Why Indians suffer from a colonial mindset
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
3 hours ago
- Sky News
India 'will not tolerate' nuclear blackmail, says prime minister Narendra Modi in warning to Pakistan on Independence Day
India's Prime Minister has warned Pakistan it will not succumb to, or tolerate, nuclear blackmail. In Narendra Modi's 12th consecutive speech from the ramparts of Delhi's iconic Red Fort, he addressed the nation celebrating its 79th Independence Day from colonial Britain. He laid emphasis on 'Atmanirbhar', or self-reliance, in defending India by increasing and developing a more powerful weapons system for security. Mr Modi said: "India has decided, we will not tolerate nuclear blackmail. We have established a new normal. Now we will not distinguish between terrorists and those who nurture and support terrorists. Both are enemies of humanity" This comes on the back of the conflict in May after the killing of 26 people by terrorists in Pahalgam, Kashmir. In retaliation, India launched attacks on terrorist infrastructure across the border. Pakistan retaliated, which quickly escalated into both countries launching a series of missiles, armed drones and heavy gunfire on each other. After four days of fighting, a ceasefire was agreed to between the two nuclear-armed neighbours that have fought wars and many skirmishes over decades. US President Donald Trump intervened saying: "I know the leaders of Pakistan and India. I know [them] very well. And they're in the midst of a trade deal, and yet they're talking about nuclear weapons... this is crazy. "I'm not doing a trade deal with you if you're going to have war, and that's a war that spreads to other countries, you'll get nuclear dust. When they start using nuclear weapons, that stuff blows all over the place and really bad things happen." 2:58 Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif immediately thanked the American president for the ceasefire and bringing about peace and stability in the region, also recommending him for the Nobel Peace Prize as a genuine peacemaker and his commitment to conflict resolution. Mr Modi's government is yet to acknowledge President Trump's intervention and maintains that the Pakistani military initiated the ceasefire process and India agreed to halt military action. 5:52 In parliament, India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said: "There was no leader... nobody in the world that asked India to stop its operations. This is something the prime minister also said. There was no linkage of trade in any of these conversations and there was no talk between the prime minister and President Trump." Mr Modi's speech is an audit of the year gone by and his future plans of strengthening the economy and of self-reliance in the face of very high tariffs imposed by President Trump for buying discounted Russian oil. He spoke of bringing in structural reforms, welfare schemes for farmers, women's empowerment, employment, technology, clean energy and the green industry, but also raised concerns about rising obesity levels. India has the fourth largest economy in the world and is expected to be the third largest before Mr Modi's current term ends in 2029. Although when it comes to GDP per capita income, which serves as an indicator of individual prosperity, India is ranked 144 out of 196 countries. The big economy illusion of GDP size has little to do with the well-being and fortune of its people, something the government refuses to acknowledge. In its 2024 report, Paris-based World Inequality Lab said the inequality in India now is worse than under British rule. The research stated that 1% of the wealthiest Indians hold 40% of its wealth and enjoy a quarter of the nation's income. Comparing the 'British Raj' to the 'Billionaire Raj', the study said there are now 271 billionaires in the country and 94 new ones were added the previous year. The rise of top-end inequality in India has been particularly pronounced in terms of wealth concentration in the Modi years between 2014-15 and 2022-23. 3:50 With over 1.46 billion people, India is the most populous country, making up 17.8% of the global population. More than half the country is under 30, and it has one of the lowest old-age dependency ratios, enabling productivity, higher savings and investment. A key challenge for the government is to match employment with its growing young population. It's even more critical as artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in production and services, eating into jobs. Last week, President Trump levied an additional 25% tariff on India for buying Russian oil, taking the total tariff level to over 50% and hitting Indian manufacturing and trade. "I don't care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together," the president said. Since the Ukraine war, India has been buying discounted Russian crude and its imports have risen from 3% in 2021 to about 35% to 40% in 2024. Defending its stance, India says it does so for its energy security and to protect millions of its citizens from rising costs. It's a national day of celebration with patriotic fervour all around, but also a grim reminder of the tragedy of partition - the trauma of which still haunts its people.
