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A Frenemy Named Donald Trump

M. Okay. Bhadrakumar

August 1, 2025: Properly-known creator, fund supervisor and columnist for the Monetary Instances Ruchir Sharma wrote this week that the notion that the US President Donald Trump’s gambit with tariffs would have grave penalties have probably not been borne out by financial information. He says, “to this point, the results have been far much less disruptive than simply about anybody anticipated.”

“Tariff income is rolling in at an annual price above $300 billion, roughly 4 instances the tempo this time final 12 months,” Sharma, the top of Rockefeller Capital Administration’s worldwide enterprise, identified.

The Modi Authorities has been optimistic that India would get away with a tariff between 10-15 p.c. Trump’s Reality Social publish on July 30 saying punitive tariff of 25 p.c on Indian merchandise got here as a impolite shock.

The federal government’s optimism was pinned on the hope that its ‘Chanakyan’ diplomacy would mellow Trump. Delhi is gearing as much as generate large volumes of enterprise for American arms distributors.

Simply 24 hours earlier than Trump’s announcement, reviews appeared that the Indian Air Pressure [IAF] has really helpful to the federal government that the US F-35 stealth fighter jets must be our most well-liked choice as an interim platform till India can produce a fifth-generation Multi-Position Fight Plane. The timing of the information report containing such Prime Secret info was manifestly orchestrated to carry the seductive proposition to Trump’s discover earlier than August 1 in a mild reminder that it was he who personally provided F-35 stealth fighter to PM Narendra Modi within the Oval Workplace in February. Delhi alerts that with lightning velocity, its ponderous paperwork is finishing the paper work.

The Indian Defence Analysis Wing [DRW] web site reported, “The IAF has really helpful procuring 60 fifth-generation fighters as an interim measure till … round 2035. The US-made Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a number one contender attributable to its combat-proven observe document, excessive manufacturing price (over 1,000 items globally), and superior weaponry … The Russian Su-57 E, whereas provided with know-how switch, has been criticised for its developmental shortcomings and restricted induction within the Russian Air Pressure, making the F-35 the popular alternative, as per sources.”

The DRW praises F-35 because the talisman that “will remodel the IAF right into a near-futuristic forces by 2035.” If the Modi authorities purchases 114 F-35s, we might be making an enormous contribution to Trump’s America First. In our naiveté, we imagine that the F35 Leak would lock in Trump without end as a pal of India.

However the price of flying an F 35 fighter plane is US$ 35,000 per hour, i.e. Rs 28,00,000 per hour. F 35 is the most costly fighter plane on the earth and the price of one plane is roughly US$ 110 million, or Rs 968 crore. And, after all, this price ticket doesn’t embody the weapon bundle plus different repairs and servicing necessities by means of many years to return.

Unsurprisingly, the F35 is a vastly controversial subject. The large query is, will Trump permit IAF within the warmth of the battle to deploy F35 towards Pakistan the place his relations are reportedly digging a gold mine?

The Congress Get together pleaded that the PM mustn’t take a “unilateral stance” within the matter. The Congress spokesman requested some looking questions: “Did the American safety company ‘Pentagon’s report’ itself admit that the F35 fighter aircraft doesn’t meet its operational necessities? Has the report of American safety company Pentagon admitted that F-35 has 65 operational flaws? Did Modiji examine this Pentagon report and obtained the Indian Air Pressure to check this report?”

Certainly, a GOI choice will imply committing to the F35 because the IAF’s major frontline fighter for many years to return. Conversely, it additionally means phasing out the Russian-made fight plane from Indian stock in a conceivable future.

Trump is a intelligent businessman. He has thrown a purple rag on the excitable Indians, which kills three birds in a single shot. By threatening to punish India with excessive tariff, Trump is definitely planting a tantalising thought within the Indian thoughts that Modi authorities ought to suitably “incentivise” him. Plainly put, he expects Modi to shut the F35 deal irrevocably. Actually, the commerce ministry’s supine response alerts that the message has gone dwelling.

