IATA summit: PM Modi bats for India as global aviation, manufacturing hub
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday addressed the 81st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. Highlighting India's aviation progress, he said: 'India is the third-largest domestic civil aviation market in the world.'
The IATA AGM and World Air Transport Summit (WATS) is being hosted in India after 42 years — the last such gathering was held in 1983. This year's summit, taking place from June 1 to 3, has brought together over 1,600 participants, including global aviation leaders, senior officials, and international media. 'India's aviation sector a global force'
Underscoring the strength and potential of India's aviation industry, the Prime Minister said: 'India's aviation sector is a key player in the global air transport industry... India offers an excellent investment opportunity in aviation sector for global companies.' He added that the country's supportive policies, technological talent, and growing market demand were creating the right conditions for long-term growth.
The Prime Minister also pointed to infrastructure development as a key priority, stating: 'India is investing in world-class airports; the number of airports has increased to 162 from 74.' This expansion reflects the government's broader push to enhance connectivity and support economic development.
As part of India's drive for industrial growth, PM Modi added: 'The government is taking all steps to make India a global manufacturing hub. MRO emerging as sunrise sector; target is to make India a global MRO hub by 2030.' His remarks align with initiatives such as Make in India, including efforts in aviation-linked sectors like aircraft maintenance and repair. "We want the world to see India not just as an aviation market but also as a value chain leader...Our direction is right, our speed is right...So, we are confident that we will continue to move forward rapidly," said the PM. The success of the UDAN scheme is a golden chapter in Indian civil aviation, he added.
Focus on connectivity and expansion
Union civil aviation minister K Rammohan Naidu, who also addressed the AGM, said India plans to add 50 more airports over the next five years. He noted that the number of operational airports has more than doubled — from 74 in 2014 to 162 in 2024.
He also highlighted the success of the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN, which has operationalised 619 routes so far, making air travel accessible to a wider population. The minister added that efforts were underway to position India as a global hub for Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services, a segment projected to be worth $4 billion by 2031.
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Hindustan Times
7 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
BJD questions BJP's ‘double-engine' governance as Odisha's central grants dip
Odisha's inability to fully utilise the 2024-25 central funds has led to a 18.19% reduction in federal grants a year after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in Odisha on the back of its electoral promise to accelerate development through 'double engine' governments in the state at the Centre. Officials aware of the matter said the central grants to Odisha rose by 15.48% under the previous Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23, thanks to effective lobbying and better expenditure planning. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah led the BJP's 2024 poll campaign in Odisha, focused on the potential benefits of the 'double engine' government, helping the party win 85 of the 147 seats in the state assembly and 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats. Officials cited above said funds for centrally sponsored schemes are released in instalments, with subsequent tranches contingent on spending previous allocations. 'Odisha's inability to fully utilise these funds led to reduced disbursements. If the state cannot demonstrate effective spending, the Union government holds back further release of funds,' said an official, who did not want to be named. Officials said effective lobbying with the Union government could have secured higher allocations. 