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First Post
7 minutes ago
- First Post
From aspiration to agency: India redefines its global role
India seems to have resolved a complex arithmetic: diplomacy without submission, trade without compromising sovereignty, tech engagement that does not sacrifice agency, and multilateralism that negotiates interest, not ideology read more It is not the India of aspiration alone; it is the India of agency, reframing between autonomy and engagement, between principle and pragmatism. File image/ AP In the rapidly shifting global political architecture, few nations stand at as pivotal a juncture as India, caught in the confluence of normative aspirations, strategic autonomy, economic opportunity, and diplomatic realignment. From international tech rule‑setting to high‑stakes trade negotiations, from balancing sanctions pressure to recalibrating relations with China, the past few weeks have made clear that it's India's real moment. This is not mere reactivity but about India stepping forward to set the narrative, even under the weight of great power tensions and domestic imperatives. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Take the sharp warning from Nato Secretary‑General Mark Rutte, a diplomatic salvo that carries real consequences. In statements delivered in Washington and to Congress, Rutte emphasised that 'secondary sanctions', including tariffs up to 100 per cent, could be deployed against major economies like India, China, and Brazil should they continue to trade with Russia. The intent: leverage global economic ties to pressure Moscow toward a peace settlement over Ukraine. The declaration is a clear signal that India's commercial engagements are being scrutinised through the lens of Western security priorities. Delhi's swift rebuke, citing 'double standards' and asserting its sovereign right to conduct its trade, reveals India's determination to resist external dictates, even as it shoulders the complexity of geopolitical entanglements. Yet, this episode does not simply reflect Indian defiance. Rather, it underscores a rare and consequential exercise of normative sovereignty. India is not tethered to any bloc; it takes pride in being a multi-aligned and principled actor. Domestic energy security demands, its long‑standing commitment to global South solidarity, and cautious calibration with both West and East place it in a strategic sweet spot or jeopardy, depending on perspective. When Rutte urged these countries to 'make the phone call to Vladimir Putin' or face sanctions, he emphasised pressure, but India refused to be boxed into Western frameworks, opting instead for a calibrated diplomacy. This is not a retreat; this is self‑definition in action. World Trade Organisation (WTO) reform, gaining traction ahead of the Cameroon Ministerial, is another arena where India is quietly influencing multilateral rules. Talks now hinge on thorny compromises: easing 'consensus' gridlocks, demanding proof for industrial subsidies, and revisiting the special status of countries like India and China. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Pushed by the US and Europe to revive a stalled WTO, these shifts could undermine developing country carve-outs. While India remains restrained, its backroom diplomacy is active. The challenge lies in securing meaningful exceptions without stalling reform, testing not just India's trade stance but also its broader role in global rule-making. This is more about realigning trade with development than resistance. At the same time, New Delhi finds itself on the cusp of a potentially transformative bilateral trade agreement with the US, ahead of a hard August 1 US tariff deadline. An article of faith in India's political economy has been bilateralism as an antidote to protectionism, and Washington has signalled expansiveness: from high‑tech to supply‑chain resilience. Yet this is no yawning liberal fixture; it is a negotiation circumscribed by domestic concerns on both fronts. For India, offering tariff concessions or regulatory liberalisation might invite debate around industrial policy and food sovereignty; for the US, access to Indian markets must be matched by deeper procurement commitments and intellectual property standards. If last week's Nato‑sanctions episode underscores Indian autonomy, this trade narrative highlights its readiness to play a constructive, collaborative role, so long as reciprocity and national interest underpin any deal. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Meanwhile, India's pivot toward China, marked by Jaishankar's first visit to Beijing since the 2020 standoff, is a calculated move. At the SCO summit, his meeting with Wang Yi focused on de-escalation, a border resolution, and reviving trade minus 'restrictive measures'. China called normalisation 'hard-won', underscoring mutual interest in quiet diplomacy and regional stability. Beneath the optics, India is asserting agency: addressing boundary disputes, restoring critical supply chains, and preserving open trade. It's a calibrated framework—friendship without illusion, cooperation without compulsion. Now, juxtapose these developments with India's stealth campaign in global AI norm‑setting. While less visible to the world's press, New Delhi has been earnest, partaking actively in the Unesco‑led 2025 AI Action Summit and championing inclusive, transparent, and sustainable AI frameworks. Internally, the government's Shinrin hush, its hallmark IndiaAI mission, has enabled the creation of the India AI Safety Institute and the public‑sector BharatGen model, announced earlier this year. This reflects a coherent, outward‑looking narrative: one where India is not merely a consumer of Western AI but a producer and ethical interlocutor in its own right, framing a normative trajectory for the Global South. