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Parliament Monsoon Session LIVE updates: Congress seeks discussion on Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor
Parliament Monsoon Session: Bills to be discussed
The government intends to introduce and pass several significant bills during the upcoming session, including the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025; the National Sports Governance Bill, 2025; and the Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Bill, 2025, among others.
The government has informed Opposition parties that it will address demands for a response to American President Donald Trump's statements regarding Operation Sindoor, particularly his claim of facilitating a truce between India and Pakistan, and the assertion that at least five jets were downed during the conflict.
Smaller members of the INDIA bloc, notably the Left parties, have previously disagreed with Congress' approach to disrupt proceedings and walk out instead of confronting the government on key issues.
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New Indian Express
a few seconds ago
- New Indian Express
Trump announces trade deal with Japan that lowers threatened tariff to 15%
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump announced a trade framework with Japan on Tuesday, placing a 15% tax on goods imported from that nation. 'This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it,' Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that the United States 'will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan.' The president said Japan would invest 'at my direction' $550 billion into the U.S. and would 'open' its economy to American autos and rice. The 15% tax on imported Japanese goods is a meaningful drop from the 25% rate that Trump, in a recent letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said would be levied starting Aug. 1. With the announcement, Trump is seeking to tout his ability as a dealmaker — even as his tariffs when initially announced in early April led to a market panic and fears of slower growth that for the moment appear to have subsided. Key details remained unclear from his post, such as whether Japanese-built autos would face a higher 25% tariff that Trump imposed on the sector. But the framework fits a growing pattern for Trump, who is eager to portray the tariffs as win for the U.S. His administration says the revenues will help reduce the budget deficit and more factories will relocate to America to avoid the import taxes and cause trade imbalances to disappear.
Scroll.in
a few seconds ago
- Scroll.in
Yet again, Odisha student's death by suicide shows how India is still failing women
Predictable, knee-jerk reactions and promises of harsh punishment followed the death by suicide of a 20-year-old woman from Odisha on July 14 after she was sexually harassed by a college faculty member. The incident underscored how India's reactive and punishment-focused response to violence against women is fundamentally inadequate. The 20-year-old BEd student at Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Balasore had set herself ablaze outside the principal's office on July 12. Two days later, she succumbed to 95% burn injuries at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar The student's testimonials and letters being circulated by the media show that she was harassed for months by the head of department Samir Kumar Sahu, who allegedly demanded sexual favours to clear her attendance backlogs. Sahu was arrested on July 12 and college principal Dilip Ghosh soon after. The student had met Balasore MP Pratap Sarangi to report the harassment. She had also posted about the harassment on her X account tagging the Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Majhi, the state's higher education minister and Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan, who is a Member of Parliament from Odisha. But her pleas went unheard. The immediate aftermath followed a familiar script, with Majhi promising 'strictest punishment under law'. The state government hastily directed higher education institutions to constitute Internal Complaints Committees under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, as if the absence of such mechanisms had been a sudden revelation rather than a longstanding oversight. It shows that even basic legal mandates under the act are unaddressed in Odisha. The opposition Biju Janata Dal and Congress held protests in Odisha demanding political accountability. But systemic accountability will not result solely from resorting to criminal law and punishing offenders. The systemic failures that enable such violence must be addressed. However, since the 2012 Delhi gangrape, India has repeatedly turned to punitive legislation to address sexual violence. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, introduced harsher penalties for sexual offences. After the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Hospital in August last year, West Bengal enacted the Aparajita Woman and Child Act, 2024. But less than a year later, in July, Kolkata witnessed another violent crime: a law student was gangraped in an alleged act of revenge by a former classmate after she refused to marry one of them. The persistence of such crimes despite severe laws underlines the futility of seeking deterrence through retributive punishment alone. Friends of the Odisha student say her ordeal was not confined to sexual harassment by Sahu but also included verbal abuse and harassment that she endured for months. Sexual slurs and rumours of her being of 'loose' character were circulated on college WhatsApp groups. Demeaning language by her peers led to her being ostracised, possibly creating an environment of isolation and despair. The college Internal Complaints Committee had found Sahu guilty and recommended his transfer but the directive was not implemented. These failings show that it was not just a case of individual misconduct, but a comprehensive institutional failure that pushed a young woman to the brink. This occured despite the fact that the prevention of workplace sexual harassment law, which has mechanisms to check such incidents, includes educational institutions under its purview. Section 19 of the act mandates employers to organise workshops and awareness programmess on sexual harassment and conspicuously display the consequences of sexual harassment as well as the manner of reporting to the internal complaints committee. Merely focusing on punishing Sahu and the principal shifts focus away from the government's shortcomings in implementing the safeguards already in place. However, days after the incident, the Odisha government on July 19 announced the Shaktishree programme for women's safety. Its main features include a mobile app to report complaints, an empowerment cell of