'In 2023-24, the central grants to Odisha rose by 15.48% compared to 2022-23. It shows effective lobbying and better expenditure planning,' said the official. Funding under centrally sponsored schemes has, since 2015-16, accounted for over 20% of total federal grants for sectors such as education, health, employment, and the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. States with lower implementation capacity, such as Odisha, face challenges in executing these schemes effectively. Officials said the requirement to prepare district and state agricultural plans for schemes like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, an incentive-based programme where allocations are not automatic but tied to planning, has compounded the problem. The central grants to Odisha declined from ₹21,500 crore in 2023-24 to ₹17,000 crore under housing, irrigation, and water supply schemes, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichayi Yojana, and Jal Jeevan Mission. The funding under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)-Rural went down from ₹4,310 crore in 2023-24 to ₹825 crore in 2024-25. The allocation under PMAY-Urban funding declined from ₹296 crore in 2023-24 to ₹0.73 crore in 2024-25. The funding under the rural connectivity scheme, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, dropped from ₹1,262 crore in 2023-24 to ₹712 crore in 2024-25, from ₹146 crore to ₹32 crore under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichayi Yojana, and from ₹1,581 crore to ₹368 crore under the Jal Jeevan Mission. Odisha did not get anything in 2024-25 under the agricultural development scheme, Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana, which provides 60% central funding. In 2023-24, it received ₹223 crore under the scheme. A review of the spending in February this year found that at least 16 of 44 departments failed to spend even half their allocated funds by January end. Departments such as disaster management (13.5%), sports and youth services (19.77%), steel and mines (20.5%), mission shakti (23%), Odia language, literature and culture (27%), tourism (38%), energy (46%), transport (47%) failed to spend 50% of their budgets by January-end. Odisha finance secretary Saswat Mishra, whose department deals with the central allocations, did not reply to a questionnaire. Opposition BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra said the reduction in funding showed the chief minister Mohan Majhi-led government's inability to govern. 'In the last year, the government has done nothing except rename schemes introduced during the previous Naveen Patnaik government and change the colours of buildings,' said Mishra. He asked if the BJD could get more funds under the centrally-sponsored schemes, and why the Majhi government was unable to do so. 'This shows the double-engine government was just an election hype.' BJP lawmaker Akash Dasnayak called the dip in the funding an aberration and said Modi wants to see Odisha developed and is ready to help with more funds. He said funding for a scheme like the PMAY may have come down due to the ongoing survey of beneficiaries. 'Once the survey is complete, we will get more funding.'
The Print
9 minutes ago
- The Print
India & Pakistan take opposite MSP paths— hiked here for 14 crops, scrapped there for wheat
'The authorities refrained from wheat procurement operations during the past year and in absence of government-imposed support prices, consumers have seen large benefits as reflected in subdued food inflation,' read a 9 May report by the IMF Executive Board, following its first review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan. Pakistan's unprecedented February 2025 move was the culmination of a subsidy rollback agreed on late last year as part of a $7 billion International Monetary Fund loan deal. While the end of the MSP programme for wheat has set off a wave of uncertainty about food security, the IMF says it's already delivering results. New Delhi: As India hikes MSP for 14 kharif crops, with BJP leaders calling it a historic move , Pakistan has gone in the opposite direction. It has scrapped the minimum support price for wheat, its most important crop, and ended government procurement altogether. The broader goal was to fix Pakistan's 'structural problems'—low productivity, uneven competition, and a system weighed down by bad incentives. As the rollback started, many Pakistani farmers also shifted to cash crops such as oilseeds and pulses. Pakistan and India have taken two very different forks in the road. At a time India is debating legalising MSP for more than 20 crops, Pakistan is doubling down on its removal for wheat (the only other crops with support prices are sugarcane and cotton). Some of the heated debates now playing out in Pakistan closely mirror those that followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2020 announcement of farm laws and the promise of bringing India's farmers closer to market forces. Angry protests and old, socialist fears forced India to withdraw the laws. Some Pakistani experts are calling the scrapping of MSP a 'policy-induced collapse' and deregulation without safeguards. The government jumped the gun, many say. The IMF deal had allowed time until 2026 to phase out price-setting. But Pakistan acted two years early, without first putting market systems in place to support farmers. Critics warn of a storm in the making — a massive food security crisis. 