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This junction of AI, trade, sanctions, and diplomacy reveals an Indian posture defined by complexity rather than simplification. India is neither a protectable emerging market nor a fearful collateral of competition; it is instead a multifaceted actor shaping its lane, steering norms, and anticipating friction. If India is being squeezed by trade reform at the WTO, by diplomatic pressure over Russia, and by bilateral negotiations with large economies, it is responding with a choreography of normative offers, negotiation discipline, and diplomatic nuance. Strategic autonomy is no longer a slogan; it is a tactical posture. India's message comes across loud and clear: we will trade responsibly, not opportunistically; we will engage in global initiatives, not deflect them; we will assert our interests, not surrender them. This posture is especially critical because India's multilateral footprint is expanding with institution‑shaping spaces. In 2025, it has convinced even sceptics that its voice is consequential and its initiatives, from AI safety to trade alliances, are worth centralising. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD None of this is without strain. The geo‑economic environment is a maze of competing pressures: pressure to align with Western sanctions regimes, to commit to bilateral trade deals, to accelerate AI governance, and to stabilise border diplomacies. But India seems to have resolved a complex arithmetic: diplomacy that does not buy influence with submission, trade that does not cost sovereignty, tech engagement that does not sacrifice agency, and multilateralism that negotiates interest, not ideology. The key test lies ahead: can India engineer a degree of coherence across ministries, Commerce, Finance, External Affairs, and IT? Can it manage stakeholder friction between business communities aligned to greenhouse tech corridors and those tied to legacy energy relations with Russia? Can it maintain credibility on the world stage while cultivating domestic legitimacy? These questions are not rhetorical; they are strategic deadlines directed at policymaking systems, where alignment and execution define success. Ultimately, this is more than policy choreography; it is India redefining its global centre of gravity. When the US Congress debates whether India is aligned enough to merit exemption from sanctions, Delhi's internal coordination across diplomatic, economic, and strategic lines becomes part of its national security calculus. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD When WTO multilateralism teeters, India can offer constructive reform, leadership or resistance. When AI norm debates emerge, India doesn't merely have a seat; it has proposals. India projects the kind of policy confidence few states of its standing enjoy. India stands assertive, multi‑alignment‑centric, normatively engaged, and institutionally responsive. It is not the India of aspiration alone; it is the India of agency, reframing between autonomy and engagement, between principle and pragmatism. Amal Chandra is an author, political analyst and columnist. He posts on 'X' at @ens_socialis. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
FTA with UK inked on India's terms, protecting sensitive sectors: Piyush Goyal
New Delhi: The free trade agreement inked between India and the United Kingdom will offer benefits for a multitude of sectors, particularly the services sector, said union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday, adding that the agreement was inked on 'India's terms'. The agreement signed on Thursday was described by the minister as a 'game changer'. Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal. (File Photo) 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a Free Trade Agreement. Cabinet approval has been given in India, but Parliamentary approval in the UK is pending,' Goyal said. FTA, which has been signed after prolonged negotiations spanning two decades, is the 'biggest, most comprehensive' agreement, Goyal said, adding that the agreement was inked on 'our own terms' and protecting sensitive sectors. 'There are various new chapters, we have signed the deal on our own terms and for India's economy it will mean a lot,' the minister told media persons. While he credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's credibility for giving a fillip to the signing of the agreement, the minister said his instruction was to ensure that key sectors such as agriculture and dairy are protected. 'What is sensitive for us, what is called defensive interest, we have not opened any product. This FTA like the ones with Australia does not include the diary sector, as was instructed by the PM,' he said. He went on to add that unlike the FTAs that were signed during the Congress-led UPA regime with ASEAN countries, the present government ensures that FTAs are signed to protect Indian interests. The agreements are now signed 'with clarity, we do not compete with each other but complement,' he said. 'On the one hand there is a FTA with the sixth largest economy, we negotiated with confidence and on our terms. 99% of our exports will get preferential market access and without imposing duty, and what we need will come to the Indian markets and yet we kept the safeguard for sensitive sectors such as dairy and agriculture. It is a win-win trade agreement,' Goyal said. The Indian economy is moving ahead with speed, and its resilience, the minister said, were also instrumental in the sealing of the deal that has been signed after 22-23 years of struggle. 'Our spices will have duty free access in the UK. 50 lakh plus south Asians live there and of this 18 lakh are Indians. There is a market for the spices. Also, 99% fisheries products will have duty free access there. Leather goods, furniture and labour intensive sectors, pharmaceuticals will have zero duty access-and when GI products will be exported, India will have credit,' Goyal said. He said one big achievement has been the double contribution convention agreement - that will offer benefits in the services sector. 'It (sector) has grown by 12% last year. Earlier Indians working there had to pay 25% to the social security fund in the UK. And till they worked for 10 years they could not access the fund, it was wasted for those who stayed for shorter durations. Now those who go to the UK for three years will be allowed to contribute to the EPFO,' Goyal said. To a question on the impending agreements with the EU and the USA he said, 'We are working at the right speed, with the right intent and in the right direction.' The minister also said the FTAs with ASEAN nations are being re-looked at. 'We have opened our markets more. Our products do not have the same access,' he said. Negotiations are also underway with the US, Peru, Chile, Oman and EU.
