Prime Minister Narendra Modi out-campaigned all-comers in the 2014 general election but, as he faces his biggest mid-term test, he is up against a rival determined to beat him at his own game.

In Uttar Pradesh his opponent, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, has been repackaged as a youthful and media-savvy go-getter who seeks to steal a unique selling point of Modi&#39;s - development.

&quot;I am taking it a bit beyond Modi: I work,&quot; Yadav told Reuters in an interview in Lucknow, capital of the state of 220 million that is holding the biggest democratic election anywhere in the world this year.

&quot;My work speaks for itself. Modi&#39;s empty promises do not,&quot; said the 43-year-old leader of the Samajwadi, or Socialist, Party.

Yadav entered the vast election, being held over the course of a month, as a narrow favourite: He had just emerged from a power struggle with his domineering father and struck a pre-poll alliance with the Indian National Congress.

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While Modi excels as a stump speaker who can deliver an hour-long address without notes, Akhilesh has sought to connect with the youth vote via new media, taking personal control over his social media accounts and doing a Facebook Live with one of India&#39;s best-known TV journalists.

He has even climbed on a bicycle - his party&#39;s symbol - for another prime-time interview that gave him a chance to showcase the newly landscaped riverfront in the state capital.

Yadav&#39;s campaign has been backed by his wife Dimple, a member of parliament, who has courted women voters and helped create an image as a political &#39;power couple&#39;.

Throughout, Yadav has stayed firmly on message. Asked about endemic crime, he says he has set up a new police hotline that is ensuring quicker response times.

On developing his poor state where incomes average less than $750 a year, he highlights his achievements in building an expressway to Agra, site of the Taj Mahal, and a new city metro in Lucknow.

Winning and losing

Yadav became the youngest-ever chief minister of Uttar Pradesh with a slim mandate, winning just 29 percent in the 2012 state poll.

But in the general election two years later he was swept away by a Modi &#39;wave&#39; as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 42 percent of the vote in the battleground state.

Yadav, who received a university education in Australia yet became typecast as the ineffectual scion of a political patriarch, decided he needed a makeover.

&quot;It was at this point Yadav took a cue from Modi&#39;s image as a technology-loving modern man,&quot; said R.K. Mishra, an independent political analyst in Lucknow.

Yadav commissioned the construction of a mansion behind his old party headquarters to operate as his campaign &quot;war room&quot;.

He met two dozen Indian and international political scientists, and roped in Harvard graduates and marketing gurus from Mumbai. They set up a big data operation - cloning the backroom setup used by Modi in his own rise to national power.

&quot;The recruitment brief was clear: Everyone working in the war room should be in their thirties and have family in Uttar Pradesh,&quot; said Aashish Yadav, a campaign manager who previously worked at BBC Media Action, a development charity.

Aashish Yadav manages a team of 100 young men and women who compose jingles as well as messages that are circulated via WhatsApp and community radio services. &quot;Modi&#39;s campaign looks jaded compared to our blitzkrieg,&quot; said Aashish.

Gangster rule

It&#39;s been a tough sell for a party that under founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh&#39;s father, was criticised for breakdown of law and order. Many resented corruption that favoured the Yadav community - a &quot;backward&quot; caste that makes up 9 percent of the population of Uttar Pradesh.

&quot;Akhilesh had to dismantle the existing perception about himself and his party,&quot; said one close aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

By teaming up with Rahul Gandhi of Congress - another forty-something politician - Yadav hopes to prevail in the three-cornered contest with the BJP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by Mayawati, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

&quot;There is a great deal of ease between the two leaders and this is making Modi nervous,&quot; said an aide to Gandhi, who is the son, grandson and great grandson of Indian prime ministers.

Pre-election polls put the Yadav-Gandhi alliance and the BJP in a close race, but no surveys are allowed during voting held over seven stages. Results are due on March 11.

