syed, could rattle Modi’s government by drawing a connection between the sectarian strife and India’s lagging economic performance.

The report said India’s economic growth rate of 7.3% in September was “below potential” and the country’s exports could be hurt by a slowdown in global demand. It also noted that India’s stock market, which boomed on excitement over Modi’s victory, has fallen 11% because of the government’s “consistent failure to deliver key economic reforms.”

THE Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced the longest series for the Proteas’ tour of India which runs from the end of September to the beginning of December, 2015.

In all the tour will last for 72 days with the South Africans taking the T20 and ODI series convincingly from the Indians.

However, tensions were raised with the International Cricket Council naming a replacement for one of Pakistan’s Elite Umpires Aleem Dar.

The Pakistan-born Dar was withdrawn by the ICC from the ODI series after a “group of extremists” disrupted proceedings at the Board of Control for Cricket in India offices in Mumbai.
According to an ICC statement, the extremists were threatening to prevent Dar from officiating in the final two ODIs, and cricket’s governing body has now confirmed India’s Sundaram Ravi as a replacement.