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India is among the worst performing economics in the world. The government's economic stimulus was inadequate to tackle the problem. The country may expect a revival in growth in the July-September quarter of the current financial year 2020-21. India's economic growth was slowing down even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country. The economic stimulus was limited, and a bank bailout, did not increase consumption spending of lower income people, as the government was not willing to put money, in the hands of the low income population. India's growth strategy was closed economy, with the government creating lots of demand, which resulted in high growth and inflation. India had twenty years of high inflation and high growth. The country has benefited a lot from stable high inflation in the last twenty year. India needs to be globally more competitive. Rating agencies expect the Indian economy to contract by 11% in financial year 2020-21.

Corruption In TN
Charismatic and ruthless subservience was enforced relentlessly by Jayalalitha over her AIADMK cadre. Subservience became handy even for her surrogates. All the AIADMK party MLAs are sticking together in spite of Sasikala's conviction by the courts. Amma controlled the party funds, every single MLA/office bearer; executive power and public sentiment. The faction led by Sasikala perhaps still controls party funds. In the internecine feud amid Dravidian parochialism comprising three factions of Sasikala, EPS and OPS, there is no space left for others. An opportunity has arisen for the DMK with the decisive recent win of TTK Dinakaran in a recent by-election, defeating the official AIDMK candidate. Stalin has dynastic credentials, as he has risen from the grass roots of DMK.

7,00,000 Kids Risk Hunger
Because of Syria's badly damaged economy and the impact of corona virus restrictions, an additional 7,00,000 children face hunger. In the last six months, the total number of food-insecure children across Syria, has risen to more than 4.6 million. After nearly a ten year conflict that killed some 4,00,000 and displaced half the country's population Syria's economy has been badly harmed by the war, as well as by widespread corruption, Western sanctions, and a severe economic crisis in Lebanon. The local currency crashed in recent months, making it more difficult for many Syrians to buy food. According to Save the Children aid group, at least one in eight children in Syria, currently suffer lifelong risks for children, including stunting chronic malnutrition. 

Frontier
Vol. 53, No. 32, Feb 7 - 13, 2021