Gandhi and Yadav have both turned for advice to Prashant Kishor, the strategist who stage-managed Modi&#39;s triumphant 2014 march on New Delhi.

Kishor later switched sides to help a similar opposition alliance defeat the BJP in Bihar, another big northern state, in late 2015. He now divides his time between advising Congress and Samajwadi.

The BJP&#39;s state leader in Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya, dismisses the alliance as a fiasco and called the war room a poor imitation.

&quot;Yadav and Gandhi both lack imagination,&quot; he told Reuters. &quot;Being Modi is different from being like Modi.&quot;&nbsp;

(Reuters)

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister is seeking to steal a unique selling point of Modi's -- development

Prime Minister Narendra Modi out-campaigned all-comers in the 2014 general election but, as he faces his biggest mid-term test, he is up against a rival determined to beat him at his own game. In Uttar Pradesh his opponent, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, has been repackaged as a youthful and media-savvy go-getter who seeks to steal a unique selling point of Modi's - development. "I am taking it a bit beyond Modi: I work," Yadav told Reuters in an interview in Lucknow, capital of the state of 220 million that is holding the biggest democratic election anywhere in the world this year. "My work speaks for itself. Modi's empty promises do not," said the 43-year-old leader of the Samajwadi, or Socialist, Party. Yadav entered the vast election, being held over the course of a month, as a narrow favourite: He had just emerged from a power struggle with his domineering father and struck a pre-poll alliance with the Indian National Congress. While Modi excels as a stump speaker who can deliver an hour-long address without notes, Akhilesh has sought to connect with the youth vote via new media, taking personal control over his social media accounts and doing a Facebook Live with a TV journalist × While Modi excels as a stump speaker who can deliver an hour-long address without notes, Akhilesh has sought to connect with the youth vote via new media, taking personal control over his social media accounts and doing a Facebook Live with one of India's best-known TV journalists. He has even climbed on a bicycle - his party's symbol - for another prime-time interview that gave him a chance to showcase the newly landscaped riverfront in the state capital. Yadav's campaign has been backed by his wife Dimple, a member of parliament, who has courted women voters and helped create an image as a political 'power couple'. Throughout, Yadav has stayed firmly on message. Asked about endemic crime, he says he has set up a new police hotline that is ensuring quicker response times. On developing his poor state where incomes average less than $750 a year, he highlights his achievements in building an expressway to Agra, site of the Taj Mahal, and a new city metro in Lucknow. Winning and losing Yadav became the youngest-ever chief minister of Uttar Pradesh with a slim mandate, winning just 29 percent in the 2012 state poll. But in the general election two years later he was swept away by a Modi 'wave' as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 42 percent of the vote in the battleground state. Yadav, who received a university education in Australia yet became typecast as the ineffectual scion of a political patriarch, decided he needed a makeover. "It was at this point Yadav took a cue from Modi's image as a technology-loving modern man," said R.K. Mishra, an independent political analyst in Lucknow. Yadav commissioned the construction of a mansion behind his old party headquarters to operate as his campaign "war room". He met two dozen Indian and international political scientists, and roped in Harvard graduates and marketing gurus from Mumbai. They set up a big data operation - cloning the backroom setup used by Modi in his own rise to national power. "The recruitment brief was clear: Everyone working in the war room should be in their thirties and have family in Uttar Pradesh," said Aashish Yadav, a campaign manager who previously worked at BBC Media Action, a development charity. Aashish Yadav manages a team of 100 young men and women who compose jingles as well as messages that are circulated via WhatsApp and community radio services. "Modi's campaign looks jaded compared to our blitzkrieg," said Aashish. Gangster rule It's been a tough sell for a party that under founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh's father, was criticised for breakdown of law and order. Many resented corruption that favoured the Yadav community - a "backward" caste that makes up 9 percent of the population of Uttar Pradesh. "Akhilesh had to dismantle the existing perception about himself and his party," said one close aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity. By teaming up with Rahul Gandhi of Congress - another forty-something politician - Yadav hopes to prevail in the three-cornered contest with the BJP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by Mayawati, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. "There is a great deal of ease between the two leaders and this is making Modi nervous," said an aide to Gandhi, who is the son, grandson and great grandson of Indian prime ministers. Pre-election polls put the Yadav-Gandhi alliance and the BJP in a close race, but no surveys are allowed during voting held over seven stages. Results are due on March 11. Gandhi and Yadav have both turned for advice to Prashant Kishor, the strategist who stage-managed Modi's triumphant 2014 march on New Delhi. Kishor later switched sides to help a similar opposition alliance defeat the BJP in Bihar, another big northern state, in late 2015. He now divides his time between advising Congress and Samajwadi. The BJP's state leader in Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya, dismisses the alliance as a fiasco and called the war room a poor imitation. "Yadav and Gandhi both lack imagination," he told Reuters. "Being Modi is different from being like Modi." (Reuters)

