NISAR satellite, the Great India Bustard, and Trump's 25% tariff
Next, The Indian Express' Nikhil Ghanekar talks about the Supreme Court-appointed committee on the Great Indian Bustard that has submitted its recommendations, aiming to reconcile India's green energy push with the urgent need to protect this critically endangered bird. (16:28)
And finally, just as India celebrated its trade deal with the UK, a new challenge has emerged across the Atlantic. US President Donald Trump has announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods, citing India's high import duties and its growing ties with Russia. (26:16)
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The Print
26 minutes ago
- The Print
15 ‘oligarch billionaires' run India: Ex-Trump negotiator Lighthizer on why he failed with New Delhi
Late on Monday, Trump threatened substantial tariffs on India as he accused it of buying and reselling 'massive amounts' of Russian oil 'for big profits'. With Trump repeating the threat days after announcing 25% tariffs and a Russia penalty on India, a reading of Lighthizer's book presents key insights on Trump's India stance. Lighthizer writes in No Trade is Free that he would try to predict India's position in talks by tracking the interests of its 15 billionaires or 'oligarchs who ran the country', giving a rare insider's peek into how the US President's India policy has unfolded over his two terms. New Delhi: As US President Donald Trump has again threatened to raise tariffs on India supposedly for its Russian oil purchase, it's instructive to see what former US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who set Trump's trade agenda and negotiated with India, had to say in a 2023 book. Lighthizer, a veteran trade negotiator and once a free-trade sceptic, is widely considered to have curated policy moves of US President Donald Trump, who abruptly revoked special trade privileges to India in his first term. He referred to these billionaires as 'oligarchs' and said it was unusual in the extent to which they 'influence government policy' in India. The 77-year-old also said that India 'suffered from an extremely strong professional bureaucracy' in all areas of government. 'When I was in negotiations with Indian officials, I kept a copy of the biography of each of the country's fifteen or so billionaires on my desk. In predicting Indian government positions, I would look to the interests of these men,' Lighthizer wrote in his book, which was published in 2023. India's opposition parties have often alleged that largecorporate houses and industrialists, such as Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, enjoy easy access to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, which work in their interests in exchange for funds. 'I can remember at one point telling an Indian friend of mine who had made a fortune in business that I thought there were fifteen oligarchs who basically ran the country. He corrected me. 'Bob, you're wrong. Only about seven of them actually run the country. The others just try to influence the seven',' Lighthizer wrote in the book, which has an entire chapter dedicated to India. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has called Modi's government a 'suit-boot ki sarkar' (government for the rich) to try to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party as recently as during the 2024 general elections. The Prime Minister has outrightly rejected the allegations, saying that such deceitful political vendetta only hurts the electoral prospects of the Congress. While the two industrialists, also two of India's wealthiest men, have not addressed the charges publicly, their business entities have denied allegations by the Opposition on several counts. India's 'protectionism' In his second term, US President Trump is pushing on with a tariff blitz across countries as he attempts to 'reorder the global economy' with the highest rates since the 1930s. Talks between New Delhi and Washington to clinch a trade deal have remained stalled, with experts saying highly protected agriculture and dairy sectors are sticky issues. Lighthizer also referred to India's 'protectionist' stance in his book. 'India is particularly protectionist in the agricultural sector, where it uses tariffs and safety standards to help politically potent farmers groups,' he wrote in his book, which is full of praise for Trump and his style of politics. In fact, he wrote that he once told Prime Minister Modi that India was 'the most protectionist country in the world' and that it was causing a large and growing trade deficit. 'Indian trade policies have long caused tensions with the United States. India uses many of the tools of modern mercantilism. It has high tariffs, a bureaucracy focused on keeping imports out, and a system of industrial policy and protectionism.' Also Read: Pakistan, Dhaka have played Washington well. Back home, Modi ecosystem has an inner conflict 'Natural friends' India & US Lighthizer, however, said India and the US were 'natural friends'. 'Perhaps, most importantly, the rise and growing militarism of China is the greatest geopolitical concern for both our nations… India feels as threatened as we do by the aggressive surge of China. There is truth in the old saying (modified for obvious reasons) that the adversary of my adversary is my friend.' Lighthizer, once called by Trump the 'greatest United States trade representative in American history', played a crucial role in the imposition of hefty tariffs on Chinese imports during the first term of the US President. While India-US relations grew for the most part during the presidency of Joe Biden, they have remained fragmented due to several trade and policy differences under the deceptive exterior of a vibrant bonhomie between 'great friends' Trump and Modi. Lighthizer said that the Trump administration's strategy with India was to maintain good relations but to use what leverage it had to increase its access to India's market to 'obtain fairness and reciprocity in trade'. He also commented on what he thought of as Modi's personality and political vision. 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a particularly interesting figure. He came up through the ranks of right-wing political organizations and clearly considers himself a nationalist. His political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is a right-wing Hindu party.' He added: 'He is an extremely gifted politician and the first leader of India who was born after its independence in 1947… Of course, Modi is dedicated to raising India out of poverty. He believes in doing it through state control of innovation, high tariffs, mercantilism, and protectionism. There are lots of hangovers from the time of British rule, but free trade is not one of them.' High praise for Piyush Goyal Lighthizer was sworn in as the 18th US Trade Representative (USTR) in May 2017 and worked in the position till 20 January 2021. The USTR is responsible for developing and coordinating international trade, commodity, and direct investment policy, as well as overseeing negotiations with other countries. At the time he was chosen by Trump to serve as USTR, Lighthizer was a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (Skadden), where he practised international trade law for over 30 years. Before joining Skadden, Lighthizer served as deputy USTR for US President Ronald Reagan. During this tenure, he negotiated over two dozen bilateral international agreements, including pacts on steel, automobiles, and agricultural products. The latest flashpoint in the recent India-US talks came last week when the US President signed an order imposing a 25 percent tariff on India's exports, 'plus an unspecified penalty' for buying Russian oil and weapons. In the 2023 book, Lighthizer also reflected on his time negotiating with the Indian delegation on tariffs. 