'Wheat always seems to be under some scandal or crisis in Pakistan – from unnecessary imports and rampant smuggling to even the bizarre claims of stocks getting devoured by rats. Yet, little to no serious efforts can be seen to find sustainable solutions,' wrote Muhammad Faizan Fakhar, a senior research associate at the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies, in The Express Tribune. He added that the reforms have left farmers uncertain and discouraged them from growing wheat at all. Others, however, argue that the MSP system needed to go even if there's short-term pain. 'Despite its intent to help farmers, the MSP system often led to outcomes where middlemen and flour millers benefited more than growers,' wrote Amar Razzaq, Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics at Huanggang University, China in an April 2025 blogpost. He argued the MSP system was costing over PKR 300 billion (INR 90.9 billion) annually, largely funded through debt, and was unsustainable amid Pakistan's fiscal crisis. What most agree on is that wheat is already in trouble. A shortfall is expected, and Pakistan may need to import. How a wheat-surplus nation has gradually gone into being a wheat-deficient one is a story by itself – of population rise and dropping yields. As the backbone of Pakistan's agriculture, wheat is grown on 36 per cent of the fertile land and contributes 2.2 per cent to the GDP. It accounts for 72 per cent of daily caloric intake, according to the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). Pakistan is the world's eighth-highest producer, but policy turmoil, the effects of climate change, and recurring shortfalls have made it more vulnerable to food insecurity. This year, wheat output is projected to drop by 11 per cent—from last year's record 31.4 million metric tonnes (314 million quintals) to 27.9 MMT (279 million quintals)—according to the country's Ministry of Finance. Market prices have fallen below production costs and forced distress sales. Wheat is typically traded by the maund, which is equivalent to 40 kg, or 0.4 quintal, in Pakistan's local markets. In Punjab, Pakistan's largest province and agricultural heartland, wheat prices have reportedly dropped below PKR 2,400 (INR 725) per maund, well under the average production cost of PKR 3,000 (INR 906). Some farmers, facing debt and liquidity crunches, have sold for as low as PKR 2,000 (INR 604.1) per maund. By comparison, India is in a more stable position. As the world's third-largest wheat producer, it has robust procurement systems and stock buffers. But it's not been immune to pressures either. Last year, falling yields and weak procurement raised fears it might have to import wheat for the first time since 2017, pushing prices to record highs. This year, however, saw a strong rebound: an estimated harvest of over 115 million tonnes (1,150 million quintals) and a four-year-high procurement of 29.7 million metric tonnes (297 million quintals). But MSP is not the answer, according to former Pakistan finance minister Miftah Ismail. 'Provinces had long set support prices for political and other non-market reasons and these prices were distorting the market. The IMF had merely asked them to do away with support prices,' he told ThePrint. However, while the Pakistan government is holding firm on MSP, some of its other moves point to a muddled reform strategy. Also Read: India's MSP system for farmers has outlived its purpose. It's time to phase it out Reform roadblocks Pakistan's tryst with agriculture reform may have arrived via the IMF, but many see it as an idea whose time had come. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry earlier this month announced in the National Assembly that the federal government will no longer regulate wheat prices and plans to dissolve the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO). Chaudhry claimed the move benefits farmers due to strong market prices and unrestricted wheat movement. The decision, following a directive from the Prime Minister, includes exploring private sector-led strategic reserves. But much like India's aborted attempt at farm reforms, this was immediately contested by opposition parties in Pakistan. PPP's Aijaz Jakhrani warned the removal of price controls could harm farmers, while former minister Hina Rabbani Khar accused the government of lacking a coherent agriculture policy. Chaudhry defended the shift, citing rising production costs and arguing that a market-based system would offer farmers better returns. A new wheat policy encouraging private investment is expected next year. But the biggest fear persists: food shortage, an old sub-continental anxiety. 'Pakistan isn't facing a wheat shortage right now, but the policy direction is setting up a medium-term food security problem,' Adil Mansoor, a Karachi-based researcher tracking the crisis, told ThePrint. Ismail, too, echoed the concern that no MSP would mean that farmers pivot away from wheat. 