UP elections: Akhilesh takes Modi on at his own game

The World Bank adopted a new set of policies on Thursday that aim to expand protections for people and the environment in projects financed by the bank while making it easier for borrowers to comply with its standards. 
 
The global lender dedicated to fighting poverty, whose commitments rose to more than $60 billion this year, said the new environmental and social framework had involved the &quot;most extensive consultation ever conducted&quot; by the bank. 
 
&quot;These new safeguards will build into our projects updated and improved protections for the most vulnerable people in the world and our environment,&quot; World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement. 
 
The Bank last year acknowledged that its projects had sometimes resulted in forced population displacements. World Bank projects in regions around the world have been accused of underwriting human rights abuses. 
 
But the first major update to the World Bank&#39;s safeguard policies in nearly 20 years has drawn fire from some non-profit groups for creating &quot;loopholes&quot; with more vague language and more reliance on borrower country laws and standards. 
 
&quot;The bank has effectively dismantled thirty years of environmental and social protections for the world&rsquo;s most impoverished and vulnerable peoples,&quot; said Stephanie Fried, executive director of the Ulu Foundation, a non-profit group focussed on forest preservation. 
 
The new rules are to take effect in 2018 and will require client states to conduct a &quot;broadened social assessment and management of environmental and social risks,&quot; to guarantee labour rights and prohibit any form of forced labour. 
 
Projects will have to reduce environmental harm and avoid large-scale population displacements, according to the new policy. 
 
Kim told reporters on a conference call that one key example of the changes will be increased protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. The bank pulled out of a $90 million loan to Uganda&#39;s health system in 2014 after the government passed a law that imposed life sentences for certain homosexual activities and made it a crime not to report violations. 
 
Kim said the World Bank had committed increased funding to work with its 189 member countries to lift their own environmental and human rights safeguards to match those of the Washington-based development lender. 
 
While welcoming some improvements, Nadia Daar, head of the Washington office at Oxfam International, said in a statement that her organization was &quot;frustrated and disappointed&quot; that the new policy had not gone further. 
 
The bank information centre, an organisation which lobbies to improve World Bank policies, said the new rules lacked &quot;the strength and clarity that people negatively impacted by development so profoundly depend upon&quot;. 
 
As the latest version of the rules became public last month, Human Rights Watch likewise said it &quot;does not require the bank to respect human rights&quot;. 
 
Kim, the Bank president, said the framework represented &quot;the best possible compromise&quot;. 
 
&quot;We had to find a path down the middle where we can both ensure that abuses didn&#39;t happen and at the same time make it possible for borrowers to borrow,&quot; Kim told reporters in a conference call. 
 
Overly strict criteria risked harming the economic prospects of poor countries, he said.&nbsp;The Bank currently faces a growing number of other actors in global development, including China, seen as placing fewer conditions on financing. 
 