'I said (to PM Modi) that I had been negotiating with their trade minister, Suresh Prabhu, for two years and had made absolutely no progress. At times, I said, he had not even returned my call for weeks.' 'Soon after that meeting, negotiations began in earnest. This time they were with a new trade minister named Piyush Goyal, a smart, gifted politician from Mumbai. We raised our issues: tariffs, agriculture access, medical device impediments, barriers to e-commerce and insurance, discrimination in the electronic payment sector, fish subsidies, and the list goes on. We made headway but could never quite close a deal.' (Edited by Madhurita Goswami) Also Read:Trump tariff forces India to shed illusion. Stop conflating status with power
Time of India
29 minutes ago
- Time of India
SC proposes panel to manage Banke Bihari temple till HC decides on UP ordinance
. New Delhi: Supreme Court on Monday proposed an interim committee, headed by a retired high court judge and comprising the district collector and Goswamis (pujaris), for management of Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan till Allahabad HC decides the validity of UP govt's ordinance for all-round development of the temple area to provide facilities to pilgrims. A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked additional solicitor general K M Nataraj to seek state govt's response by Tuesday morning, when it will take up a batch of petitions that have questioned the manner in which state govt, prompted by an SC order, had come out with a temple development project proposed to be implemented at a cost of Rs 500 crore. The Goswamis, through senior advocate Shyam Divan, said taking over of the temple through an ordinance was extraordinary as the issue was not before constitutional courts, which were only dealing with alleged mismanagement of Guriraj temple. In the guise of better management of temples in the 'Braj area', the SC passed an order without even hearing temple Goswamis, which prompted the state to issue the ordinance, they said. The bench agreed that such an order without hearing the Goswamis could not have been passed. However, the Justice Kant-led bench said, "It is only for development of the temple and its surroundings. The state's intention does not appear to siphon out temple funds but to spend it on providing facilities to pilgrims." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Andrea Bergs Auto schockiert die ganze Welt, Beweis in Fotos! Weight Loss Groove Undo Divan said Banke Bihari temple was a private temple and any law brought about by govt or any order passed by courts could not have been without hearing the Goswamis, who have been managing it for centuries. The bench saw a point in Divan's argument and said, "The state cannot be seen coming to the court in a clandestine manner and getting an order set aside in a case which had nothing to do with Banke Bihari temple. We will set aside that part of the order, set up an interim committee to manage the temple and permit the HC to decide the legality of the ordinance." However, the bench was in favour of development around the temple to provide space for parking and places to stay for pilgrims with all facilities. "Religious tourism is assuming great importance. It can also be a big revenue earner and help in job creation. But there has to be adequate facilities to handle pilgrims," it said. The interim committee may also have to induct representatives of Archaeological Survey of India as well as independent architects proficient in ancient building restoration to protect the temple, the bench said.
Indian Express
41 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Geneva meet: Talks on Global Plastics Treaty resume today
STARTING TUESDAY, over 190 countries will get into a huddle in Geneva, Switzerland, to break an impasse and reach an agreement over the next fortnight on the first-ever Global Plastics Treaty that will create a legally binding framework to end plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. This will be the second installment of the fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) of the UN. Countries will push to address plastic pollution right from the production stage, which uses polluting oil and gas, to the challenges of plastic waste disposal and recycling. Negotiators will pick up from the previous meeting in Busan, South Korea, last December, where talks had collapsed over critical and unresolved issues. These issues and disagreements were over the draft treaty's provisions on putting a cap on production of polymers, elimination of harmful chemicals from plastic production and phasing out of harmful plastic products. As per the Centre for International Environmental Law, a US-based non-profit, the current draft text issued during Busan contains 370 brackets, which indicate areas of no agreement between countries. It was in 2022 in Nairobi that a resolution was adopted at the United Nations Environment Assembly to develop global rules to end plastic pollution. If successfully adopted, the treaty would be the most consequential one on environmental issues since the 2015 Paris climate agreement. The exponential growth in plastic production is one of the key drivers of plastic pollution. Globally, annual production has doubled, soaring from 234 million tonnes in 2000 to 460 million tonnes in 2019, while plastic waste has more than doubled from 156 Mt in 2000 to 353 Mt in 2019, as per a report of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Production is likely to triple in a business-as-usual scenario by 2060, as per the UN EP. The talks on the global treaty will resume in the backdrop of a new Lancet report which said that 'plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding $1.5 trillion annually'. Civil society and environmental campaigners have termed the negotiations a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to end plastic pollution and have called on countries to ensure significant cuts in plastic production. An award-winning journalist with 14 years of experience, Nikhil Ghanekar is an Assistant Editor with the National Bureau [Government] of The Indian Express in New Delhi. He primarily covers environmental policy matters which involve tracking key decisions and inner workings of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. He also covers the functioning of the National Green Tribunal and writes on the impact of environmental policies on wildlife conservation, forestry issues and climate change. Nikhil joined The Indian Express in 2024. Originally from Mumbai, he has worked in publications such as Tehelka, Hindustan Times, DNA Newspaper, News18 and Indiaspend. In the past 14 years, he has written on a range of subjects such as sports, current affairs, civic issues, city centric environment news, central government policies and politics. ... Read More