'This would cause farmers to sow less wheat, and we will then become a wheat-deficient country,' he said. The Pakistan government hasn't walked back its reform intent, but it has also undercut its own push with some of its decisions. Last July, it imposed a blanket ban on all wheat trade — both wheat imports and the export of wheat and related products, including flour and semolina— citing a domestic surplus from earlier imports and the need to stabilise prices in the local market. This kind of confusion isn't unfamiliar territory. In 2017, the government procured a record 6.3 million tonnes (63 million quintals) of wheat despite already full stocks. To offload the surplus, it rolled out massive export subsidies, draining public finances and skewing trade balances. Therein lies an important reform roadblock. 'If you remove the support price, then you are going towards market reform. But if you're going towards market reform, then you should also allow farmers to export their wheat,' Ismail said. If wheat in the international market is PKR 80-85 (INR 24-25.50) per kilo, and in Pakistan it's about PKR 60 (INR 18) —or even PKR 55 (INR 16.50) at the farm gate—then farmers are losing money, according to him. 'If the government wants to liberalise the wheat market truly, then it must allow our farmers to sell their products outside Pakistan too. To restrict them to selling only in Pakistan and importing whenever the price of wheat goes up, is rigging the market against farmers,' Ismail added. Pakistan's biggest staple under stress The Pakistan government has presented its wheat policy shift as long-term reform rather than crisis management. The IMF in its May report noted that food inflation had improved and that the reforms would support a more competitive and efficient agricultural sector. 'Provinces have paid off most of the legacy debt related to commodity operations, and the authorities are working towards a new food security framework for wheat that will neither create distortions in the market nor jeopardize fiscal sustainability,' it added. The IMF also asked Pakistan to broaden these efforts to other commodities and strengthen regulatory frameworks. By December 2025, IMF will review existing laws on commodity market intervention and issue recommendations to address anti-competitive behavior through stronger competition policy and less protectionist trade measures. But these reform measures are ill-served by poor planning, climate stress, and short-term price interventions. Around the time MSP was scrapped, Pakistan saw a severe water shortage. Drought alerts were issued in Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan. Major reservoirs neared depletion. The Ministry of Finance had already warned in February 2025 of lower Rabi yields due to rising temperatures and delayed winter rains. Pakistan, once self-sufficient in wheat, now faces a production-consumption gap. In 2023-24, while wheat output improved—rising to 31.4 million tonnes (314 million quintals) from 27 million tonnes (270 million quintals) in 2023—demand grew even faster, reaching around 31 million tonnes (310 million quintals). The rushed policy execution made a bad situation worse, according to some experts. 'This is not a supply-demand anomaly, it's a policy-induced collapse,' Mansoor said. Without pricing guarantees, many farmers scaled back wheat cultivation. 'The government first flooded markets with grain from public stocks, then refused to announce a support price, banned exports, and watched prices crash by over 50 per cent from their peak from two years ago,' Mansoor added. 'This is not market liberalisation—it's inflation management through price suppression. In fact, it violates the spirit of the IMF's condition that any public sales must not result in price manipulation.' Meanwhile, restrictions on wheat movement in the provinces made it harder for farmers to reach competitive markets and discouraged cultivation. Although Punjab has lifted its ban, such steps matter more during planting season (October-December) than at harvest (April-June), wrote Fakhar in the Express Tribune. This situation was avoidable. The IMF agreement had allowed Pakistan until FY26 to phase out procurement and price-setting. 'The government chose to abandon support prices and procurement in mid-2024, two years ahead of schedule. No transition framework was communicated, no private market institutions were prepared, and no safeguards were put in place to protect producers. This was not reform—it was shock therapy,' said Mansoor. Economist Javed Hassan echoed the view that removing wheat support prices was a 'necessary step' toward market-driven agriculture in Pakistan, but that they lack protections—such as crop insurance and alternative land use—hurt farmers and jeopardised food security. Imports on the horizon? In such a scenario, imports are expected to play a rescue role, as has been done before, most recently in 2023 when Pakistan was the world's 23rd largest wheat importer. 