Trump was a grandmaster in actuality tv and is the guru of all gurus in political theatre. What’s Trump’s actual sport plan?

Trump has actually made India’s arms purchases and oil imports from Russia the central planks of his India coverage. He’s assured he’ll have his manner with Modi authorities. From the excessive desk, conceivably, he might throw a bone or two for the Indian peasant to chew, however that’s for the optics — and our authorities will in all probability hail it as success for Indian diplomacy.

Such a pantomime wouldn’t be taking part in out at present in a cynical style if solely PM Modi had been candid and daring to trash Trump’s declare to have collared India and Pakistan from committing harakiri in a nuclear conflagration. Trump taunted Modi not less than 28 instances earlier than making his transfer to bracket his mediation with commerce.

Probably the most harmful half is, Trump has linked India-Russia relationship along with his tariff conflict towards India. The US has tasted blood: India-Russia defence ties are atrophying quickly. Trump senses time has come to go for the ultimate kill. It’s a geopolitical necessity for world steadiness.

Within the looming confrontation between the US-led Collective West and Russia, Trump is threatening that if India doesn’t be a part of the western camp, there may be going to be a heavy worth to pay. He might even sanction Indian entities and officers. Now, visa denial would be the unkindest lower of all for the Indian elite.

Yesterday, in a second publish on Reality Social, Trump all however accused India of being Russia’s ally: “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They will take their lifeless economies down collectively, for all I care. We’ve carried out little or no enterprise with India… Likewise, Russia and the USA do virtually no enterprise collectively. Let’s preserve it that manner… ”

Trump’s spiteful outbursts reveal fairly a little bit of unstated reality. He has no respect for India, or Modi authorities. It’s uncertain if he’d dare to discuss Indira Gandhi’s India with such contempt. There’s something right here to introspect severely. What is that this particular relationship that our elites get so enthusiastic about?

Trump estimates that the Indian elites lack self-respect and grit to face as much as his bullying. Self-respect, after all, is just not a advantage that may be cultivated; it’s an innate trait; some are born with it, most wouldn’t have it in a feudal society.

(Ambassador M.Okay. Bhadrakumar served the Indian International Service for greater than 29 years. Courtesy: Indianpunchline, the creator’s weblog.)

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Globalisation Sans Justice: India’s Abdication of Voice

Shirin Akhter

On July 24 and 25, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump, addressing an AI (synthetic intelligence) Summit in Washington, issued a public rebuke to America’s tech giants. His message was each pointed and provocative: cease hiring in India. He accused U.S. companies of betraying the American employee by outsourcing manufacturing to China and software program improvement to India. Resurrecting the “America First” slogan, he warned that these days had been over.

What might have as soon as been dismissed as marketing campaign theatrics has now translated into coverage instructions, and a set of government orders linking federal funding for AI infrastructure to home job creation. Firms, akin to Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Meta, had been straight named. The brand new government framework, as outlined, discourages offshoring and compels companies to reveal hiring commitments inside U.S. borders.

These developments maintain disturbing implications for India’s know-how workforce, for its service export mannequin, and extra broadly, for its developmental trajectory. The rhetoric is already reshaping company conversations, inventory market expectations, and boardroom technique.

Indian IT majors, akin to TCS, Infosys, and Wipro, are deeply embedded in U.S.-centric contracts and provide chains. The prospect of a hiring slowdown or perhaps a hiring freeze from American purchasers has direct penalties. Actually, shortly after the summit, TCS laid off 12,000 workers, citing venture delays and uncertainty in world demand. Whereas no official hyperlink was drawn to Trump’s remarks, the timing is hardly coincidental. For 1000’s of younger Indian engineers, notably these rising from non-elite establishments in smaller cities, the promise of a steady job within the IT sector is already beneath risk.

India’s globally built-in IT companies trade has lengthy been held up as a logo of its profitable engagement with the world financial system. Using over 4.5 million individuals and contributing practically 8% to nationwide GDP (gross home product), the sector has offered a significant cushion in a panorama in any other case marked by agrarian misery, casual labour, and uneven industrialisation.

