MARKET PERSPECTIVE
By J Mulraj
Apr 13- 19 2026
Will destroy the only habitable planet in the Universe
Image created using raphael.ai
Planet Earth was created 4.5 billion years ago. It is the only one, out of 8 planets in our solar system, that can support life. This is because Earth has been divinely placed at a spot which provides right atmosphere, temperature and liquid water to sustain life. The video, below, explains why.
If Planet Earth had been just 1% closer to the sun, every ocean would start to boil (like in Venus where water temperatures reach 460 degrees Celsius). If 1% further away from it, every water body would be frozen ( like Mars). Let that sink in! (No pun intended).
Not only that, the gravitational force of Jupiter serves to suck in comets and meteors that could, otherwise, have collided with Planet Earth. The Moon, and the gravitational tilt of the Earth serves to stabilise seasons.
Celestial forces have miraculously combined to allow Earth to be able to sustain life.
How dare the global polity combine to attempt to destroy this miracle with continuous wars? If this is not insane arrogance, pray, what is?
The video below is worth watching.
Countries have stockpiled between 1200-13000 nuclear warheads, with Russia and USA each having more than 5000 warheads. The warheads on just one missile on a US submarine has 7 times the destructive power than all the bombs dropped in WW II. Using the stockpile in a nuclear war will not only kill billions of people, but would generate soot and smoke to block sunlight, making agriculture impossible, and so destroy humanity.
Humankind has also developed chemical and biological weapons of mass, and indiscriminate, destruction. These have been used in war (Agent Orange in Vietnam) and in peace (Serin gas in a Tokyo tube station). Turkey has become one of a handful of countries that has developed a thermobaric bomb. It is an unbelievably cruel WMD because it first disperses a fuel cloud (like an aerosol) which hovers in the air, and then ignites it, sucking out oxygen and literally setting human lungs on fire in an excruciating death. It has been banned by the UN, yet countries continue to develop it.
As Michael Jackson asked, in his Earth Song:
Did you ever stop to notice
All the children dead from war?
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth, this weeping shore?
In the Iran conflict, with Pakistan’s intervention, delegations from both sides, Iran and USA, met in Islamabad over a marathon, 21 hour session, which ended inconclusively. But the ceasefire held.
Thereafter the US instituted a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Only Iranian ports were denied access, militarily, including for those ships that had paid the toll, (allegedly $2 m.) to pass through. The Strait of Hormuz is an international waterway and as per UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a 1982 treaty, all nations have the right of free passage. Other choke points, such as the Strait of Malacca and Singapore Strait, are open.
Perhaps the blockade worked. Perhaps Iran, which produced but could not evacuate, its oil, has run out of capacity to store it. An oil well is not a switch, to be turned off and on; it has to keep producing oil, else it degrades. Oil Storage capacity is finite. Also, due to the blockade, Iran is financially weakened. Whatever the reason, Iran has apparently sought a second round of negotiations, likely in Islamabad, to be held shortly. One hopes that it the second session is held, and that common sensical survival prevails over jingoism.
Saudi Arabia has invoked the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement it signed with Pakistan in September 2025, in performance of which, Pakistan has supplied 13000 troops and between 10-18 fighter jets, plus support aircraft. These include the JF 17 Thunder Block III, and, likely, the F16s. The JF 17 was jointly developed by Pakistan and China.
As per intel reports, though denied by China, China has provided MANPADS, or shoulder fired missiles to shoot hostile aircraft, to Iran. It would be ironical if Chinese MANPADS were were used to bring down JF 17, jointly developed by it! Such are the convoluted twists of senseless conflicts.
The war, and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, is going to make this a very difficult year for India. Prices of crude oil, fertiliser and LNG are high, and supply is constrained. This will negatively impact India’s GDP growth, and food production. The current account deficit will widen, and the INR will continue its decline. Because of the fall in INR, India has fallen behind Japan and UK in ranking by GDP. Iran has also threatened to cut undersea cables, which carry electronic signals. This signals its disregard, as does the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, for all other nations, not just the belligerants. A severance of these electronic arteries would affect communications, electronic payments like the UPI, Banking, IT exports, data centres, and everything electronic. It is a heartless and dangerous escalation.
An issue that needs to be addressed is the leniency towards MPs and MLAs, Members of the Legislative Assembly of States. Some 30% of MPs and 29% of MLAs have criminal records, a discouragingly high number. They get a monthly compensation of over INR 230,000 pm, free housing in Delhi and a lifetime pension.
And, in 2025, the MPs sat for just 55 days in the whole year!
So, a little less than a third of Indian law makers have a criminal record, work for less than 1 in 6 days, get free housing in Delhi, a generous salary and perks and a lifetime pension!
And now, if a proposed Constituency Delimitation Bill is passed, the number of MPs will increase from 543 to, perhaps, 850, and of MLAs too. This, for people, a third having committed crimes, working just 1in 6 days and doing nothing to pass laws to address India’s most pressing issues viz. corruption, facilitated by tax free agri income, the pathetically slow judiciary with 55 m pending cases, inadequate and low quality primary education, low groundwater levels and other urgent issues. And, at a time when India’s economic growth will hit a huge bump.
The failure to address these issues is a failure of the leadership one had expected this Government to demonstrate.
The kind of leadership Singaporean PM Lee Kyan Yew demonstrated, when his first act after being elected in 1955 was to root out corruption, jailing the corrupt without fear or favour. The result? Its per capita income is, today, $ 107,760. India’s is $ 2813. Thirty Eight Times! You know what? In 1955, both were the same!
Tackle corruption seriously, Mr Modi, as you promised. Your FM is going after the small fish, tinkering with levels of cash transactions and balances. But allowing the big whales to be free to whitewash black money through fake agricultural income. If Nirmala Sitaraman can make presumptive additions to income on the basis of cash payments, why can she not make presumptive additions about agricultural income being fake? If there is a will……
Last week the BSE Sensex ended at 78493 for a weekly gain of 943 points.
If a second round of talks is held and results in a peace deal, and the Strait is opened, there should be a relief rally. This can be used to lighten the portfolio. The Indian economy will be hit, this year, by a shortage of, and rising prices of, energy and it’s agricultural economy will be hit by the shortage/higher prices of fertilisers.
The roots of the economy are being gnawed by the twin cancers of corruption and delayed, ie denied, justice. Leaders are unwilling to attack these cancers. There will be better opportunities to enter the market later.
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Comments may be sent to: jmulraj@asiaconverge.com
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