Avoid temptation to study abroad: Swadeshi Jagran Manch on US tariffs
Amidst rising US tariffs, Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has initiated a campaign to boycott foreign goods and discourage studying abroad. Inspired by the Quit India movement, SJM aims to promote indigenous products and self-reliance. Protests have been organized across 700 districts, highlighting concerns over protectionist trade practices and perceived imbalances with China.
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Time of India
7 hours ago
- Time of India
‘US, EU importing from Russia too': Farm groups in Punjab burn Trump effigies
Bathinda: Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) affiliates on Wednesday burned effigies of US President Donald Trump in Bathinda and Faridkot on Wednesday to protest against his move to impose a 50% tariff on Indian goods. Farm groups called out Trump for imposing the tariff on India even as the US and European Union had been buying goods from Russia. "US imports from Russia are on the rise, particularly in palladium (37%), uranium (28%), and fertilisers (21%). China and the EU have imported more from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine. As per the data of Aug 2, India's oil import from Russia is worth 1.3 lakh million euros, which is less than China's import of Russian oil worth 1.9 lakh million euros. However, the US tariffs on China are only 30%," stated SKM. SKM's statement added the US was using its economic and military might to impose an "unjust and chaotic world order", thus targeting India. "India cannot surrender its sovereignty to please the US. India cannot forgo its sovereign right to buy oil from the least costly sources. The people of India cannot be made to suffer from high oil prices," the SKM added in its statement. SKM said the US wanted India to open its economy in agriculture, fisheries, and dairy, so that its giant agribusiness corporations and MNCs could enter the country. "India cannot abandon the interests of the farming community. More than 50% people earn their livelihood from agriculture in India. The workforce dependent on agriculture in India is 48%, while in the USA, it is only 2.6%," SKM said. SKM called upon farmers, workers, and all people to rally against this economic embargo on the Indian economy. It urged farmers to burn effigies of Trump in all villages across the country on Aug 13, while observing the 83rd anniversary of the Quit India movement. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Trump's tariffs spark a new ‘swadeshi' pledge with old fears unlocked
Allegations of terror funding, invocation of patriotism and the bogey of 'love jihad' — even destination weddings — have all made appearances amid a renewed push for 'swadeshi' (locally produced) goods after American President Donald Trump shocked with high tariffs on its exports to the US. Swadeshi Jagran Manch members protest against buying goods from US-based companies, in New Delhi on Sunday, August 10.(ANI) 'Take a pledge on Raksha Bandhan to protect the country; that we will buy swadeshi,' said minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on August 9 as he celebrated the Hindu festival centered around brothers protecting sisters. UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath's call, which came in the same week, gave his reasons: 'Profits earned by foreign companies are being used to fund terrorism, Naxalism, religious conversion, and love jihad." The theory of 'love jihad' claims a planned effort by Muslim men to marry and convert Hindu women. Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his monthly radio programme to say that true service to the nation lay in promoting indigenous goods. 'We must awaken the spirit of swadeshi,' he said in his 'Mann ki Baat' address, invoking Mahatma Gandhi. The PM cited 'global economic uncertainties'. India faces up to 50 per cent tariffs, the highest imposed by the US, as Trump insists it's because India has been buying oil from Russia which is at war against Ukraine. With talks for a trade deal now in uncertain territory, India has diplomatically hit back at the 'unfair and unjustified' reasoning for the tariffs, saying that many countries, including the US, and the West in general, have been trading with Russia too. Opposition parties have made mirthful remarks about Modi's equation with Trump having changed drastically. On the ground, from McDonald's and Coca-Cola to Amazon and Apple, the most obvious ones among US companies in India are facing boycott calls. There were no immediate indications of sales being hit, Reuters reported. But the chorus online, and some offline, to ditch American products has grown. The Swadeshi Jagran Manch — part of the same ideological conglomerate to which belongs India's ruling BJP — has taken out some rallies. It took out similar rallies against China and Turkey in the recent past. US companies have deep roots in India, though. Domino's has more restaurants than any other brand in the country, and India is the biggest market by users for Meta's WhatsApp It's on WhatsApp, in fact, that groups such as the Swadeshi Jagran Manch are circulating graphics that list Indian alternatives to foreign brands, from soaps to cold drinks to clothes. Startup founders see this moment ripe for a pivot. "India should have its own home-grown Twitter/Google/YouTube/WhatsApp/FB — like China has," said a post on LinkedIn by Rahm Shastry, CEO of DriveU, and Indian company that provides car drivers on call. McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Amazon and Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters queries. "We have proudly spent on brands that we don't own, while our own makers fight for attention in their own country," Manish Chowdhary, co-founder of Wow Skin Science, lamented on LinkedIn. He annexed a video message, suggesting the Indians should learn from South Korea's ability to make its beauty products a global obsession. Indian retail companies do give some foreign brands, like Starbucks, competition at home, but have struggled to go global, Reuters noted in its report. Indian IT services firms, however, have become deeply entrenched in the global economy, it added. Amid this, Tesla, owned by Trump's ex-BFF Elon Musk, launched a second showroom in India, in New Delhi after Mumbai. Officials from India's commerce ministry and the US embassy were in attendance. "People are now looking at Indian products. It will take some time to fructify," Ashwani Mahajan, co-convenor of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, said to Reuters, 'This is a call for nationalism, patriotism.' At a McDonald's in Lucknow, meanwhile, Rajat Gupta, 37, told Reuters that the ₹49 coffee he got there was value for money. "Tariffs are a matter of diplomacy and my McPuff (and) coffee should not be dragged into it," he said.
New Indian Express
2 days ago
- New Indian Express
Bihar: CPI(ML) Liberation to hold protest on I-Day against 'discrepancies' in SIR
PATNA: CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Sunday announced that his party will hold a country-wide agitation on Independence Day to protest against alleged discrepancies in the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar. Addressing a press conference here, Bhattacharya accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of becoming a 'hurdle' in the functioning of the democratic machinery, and said 'Kendriya Chunav Aayog' now "deserves to be called 'Kendriya Chunauti Aayog'." "To highlight the challenges we are facing because of the attitude of the election commission, our party will hold a country-wide 'Save Constitution and Save Democracy' agitation on August 15", Bhattacharya said. "If 2024 was about selective 'vote chori' (vote theft), what we are now witnessing in Bihar is perhaps nothing short of daylight robbery. The Supreme Court's advice about the inclusion of documents and disclosure of data has been stubbornly rejected by the EC while preparing draft electoral rolls in Bihar," he alleged. He said all constituents of the INDIA bloc will also launch 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Bihar from August 17 to August 31 against the SIR exercise. "It is now an open EC versus the people of India challenge: stop us if you can! Can the people of Bihar accept and win the challenge? 'Kendriya Chunav Aayog' deserves to be called 'Kendriya Chunauti Aayog'. This August, can we repeat what our predecessors had done during the historic Quit India movement in August 1942?" he asked. Can anyone explain the "statistical magic of SIR on the basis of the ECI's claims"?, he questioned.