However this success story has all the time been weak to shifts in world political winds. The current developments reveal simply how fragile the edifice is. Because the tide turns towards techno-nationalism, the Indian progress mannequin anchored in offshore companies begins to look much less sustainable. The risk is just not merely cyclical; it’s structural.

This second calls for a reckoning not solely with the current disaster, but in addition with the historic structure of globalisation itself. The mixing of nations like India into the worldwide financial system has all the time been partial. Whereas capital was allowed to maneuver freely, and items and companies discovered open markets, labour remained certain by borders, constrained by quotas, and finally disposable when politically inconvenient.

The imaginative and prescient of globalisation as a shared and inclusive course of has, in actuality, been marked by asymmetry. The International South was requested to open its markets, liberalise its insurance policies, and supply a compliant workforce, however was by no means allowed equal voice or mobility throughout the system it helped maintain. It was globalisation for capital, however not for individuals. The current flip in U.S. coverage is just not a sudden deviation, however a logical consequence of this unequal order. The doorways are slammed shut exactly in the meanwhile when the South started to ask for fairer phrases.

India, specifically, should now confront the results of getting constructed its service financial system on an unstable basis. The reliance on U.S. demand, H-1B visas, and beneficial sentiment from American companies has come at the price of strategic autonomy. If Washington chooses to insulate its labour market and decouple from world sourcing, India is left with out viable alternate options.

The potential penalties are far-reaching. Offshore hiring might contract, resulting in wage stagnation and diminished job creation. The brain-drain, as soon as seen as a smooth energy asset, might speed up towards extra welcoming geographies, akin to Canada or Germany. Technical training, particularly in non-premier establishments, might lose its sheen as placement prospects diminish. And the middle-class upward mobility that was constructed on the again of IT exports, might start to erode, deepening current inequalities throughout area, caste, and sophistication.

Within the face of those developments, the Indian authorities’s response has been certainly one of calculated silence. There was no public assertion from the Ministry of Exterior Affairs, no outreach to U.S. interlocutors, no defence of Indian professionals who’ve contributed considerably to world know-how improvement. The international coverage institution seems extra invested in high-profile visits and symbolic gestures than within the substantive process of safeguarding the nation’s labour pursuits.

Even the Opposition has didn’t articulate a coherent response, revealing a troubling consensus round passivity. One can’t assist however distinction this with the assertiveness proven by smaller economies, akin to Eire or Mexico, which have overtly challenged Western coverage strikes that threatened their financial fashions.

India’s reluctance to talk out is usually justified within the language of diplomacy. Given the continuing defence and strategic alignment with the U.S., notably throughout the Quad, many argue that discretion is prudent. However this discretion, when it persistently overrides financial justice, begins to look much less like diplomacy and extra like deference. It alerts to the world that India will prioritise optics over outcomes, and headlines over the exhausting work of defending its individuals’s livelihoods. The quietism that masquerades as maturity is, in fact, a type of strategic subordination.

The political prices of such a stance are more likely to manifest sooner moderately than later. As religion within the authorities’s means to safe jobs and steady progress weakens, public disillusionment will develop. Investor confidence within the abilities financial system might falter, and India’s picture as a digital powerhouse might start to dim.

Maybe, extra critically, India’s failure to articulate its place in multilateral boards such because the World Commerce Organisation, Worldwide Labour Organisation, or G20 additional undermines its standing within the International South. It’s a tragic irony that India is extra vocal in defending its picture in international documentaries than in defending the employment rights of its personal residents within the world financial system.

What is required is a reorientation of India’s tech diplomacy in the direction of a worker-centric framework. This might contain publicly defending the rights of Indian professionals in international markets, constructing robust coalitions with like-minded international locations on digital labour mobility, and diversifying partnerships past the standard U.S.-centric axis. It could additionally require investing in home job ensures and energetic labour market insurance policies to soak up potential displacement. Above all, it will demand that India transfer past the phantasm of worldwide partnership based mostly on silent compliance and as a substitute embrace a principled internationalism rooted in dignity, reciprocity, and financial justice.