(Agencies)

New rules have drawn fire from NGOs for creating loopholes and shifting responsibility to the borrowing nations

The World Bank adopted a new set of policies on Thursday that aim to expand protections for people and the environment in projects financed by the bank while making it easier for borrowers to comply with its standards. The global lender dedicated to fighting poverty, whose commitments rose to more than $60 billion this year, said the new environmental and social framework had involved the "most extensive consultation ever conducted" by the bank. "These new safeguards will build into our projects updated and improved protections for the most vulnerable people in the world and our environment," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement. The Bank last year acknowledged that its projects had sometimes resulted in forced population displacements. World Bank projects in regions around the world have been accused of underwriting human rights abuses. But the first major update to the World Bank's safeguard policies in nearly 20 years has drawn fire from some non-profit groups for creating "loopholes" with more vague language and more reliance on borrower country laws and standards. "The bank has effectively dismantled thirty years of environmental and social protections for the world’s most impoverished and vulnerable peoples," said Stephanie Fried, executive director of the Ulu Foundation, a non-profit group focussed on forest preservation. The new rules are to take effect in 2018 and will require client states to conduct a "broadened social assessment and management of environmental and social risks," to guarantee labour rights and prohibit any form of forced labour. Projects will have to reduce environmental harm and avoid large-scale population displacements, according to the new policy. Kim told reporters on a conference call that one key example of the changes will be increased protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. The bank pulled out of a $90 million loan to Uganda's health system in 2014 after the government passed a law that imposed life sentences for certain homosexual activities and made it a crime not to report violations. Kim said the World Bank had committed increased funding to work with its 189 member countries to lift their own environmental and human rights safeguards to match those of the Washington-based development lender. While welcoming some improvements, Nadia Daar, head of the Washington office at Oxfam International, said in a statement that her organization was "frustrated and disappointed" that the new policy had not gone further. The bank information centre, an organisation which lobbies to improve World Bank policies, said the new rules lacked "the strength and clarity that people negatively impacted by development so profoundly depend upon". As the latest version of the rules became public last month, Human Rights Watch likewise said it "does not require the bank to respect human rights". Kim, the Bank president, said the framework represented "the best possible compromise". "We had to find a path down the middle where we can both ensure that abuses didn't happen and at the same time make it possible for borrowers to borrow," Kim told reporters in a conference call. Overly strict criteria risked harming the economic prospects of poor countries, he said. The Bank currently faces a growing number of other actors in global development, including China, seen as placing fewer conditions on financing. (Agencies)

World Bank's new environmental framework angers human rights critics

China and Poland have agreed on Monday to upgrade their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership during Chinese President Xi Jinping&#39;s&nbsp;visit to the country.

The move was made as Xi met with Polish President Andrzej Duda, in a bid to further promote cooperation across the board and benefit the two peoples.

Xi said at the meeting that the two peoples have enjoyed lasting friendship since the two countries established diplomatic relations 67 years ago.

The two countries have borne fruitful results in high-level and people-to-people exchanges, and economic and trade cooperation, especially since they established a strategic partnership in 2011, said Xi.

He added that China has cherished the traditional friendship with Poland and stands ready to work with Poland to push forward the bilateral relations in a sound and steady way.

Xi also called for efforts to enhance mutual trust, align development strategies of the two countries and boost interconnectivity and production cooperation under the Belt and Road initiative.

Bilateral cooperation in economy and trade, finance, agriculture, science and technology should be promoted, according to Xi.

Hailing the bilateral ties, Duda said that Poland is willing to strengthen cooperation within the framework of the Sino-Polish comprehensive strategic partnership in various areas including the Belt and Road initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and people-to-people exchanges.

A joint statement on the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership was inked after the meeting, as well as a memorandum of understanding on a bilateral cooperation blueprint.

Poland is the second leg of Xi&#39;s Eurasia tour. Before visiting Poland, Xi visited Serbia from June 17 to June 19.

After visiting Poland, Xi will travel to Uzbekistan for a state visit and attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. 
 
