At least one person has been killed and two injured in the latest outbreak of ethnic violence in Manipur state in north-eastern India.
Dozens have died and thousands have been displaced in weeks of conflict.
Authorities imposed a curfew and shut down internet services to control the violence.
Violence broke out on May 3 between two ethnic groups, the largely Hindu Meiteis and the Kukis, who are mostly Christians, over a contentious government proposal to list the majority Meitei community as a tribe.
The designation offers added benefits including reserved quotas for government jobs.
On Wednesday, suspected militants shot and killed a refugee and injured two others in the town of Bishnupur, police said.
Arson and violence was also reported in the nearby West Imphal district.
“One person received a bullet injury on his right little finger and right thigh,” said Manipur security adviser Kuldeep Singh.
Authorities sent additional forces to control the violence and cancelled plans to relax the curfew.
Police said a mob attacked and vandalised the house of a state minister in West Imphal, with several homes belonging to rival ethnic groups being attacked throughout the district.
A delegation of state legislators from the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party will meet Home Minister Amit Shah in neighbouring Assam’s Guwahati on Thursday.
Manipur is a mountainous region bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh. It is governed by the Hindu nationalist BJP.
About 34 ethnic tribes, making up 40 per cent of the population, have traditionally inhabited hilly areas that comprise 90 per cent of the land.
The Meiteis, who form more than half of the population, dominate the valley areas. They are confined to 10 per cent of the state's land.
They have long demanded the community be included in the tribe list to access land rights and job benefits, and match the status of other tribal groups.
But opposing tribes, such as the Kukis, have expressed their opposition, claiming that the Meiteis already dominate the demographic, political and social landscape of the state.
At least 60 people have died and 35,000 people from both groups have been forced to flee villages and seek refuge in army camps after their homes were burnt down.
More than a dozen of Manipur's 16 districts are affected by the violence.
Thousands of soldiers and riot police have been sent to the state.
Tribal leaders from the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum have demanded a “total separation from Manipur”.
The leaders have written a letter to the state government saying that the community sees “no prospect of living together” with the Meiteis.
“As it is evident and clear that the Meitei community with the help of the state government machineries has unleashed ethnic cleansing or genocide … it is proven that Meiteis hate us and we see no prospect of living together,” it wrote.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
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