Trump’s name to cease hiring in India is just not merely an American marketing campaign slogan. It’s a symptom of a world in retreat from multilateralism, from cooperation, and from the guarantees of shared prosperity. It reminds us that globalisation, in its present kind, was by no means impartial. It was all the time formed by energy, and that energy was by no means equally distributed.

For India to stay related on this new world, it should communicate, it should act, and it should resist. It should not concede the area it has fought so exhausting to occupy, not for the consolation of diplomacy, nor for the phantasm of stability. Silence might serve the pursuits of some, however it can’t serve the aspirations of a nation.

(Shirin Akhter is Affiliate Professor at Zakir Husain Delhi Faculty, College of Delhi. Courtesy: NewsClick, an Indian information web site based by Prabir Purkayastha in 2009, who additionally serves because the Editor-in-Chief.)

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Modi Govt ‘Surrendering’ to US on FTAs, Will Open Agri, Dairy Sector, Fears SKM

Newsclick Report

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) stated it had “critical apprehensions” that the Narendra Modi authorities was “surrendering to the diktats” of the US to signal the free commerce settlement (FTA) to open the Indian financial system, particularly agriculture and the dairy sector. The FTA is slated to return into impact from August 1, 2025.

In a web-based basic physique assembly held on July 20, SKM stated such a step wouldn’t solely harm the pursuits of the nation but in addition impression the individuals adversely.

In a press assertion issued after the assembly, SKM introduced a sequence of mass protest actions throughout the nation towards “the BJP-led NDA Govt.’s strikes to simply accept USA pressures and enhance imports of meals and dairy objects, together with GM meals and penetration of MNCs in meals markets. … Peasants will elevate the slogan ‘Companies Stop India’ on thirteenth August 2025 by organizing tractor/ motorcar parades and protest demonstrations and burn effigies of the united statesPresident Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

Press Be aware, New Delhi, twenty first July 2025

• SKM apprehends Modi Govt. is surrendering to the US Imperialism on FTAs, to open Indian agriculture and dairy sector.”
• Observe thirteenth August 2025 as “Corporates Stop India Day”.
• Tractor/ Motor Automobile Parade, Trump and Modi Effigies to be burnt.
• Robust Anger expressed over imposition of Excessive Electrical energy Tariffs, Good Metres and Ban on Tractors after 10 years.
• Nationwide Marketing campaign 15 August onwards culminating in large worker-farmer protest on twenty sixth November 2025.

The SKM Normal Physique assembly held on twentieth July 2025 was attended by 106 delegates of 37 farmer organisations from 12 States. The Presidium consisted of Ashok Dhawale, Darshan Pal, Yudhvir Singh, Ashish Mital, Badagalapura Nagendra, Sunilam, Revula Venkaiah, Purushottam Sharma and Satyawan. Hannan Mollah welcomed the delegates, Rajan Kshirasagar positioned the agenda. Ashok Dhawale positioned the concluding remarks.

SKM will observe thirteenth August 2025 as “Companies Stop India” Day all through the nation. SKM severely apprehends Modi Govt. is surrendering to the dictats of the US Imperialism to signal the FTA to open Indian financial system particularly agriculture, dairy and Meals markets sectors that may harm the pursuits of your entire individuals and the nation. The FTA is meant to return into impact by 1st August 2025. ninth August is the 83rd anniversary of the Stop India Day motion towards British colonialism. To protest BJP led NDA Govt.’s strikes to simply accept USA pressures and enhance imports of meals and dairy objects, together with GM meals and penetration of MNCs in meals markets SKM will difficulty a mass warning by means of this mass protests. Peasants will elevate the slogan ‘Companies Stop India’ on thirteenth August 2025 by organizing tractor/ motorcar parades and protest demonstrations and burn effigies of the united statesPresident Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

SKM items in Punjab shall maintain tractor rallies in all districts on July 30 and an enormous Mahapanchayat on August 24 towards AAP govt’s new Land Pooling Coverage.