The Wire
5 hours ago
- The Wire
Asked to Investigate UPA Govt's Use of 'Fake Notes' That Never Were: Ex-Finance Secretary Subhash Garg
New Delhi: About a year ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government then eying a second term, asked then union finance secretary, Subhash Chandra Garg, to investigate fake currency notes that had been allegedly used by the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government to use for political funding. While Garg informed the Prime Minister's Office that he did not find anything suspicious after undertaking the exercise for a couple of months, the PMO was still not satisfied and appointed an expert committee headed by an external professional. In his new book No, Minister: Navigating Power, Politics and Bureaucracy with a Steely Resolve, Garg writes that while he communicated that 'under no circumstances' would he 'find it acceptable that an outside professional be allowed to go into the highly sensitive and confidential currency printing presses.' Despite his misgivings, an expert committee headed by former chairman to the PM's Economic Advisory Council Bibek Debroy was formed, close to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Garg who took voluntary retirement in 2019 writes in his book that in April-May 2018 he received a confidential demi-official (DO)-from then principal secretary to the prime minister, Nripendra Misra, to audit 'all the paper purchased and used for printing currency notes over the last ten years.' 'There was no explicit purpose mentioned for undertaking this massive exercise. When I spoke to him to find out, he was not very forthcoming. It appeared that there was some suspicion in the mind of the PMO that the previous government had used the currency note printing presses to print notes over and above what were officially accounted for to use the same for political funding,' writes Garg in the book. Garg writes that since it was an order 'and indeed a sensitive matter' he undertook a detailed audit, which he described as a 'Herculean exercise' that took a couple of months. 'In consultation with government's note printing company, the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL), I designed a broad worksheet to capture all the currency printing paper purchased over the past 10 years in square metres, all the currency notes printed during this period, the paper consumption which these printed notes accounted for by taking their dimensions into consideration and all the resultant and accounted for wastages,' he writes. 'I gathered the international norms of wastages to benchmark wastages accounted for by note printing presses. It was a Herculean exercise and took a couple of months.' Garg said that at the end of the exercise which was undertaken by the SPMCIL officers, it was found that there was slightly higher wastage which was 'not alarming' than international norms and that he found nothing suspicious. 'There was slightly higher wastage (though nothing alarming) than the international norms, but it was quite close to the Indian experience and the long-term trend. I went through all these calculations and got the SPMCIL management to send the report along with all the details officially concluding that there was no unexplained wastage. I thereafter forwarded it to the PMO with my covering note that I did not find anything particularly suspicious in the printing of notes over that period of 10 years,' he writes. According to Garg, the PMO was not satisfied and he was sent another DO from Misra in which he was informed that an expert committee headed by an external professional would be formed. Garg said that he found it unacceptable that an outside professional would be 'allowed to go into the highly sensitive and confidential currency printing presses.' 'I found it uncalled for and decided to meet him to persuade him not to embark on that wild goose chase. He was insistent. I said that the government might appoint an expert committee but under no circumstances would I find it acceptable that an outside professional be allowed to go into the highly sensitive and confidential currency printing presses,' Garg writes in the book. 'He agreed to this. The PMO decided to appoint Bibek Debroy as head of the committee, a decision that was taken just prior to the Lok Sabha elections of 2019,' he writes. Bibek Debroy. Photo: PTI/Files Debroy had been the chairman of the PM's Economic Advisory Council since 2017. Garg writes that the Debroy committee however did not start work till his voluntary retirement in July 2019. 'Nothing has been placed by the government in public domain about the work done and conclusions reached by the Debroy Committee,' he writes. In July 2019, Garg who was moved to the power ministry applied for voluntary retirement, preferring to resign over a year before his scheduled 'superannuation' date. Although Garg's new position in the power ministry came with the same salary and perks, it was widely seen as a demotion. The decision to shift Garg to the power ministry was seen as being abrupt, primarily because the finance ministry bureaucrat was closely and personally involved with several government initiatives including ,