'As long as various government agencies hold about 2.5 to 3 million tonnes (25-30 million quintals) of wheat in strategic storage, which is more than a month's consumption, there will be no food shortage crisis. We can easily import more wheat from abroad at this time,' said Ismail. Pakistan is expected to drop its ban and import at least 1.7 million tonnes (17 million quintals) of wheat in the 2025-26 marketing year (May-April)—a sharp rise from near-zero imports in 2024-25. If final production figures remain low, imports could exceed 2 million tonnes (20 million quintals), given the extremely tight projected carry-over stocks, according to a report by Grain Central. But import reliance, say critics, is a dangerous strategy for a country with poor foreign exchange reserves. 'Imports can't be a safety net forever. If domestic production declines, Pakistan will have to rely on global wheat markets. That's a fragile strategy for a country with poor forex reserves—exposed to freight costs, trade disruptions, and price volatility,' Mansoor said. There are, however, also longer-term attempts to steady the system. Punjab has announced a new relief package: subsidised wheat purchases for flour mills, direct cash support for small farmers, and a system of lending that uses crops as collateral. Also Read: Why is Pakistan going all out on crypto? There's a Donald Trump angle A call for structural reforms Earlier this month, Punjab announced that wheat trade under the Electronic Warehouse Receipts (EWR) system will now take place on the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX), the country's only multi-commodity futures platform. Media reports called it a 'major step toward modernising agriculture'. Traditionally, banks demand land as collateral for loans; however, EWRs allow farmers to use their harvested crops as security. Modern, accredited warehouses—though slightly costlier than informal options like middlemen—offer secure storage, crop insurance, and enable instant loans worth up to 70 per cent of the crop's value. To support this system, the government is promoting a province-wide network of modern warehouses linked to PMEX. It is also extending financing and subsidies to small-scale aggregators, bringing formal credit and market access to parts of the supply chain that have long been excluded. But again, implementation has been rocky. 'The current EWR rollout is structurally flawed. It expects small farmers to act like commodity traders—hold stock post-harvest, accept a 30 per cent haircut on financing, and bet on future price recovery. That's a speculative model misaligned with their liquidity needs,' Mansoor said. Quick fixes like subsidised tools aren't enough. 'Can Pakistan rebuild trust with its farmers before the next crop season? Without urgent and coordinated reforms, rural Pakistan will continue to slide—not just into poverty, but into political and social instability that the country can ill afford,' Mansoor said. (Edited by Asavari Singh)
The Wire
14 minutes ago
- The Wire
The Inclusion of Muslim Leaders in Delegations Shows That When the BJP Needs to Borrow, it Does
Menu हिंदी తెలుగు اردو Home Politics Economy World Security Law Science Society Culture Editor's Pick Opinion Support independent journalism. Donate Now Politics The Inclusion of Muslim Leaders in Delegations Shows That When the BJP Needs to Borrow, it Does Badri Raina 36 minutes ago The majoritarian rulers of the day swallowed the necessity that Muslim participation was required in the delegations to be sent to argue the Indian case. An all-party delegation including BJP leaders Baijayant Jay Panda and Nishikant Dubey, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and others during a meeting with the Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria Selma Bakhta Mansouri, in Algiers, Algeria. Photo: PTI Real journalism holds power accountable Since 2015, The Wire has done just that. But we can continue only with your support. Contribute now The ruling BJP has not a single Muslim representative in parliament, and in the central Cabinet. The politics of the 'nationalists' over the last decade especially, both at the centre and in the states they rule has been solidly rooted in Hindu consolidation. Prominent leaders of the party, such as Suvendu Adhikari in West Bengal have been heard to voice the sentiment that the party does not need Muslims, and should not work for their interests so long as they do not vote for the BJP. Quite the other day, a minister in Madhya Pradesh was pleased to dub Colonel Sofia Qureshi as 'their sister', meaning that of the terrorists lodged in Pakistan. The party has not touched him yet; only a court has taken suo motu cognisance. On June 1, the redoubtable Home Minister, Amit Shah, who declaims rather