Reuters
6 hours ago
- Reuters
India's Modi vows to protect farmers, cuts tax, pushes self-reliance amid Trump tariff tensions
NEW DELHI, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the country on Friday to move towards more self-reliance, manufacture everything from fertilisers to jet engines and EV batteries, and vowed to protect farmers in the face of a trade conflict with Washington. With the punishing tariffs imposed on Indian exports by U.S. President Donald Trump expected to hurt growth in the world's fastest growing major economy, Modi announced lower goods and services taxes (GST) from October - a move that could help boost consumption. He also announced India would set up a new defence system called 'Sudarshan Chakra' in the aftermath of India's four-day military conflict with Pakistan in May. He did not elaborate but a government statement said the system is aimed at neutralising enemy infiltrations and enhancing India's offensive capabilities. Indian defence and policy circles have informally referred to the Russian S-400 air defence system - which played a key role during the fighting with Pakistan - as Sudarshan Chakra, after a Hindu mythological weapon. Modi was addressing the nation on the occasion of its Independence Day at a time New Delhi has been struggling with Trump's tariffs and the collapse of trade talks, largely due to differences over imports of American farm and dairy products. "Farmers, fishermen, cattle rearers are our top priorities," Modi said in his customary annual address from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi. "Modi will stand like a wall against any policy that threatens their interests. India will never compromise when it comes to protecting the interests of our farmers," he said. Modi did not mention the tariffs or the U.S. in his speech that lasted nearly two hours. Last week, Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, citing New Delhi's continued imports of Russian oil in a move that sharply escalated tensions between the two nations. The new import tax will raise duties on some Indian exports to as high as 50% - among the highest levied on any U.S. trading partner. Modi has never spoken about the tariffs directly, only alluding to them in a speech last week, where he swore to protect the interests of farmers, even if it came at a personal price. Farmers are a key political constituency in India and they violently protested against Modi's last big push to reform the sector, forcing him to repeal three farm laws in 2021 in what was a rare defeat for him. Although local manufacturing and self-reliance have been Modi's key focus areas for years now, the push is seen to have gained urgency amid ongoing global trade tensions and supply chain disruptions. "The need of the hour is to take a resolve for building a strong India ... I want our traders, shopkeepers to display boards for 'Swadeshi' products," Modi said, using the Hindi word for made in India goods. He said made in India semiconductor chips would hit the market by the end of this year and that India was pushing for self-reliance in producing critical minerals with exploration underway at more than 1,200 locations. Trump's tariffs threaten to disrupt India's access to its largest export market, where shipments totalled nearly $87 billion in 2024, hitting sectors like textiles, footwear, shrimp, gems and jewellery. In retaliation, some supporters of Modi have sought to stoke anti-American sentiment and called for a boycott of U.S. companies such as McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Amazon and Apple. Trade talks between New Delhi and Washington collapsed after five rounds of negotiations over disagreement on opening India's vast farm and dairy sectors and stopping Russian oil purchases. Modi's promise to cut GST by October's Diwali festival, which encompasses one of India's biggest shopping seasons, follows previous commitments to overhaul it by reducing the number of rate brackets under the 2017 tax regime. A group of ministers have been preparing a report that will consider merging tax slabs and lowering rates on some products. In February, India cut personal income tax for some individuals to boost spending. Earlier this month, the central bank kept interest rates steady, following a 100 basis point cut this year so far. The government has proposed to the ministers' panel that it recommend reducing taxes on mass use items as well as on goods used by women, students and farmers to boost consumption and enhance affordability, the finance ministry said in an X post. The government will move towards making GST a simple tax with two rate slabs, one standard and another merit, it said. Special rates will be applicable only for a few select items.
The Independent
7 hours ago
- The Independent
On India's Independence Day, Modi vows to punish Pakistan for future attacks
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan that India will punish its neighbor if there are future attacks on India as he marked 78 years of independence from British colonial rule. Modi's remarks Friday come three months after nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan engaged in four days of intense fighting, their worst clash in decades. Modi addressed the country from New Delhi's 17th-century, Mughal-era Red Fort, saying India has established a 'new normal' that does not differentiate between 'terrorists' and those who support terrorism. He said he would not tolerate what he called Islamabad's 'nuclear blackmail." 'India has decided that it will not tolerate nuclear threats. For a long time, nuclear blackmail had been going on but this blackmail will not be tolerated now,' Modi said. Pakistan previously has rejected India's statements about nuclear blackmail as provocative and inflammatory. India celebrates its Independence Day one day after Pakistan. The two states came into existence as a result of the bloody partition of British India in 1947. The process sparked some of the worst communal violence the world has seen and left hundreds of thousands dead. It triggered one of the largest human migrations in history and some 12 million people fled their homes. India and Pakistan exchanged tit-for-tat military strikes in May that brought them to the brink of a war. The fighting between the two countries was sparked by an April massacre by gunmen in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. India blamed the attack on Pakistan-backed militants. Islamabad denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation. Days after the massacre, India launched strikes on Pakistan and said it had hit nine 'terrorist infrastructure' sites. 'Terror infrastructure was turned to rubble,' Modi said in his speech Friday. Pakistan responded by sending waves of drones into India, as well as missile and artillery bombardments. Dozens of people were killed on both sides until a ceasefire was reached May 10 after U.S. mediation. Pakistan immediately claimed it shot down six Indian aircraft during the clashes, including a French-made Rafale fighter. India acknowledged some losses but did not provide details. Last week, India's air force chief said India shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and one other military aircraft during clashes in the first such public claim by India. Pakistan rejected it, saying both sides should open their aircraft inventories to independent verification. During his Friday speech, Modi also hinted India would continue its unilateral suspension of the Indus Water Treaty. The treaty, which India suspended after the April massacre, allows sharing of the Indus River that runs about 2,897 kilometers (1,800 miles) through South Asia and is a lifeline for both countries. 'Rivers from India were irrigating the lands of enemies while my country's farmers and land faced a deficiency of water," Modi said. 'India has now decided that blood and water will not flow together." Pakistan has said any effort by India to stop or divert the water from flowing into Pakistan would be considered an 'act of war.' Modi did not directly mention U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on India in his Independence Day speech but said he would not compromise on the agriculture sector, one of the main sticking points in trade negotiations with the U.S. Earlier this month, Trump imposed a 25% penalty on India in addition to 25% tariffs for buying oil and weapons from Russia. India has resisted U.S. pressure to open its markets to some farm products as Modi's government is unwilling to risk angering farmers, who are a powerful voting bloc. 'India will not compromise on interest of farmers," Modi said.