female faculty and students, a code of conduct, online training on the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace act and increased camera surveillance. #Odisha takes a bold step with the #Shaktishree Initiative to ensure safer campuses for women. — CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) July 19, 2025 The state government's technocratic approach ignores ground realities such as the fact that women, especially those from marginalised groups, have low access to smartphones and the internet. Similarly, the reliance on student-led cells, training modules and periodic visits by mentors treats sexual harassment as coordination problem rather than one requiring fundamental cultural change. The Balasore student had already reported her harassment through existing channels to the college internal complaints committee. More reporting mechanisms would not have protected her when the system failed to act on her complaints. Majhi, while announcing the Shaktishree programme, did not say whether the government has the capacity to deliver these measures, and in what timeframe. It also is not clear how everyday incidents will be prevented while this new initiative is put into place. Women as citizens Implementing both, the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace act and the Shaktishree initiative requires political will grounded in the recognition of women's rights as citizens, not daughters, sisters or mothers. This is difficult in Indian society where close-knit family relations and caste and religion markers determine the worth of women, creating a pervasive rape culture. In another incident in Odisha earlier in July, BJP legislator Santosh Khatua used sexual slurs against Lekhashree Samantasinghar, a senior leader of the opposition Biju Janata Dal. After Samantasinghar's complaint, the police filed a case against Khatua. But the ruling BJP did not admonish its legislator or criticise his behaviour. In March, after the Congress alleged that crimes against women in the state had increased, the state government refused to constitute a house committee to consider this phenomenon. This political apathy creates an enabling environment in which violent crimes against women flourish with impunity, provoking public outrage only when they breach the narrow boundaries of respectability. In the case of the Balasore student, this culture of impunity proved fatal, as political leaders turned a blind even as the student pleaded with them to intervene. The path forward demands the strict implementation of the orders of the internal complaints committee, mandatory gender sensitisation programmes, regular institutional audits, robust grievance redressal mechanisms, psychosocial support and a cultural transformation that challenges deep-rooted social prejudices. Unless these are addressed, preventable tragedies such as the death of the young woman in Balasore will continue.
Indian Express
a few seconds ago
- Indian Express
Amid India agri standoff, US gains access to politically sensitive rice market in Japan
Signalling a resolute push on agriculture sector negotiations, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a trade deal with Japan that includes market access for American agricultural products, including politically sensitive items such as rice. Under the deal, Japan has agreed to impose 15 per cent reciprocal tariffs, compared to the 25 per cent the US had threatened earlier this week. This comes just days after India concluded an extended round of talks but failed to sign a deal, mainly due to differences over market access for agricultural products. The Japan agreement is significant as New Delhi too remains particularly sensitive over staple food items such as wheat and rice. As in India, rice is an economically important and politically sensitive commodity in Japan — so much so that when Japan's farm minister joked he never had to buy rice because his supporters gave him 'plenty' as gifts, he was ultimately forced to resign, the BBC reported. Japan is currently facing a rare cost of living crisis, which has affected rice prices. In 2025, prices have more than doubled compared to the previous year. The ruling coalition, led by Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, also suffered a defeat in the upper house elections amid widespread discontent over the cost of living. 'We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made. Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits. This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it,' Trump said in a social media post. 'Perhaps most importantly, Japan will open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and certain other Agricultural Products, and other things. Japan will pay Reciprocal Tariffs to the United States of 15 per cent. This is a very exciting time for the United States of America, and especially for the fact that we will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan. Thank you for your attention to this matter,' Trump added. While agriculture remains a contentious issue in US trade negotiations, India's reliance on agriculture remains critically high. However, Western nations, including the US, have criticised India for providing excessive support to rice farmers. Although New Delhi has resisted pressure to reform its farm policies, it has also questioned the methodology used to calculate subsidies at the WTO. Notably, India is the world's largest rice exporter. When India banned rice exports in July 2023, global prices rose by up to 32 per cent in key rice-importing countries. The ban was lifted last year following a rise in domestic inventories. Meanwhile, the Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements (ICCFM) — a network of farmers' organisations across 11 states including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra — has urged the government to exclude all aspects of agriculture from the proposed trade deal with the US in order to safeguard Indian farmers' interests. The ICCFM highlighted the risks to Indian farmers, stating that the US government is one of the world's largest providers of agricultural subsidies. The 2024 US Farm Bill has allocated a staggering $1.5 trillion towards farm support. Such extensive subsidies not only restrict agricultural imports into the US but also allow American products to enter export markets at artificially low prices, the farmers' group said. Permitting heavily subsidised US imports into India, the ICCFM argued, would undermine India's longstanding position at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against such subsidies. Ravi Dutta Mishra is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, covering policy issues related to trade, commerce, and banking. He has over five years of experience and has previously worked with Mint, CNBC-TV18, and other news outlets. ... Read More