than speaks like his superior, Narendra Modi, told a rally in West Bengal that Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress leader and chief minister of the fraught state, did not support operation Sindoor because she was catering to her vote bank; inference: that Muslims were not in favour of the military action against Pakistan. When the Modi-Shah regime understood that Muslims were needed in the delegations sent abroad And yet, when it came to persuading countries worldwide of the justice of India's case against Pakistan, the Modi-Shah regime understood that Muslims were needed to be part of the delegations sent abroad. Not having any of their own, barring Gulam Ali Khatana, a nominated member, they thought nothing of drafting ten Muslim members from opposition parties to plead the Indian case. This is what is called Chanakya ki neeti. Being asked, these perfectly patriotic Indians could not have refused the task, although their parties felt justly hurt by not being given the democratic privilege of nominating their members for this onerous responsibility. Whether it was right or wrong for the opposition members to side-step party prerogative in the matter will no doubt surface as an inner-party issue in the days to come. But here is the point: The majoritarian rulers of the day swallowed the necessity that Muslim participation was required in the delegations to be sent to argue the Indian case, especially in the rather crushing absence of any suo motu declarations of support from even such countries as may have been expected to come forth without equivocation. So, not having any of their own, the BJP did not shirk the move to call upon Muslim leaders from other parties, including, perish the thought, the remarkable Asaduddin Owaisi who has repeatedly found himself reviled by right wing social media trolls as a Pakistani lover. Kudos to him that he set aside what must be his infuriating hurts from the mouths of the bigots on the right, to speak with eloquence for the republic and its conditional values in stark contrast to the 'failed state' of Pakistan. Now, the million dollar poser: can the nation expect that just as the ruling right wingers woke up to the necessity of owning Muslims in the matter of sending delegations abroad, they will likewise acknowledge the weighty truth that Hindu-Muslim togetherness is even more sharply needed internally if the realm is to achieve its many rosy goals of advancement? Will that realisation lead to any substantive and far-reaching rethink in the driving think tanks that have shaped the politics of the sectarian right wing ever since the establishment of the RSS a century ago? The question is poignant given that the chief of that organisation has only the other day yet again called for: Hindu unity, and designated 'Hindu Rashtra' as the 'eternal truth of this land. The different standards of the BJP at home and abroad Equally interesting will be what intercessions may now be made into that conundrum by the ten Muslims leaders who went along so cheerily with the official delegations to speak for an India that continues to treat Muslims badly. And, why will not the BJP send similar delegations all over India to replicate the unity that has been engineered to present a patriotic face abroad? Will leaders who were drafted from opposition parties, Muslims especially, demand this of Modi and Shah, and, if they do, on what grounds may such a suggestion be denied at home? So laudable has been the role played by the drafted leaders of the opposition that in some of their interventions they have merrily contradicted what they have said on record before on such issues as formed the agenda of their case-building, all, no doubt , in the national interest. Would this not have been a watershed moment if those that sent them abroad now took due lessons from their pleading for secular reconstruction here at home? Badri Raina taught at Delhi University. This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments. Make a contribution to Independent Journalism Related News We Disagree With Modi Govt But Will Cooperate As Its Delegates Abroad: John Brittas, Asad Owaisi Lone NC MP in All-Party Delegations to Not Join His Group, Cites Urs at Native Village Pak's Support to Terror, Op Sindoor, Indus Water Treaty: What the All-Party Delegations Will Address On Operation Sindoor Delegations, TMC Cries Foul Over Govt 'Unilateral' Call on Delegates After Rijiju Dials Mamata, TMC Picks Abhishek Banerjee to Join Op Sindoor All-Party Delegations What Could Be Shashi Tharoor's Political Endgame? Rijiju Jumps to Defend Tharoor as MP Faces Congress Ire Over 'LoC Never Breached' Remark Why Modi Won't Let Go of the BJP's Reins Govt to Send Multi-Party Delegations Abroad for Outreach on India's Position on Terror, Conflict with Pak View in Desktop Mode About Us Contact Us Support Us © Copyright. All Rights Reserved.