(Reuters)

A bunch of cooperation agreements signed covering various aspects, including infrastructure construction, education, culture and aerospace

China and Poland have agreed on Monday to upgrade their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the country. The move was made as Xi met with Polish President Andrzej Duda, in a bid to further promote cooperation across the board and benefit the two peoples. Xi said at the meeting that the two peoples have enjoyed lasting friendship since the two countries established diplomatic relations 67 years ago. The two countries have borne fruitful results in high-level and people-to-people exchanges, and economic and trade cooperation, especially since they established a strategic partnership in 2011, said Xi. He added that China has cherished the traditional friendship with Poland and stands ready to work with Poland to push forward the bilateral relations in a sound and steady way. Xi also called for efforts to enhance mutual trust, align development strategies of the two countries and boost interconnectivity and production cooperation under the Belt and Road initiative. Bilateral cooperation in economy and trade, finance, agriculture, science and technology should be promoted, according to Xi. Hailing the bilateral ties, Duda said that Poland is willing to strengthen cooperation within the framework of the Sino-Polish comprehensive strategic partnership in various areas including the Belt and Road initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and people-to-people exchanges. A joint statement on the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership was inked after the meeting, as well as a memorandum of understanding on a bilateral cooperation blueprint. Poland is the second leg of Xi's Eurasia tour. Before visiting Poland, Xi visited Serbia from June 17 to June 19. After visiting Poland, Xi will travel to Uzbekistan for a state visit and attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. (Reuters)

China, Poland to lift ties to comprehensive strategic partnership

The world is at risk of getting caught in a low-growth trap, dimming the hopes of future generations, unless governments step up spending quickly, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Wednesday. 
 
Moderate recovery since the global economic crisis in 2008 &quot;has precipitated a self-fulfilling low-growth trap&quot;, said Catherine Mann, the chief economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;Without comprehensive, coherent and collective action, disappointing and sluggish growth will persist, making it increasingly difficult to make good on promises to current and future generations,&quot; she added in an introduction to the OECD`s twice-yearly economic outlook. 
 
The OECD chopped its forecast for global growth this year to 3.0 percent, down from the 3.6 percent it forecast in October. For 2017 it now sees 3.3 percent growth. 
 
The dismal economic recovery has created forces that are now working to perpetuate slow growth, the OECD believes. 
 
In particular, businesses have little incentive to invest given moderate demand, while muted wage gains, unemployment and income inequality have held back consumption. Meanwhile, uncertainty also puts the brakes on spending. After years during which international economic instutions urged governments to practice austerity, Mann said that now &quot;fiscal policy must be deployed more extensively&quot;. 
 
&quot;almost all countries have room to reallocate spending and taxation towards items that offer more support to growth&quot; like investments in infrastucture as well as education, The OECD said. 
 
While central banks have been supporting the global recovery with ultra-low interest rates and stimulus measures, the OECD said &quot;it is clear that reliance on monetary policy alone has failed to deliver satisfactory growth and inflation.&quot; 
 
Moreover today`s low interest rates also provide an opportunity for governments to step up investment. 
 
Mann said the need for governments to shift up spending is urgent. 
 
&quot;The longer the global economy remains in the low-growth trap, the more difficult it will be to break the negative feedback loops, revive market forces, and boost economies to the high-growth path,&quot; she said. 
 
She warned that as things stand negative shocks &quot;could tip the world back into another deep downturn&quot; while geopolitical risks to the global economy are on the rise.The OECD sees the potential exit of Britain from the European Union following a referendum vote later this month as one major risk.&nbsp; 
 
If voters chose to leave, hits to trade, investment and spending would likely see the British economy grow by 3 percentage points less in the next four years than if voters choose to stay, according to the OECD. 
 
Already, uncertainty surrounding a possible Brexit &quot;has led to a significant slowdown in economic activity&quot;, although if voters choose to stay the OECD says it expects growth to pick up in the second half of this year.&nbsp; 
 
If Britain votes to remain in the EU in the referendum, which according to polls is a close call, growth will come in at 1.75 percent this year, the OECD expects. 
 
World markets went into a panic at the beginning of this year over the prospect of a sharp slowdown in China, which has been the source of most of global growth in recent years, but the OECD now sees growth moderating gradually thanks to recent government fiscal policy measures to support the economy. 
 
It forecasts China`s growth rate will slip to 6.5 percent this year, and then 6.2 percent in 2017. 
 
China`s economy grew by 6.9 percent last year. 
 
The strong dollar is expected to slow growth in the United States to 1.8 percent this year, from 2.4 percent last year. 
Meanwhile, the eurozone is seen as marking time at 1.6 percent growth. 
 
Japan should get a marginal boost, with growth of 0.7 percent this year, but then stumble to a mere 0.4 percent expansion in 2017.

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development pushes governments to spend more.

The world is at risk of getting caught in a low-growth trap, dimming the hopes of future generations, unless governments step up spending quickly, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Wednesday. Moderate recovery since the global economic crisis in 2008 "has precipitated a self-fulfilling low-growth trap", said Catherine Mann, the chief economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. "Without comprehensive, coherent and collective action, disappointing and sluggish growth will persist, making it increasingly difficult to make good on promises to current and future generations," she added in an introduction to the OECD`s twice-yearly economic outlook. The OECD chopped its forecast for global growth this year to 3.0 percent, down from the 3.6 percent it forecast in October. For 2017 it now sees 3.3 percent growth. The dismal economic recovery has created forces that are now working to perpetuate slow growth, the OECD believes. In particular, businesses have little incentive to invest given moderate demand, while muted wage gains, unemployment and income inequality have held back consumption. Meanwhile, uncertainty also puts the brakes on spending. After years during which international economic instutions urged governments to practice austerity, Mann said that now "fiscal policy must be deployed more extensively". "almost all countries have room to reallocate spending and taxation towards items that offer more support to growth" like investments in infrastucture as well as education, The OECD said. While central banks have been supporting the global recovery with ultra-low interest rates and stimulus measures, the OECD said "it is clear that reliance on monetary policy alone has failed to deliver satisfactory growth and inflation." Moreover today`s low interest rates also provide an opportunity for governments to step up investment. Mann said the need for governments to shift up spending is urgent. "The longer the global economy remains in the low-growth trap, the more difficult it will be to break the negative feedback loops, revive market forces, and boost economies to the high-growth path," she said. She warned that as things stand negative shocks "could tip the world back into another deep downturn" while geopolitical risks to the global economy are on the rise.The OECD sees the potential exit of Britain from the European Union following a referendum vote later this month as one major risk. If voters chose to leave, hits to trade, investment and spending would likely see the British economy grow by 3 percentage points less in the next four years than if voters choose to stay, according to the OECD. Already, uncertainty surrounding a possible Brexit "has led to a significant slowdown in economic activity", although if voters choose to stay the OECD says it expects growth to pick up in the second half of this year. If Britain votes to remain in the EU in the referendum, which according to polls is a close call, growth will come in at 1.75 percent this year, the OECD expects. World markets went into a panic at the beginning of this year over the prospect of a sharp slowdown in China, which has been the source of most of global growth in recent years, but the OECD now sees growth moderating gradually thanks to recent government fiscal policy measures to support the economy. It forecasts China`s growth rate will slip to 6.5 percent this year, and then 6.2 percent in 2017. China`s economy grew by 6.9 percent last year. The strong dollar is expected to slow growth in the United States to 1.8 percent this year, from 2.4 percent last year. Meanwhile, the eurozone is seen as marking time at 1.6 percent growth. Japan should get a marginal boost, with growth of 0.7 percent this year, but then stumble to a mere 0.4 percent expansion in 2017.

Spend for growth, OECD urges governments

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