SKM GB prolonged full solidarity with the farmers of Singrauli tribal farmers protesting towards compelled acquisition of their land for coal mines of Adani group.

26 November 2025 marks the fifth anniversary of the historic farmers’ battle of 2020-21. SKM will coordinate with the commerce union motion and agriculture staff motion to carry large worker-farmer protest motion at New Delhi in addition to within the state capitals. A Nationwide Marketing campaign towards corporate- communal forces from 15 August to 26 November might be deliberate for Nationwide Unity and Individuals’s Unity based mostly on the 2 pillars of worker- farmer unity and Hindu-Muslim unity resulting in secular unity of various religions and faiths and sophistication unity of your entire working individuals.

A widespread marketing campaign and native protests shall be performed with publicity materials and literature distribution to organize the peasantry and different sections for the ‘battle until victory’ on varied calls for associated to 1. No to any bilateral Commerce Settlement and low cost imports that hurts agriculture sector/ meals grain manufacturing and dairy sector. 2. Repeal the pro-corporate NPFAM that undermines federal rights and promotes company takeover of Govt. agricultural markets. 3. MSP@ C2+50% with assured procurement for all crops. 4. Complete mortgage waiver for all sections of peasantry and agricultural staff to stop peasant suicides. 5. No to indiscriminate land acquisition, land pooling schemes, Industrial Mannequin Townships and correct implementation of LARR Act 2013. 6. No privatisation of electrical energy, no imposition of good meters, present free electrical energy as much as 300 items to all rural households.

On this Nationwide Marketing campaign, its preparations and literature SKM may also coordinate with the Joint Platform of Central Commerce Unions, platform of agricultural staff unions and different Commerce Unions.

The GB congratulated the management of the united commerce union motion and the working class for the management function they’ve performed in making the strike motion on 9 July 2025 efficient. This was the twenty second Normal Strike for the reason that invention of neoliberal insurance policies and its success has stuffed confidence to all of the democratic sections within the society that your entire working persons are able to battle again the anti-people insurance policies of the ruling lessons.

SKM calls for full compensation @ market charges for landowners on all of the lands acquired at low circle price for public sector in addition to non-public sector initiatives. It has demanded necessary revision of circle price have to be ensured each various 12 months; No acquisition must be carried out with out rehabilitation and resettlement; No demolition of slums and settlements with out prior rehabilitation; Finish Bulldozer Raj; No forceful building of overhead Excessive Voltage transmission traces on farmland; Implement land use coverage and protect agricultural land for cultivation contemplating the meals safety of the nation.

Assembly demanded to raise the ban on 10 years-old tractors, restore fertiliser subsidy and halt the commerce of spurious fertilisers and pesticides, finish hoarding, black advertising and marketing, widespread corruption and guarantee self-sustainability in home manufacturing of high quality fertilisers and pesticides. Assembly additionally demanded to rearrange a particular tribunal for guaranteeing cheap compensation to the victims of wildlife menace and guarantee everlasting and scientific resolution to the intense risk of lack of life, crops and home animals. Modification to the forest conservation act is anti-Tribal and professional Company.

The assembly demanded the Union Authorities to levy 2% tax on the cease 1% of the individuals belongs to the super-rich; improve company tax; re-introduce one third as wealth tax and succession tax to search out monetary sources on the price of seven% of the GDP for rational, equitable distribution of wealth amongst staff, farmers and toiling individuals and guarantee 5 basic rights of meals, employment, well being, training and pension to all residents.

The GB congratulated the Devanahalli farmers of Karnataka, who had received the land battle after 1189 days of constant preventing. Assembly appreciated the Karnataka Horatta Samithy, the united motion committee of the 13 affected villages, all the category and mass organisations, social activists, artists and people from all walks of life together with media individuals for the victory. As per the course of the Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah, 1774 acres of land has been de-notified now from forcible acquisition. This victory conjures up farmers and landowners in additional than 600 battle spots throughout India towards indiscriminate, unlawful land acquisition.

SKM Marketing campaign in Bihar – the SKM management will go to Bihar in September 2025 as a part of the marketing campaign to Punish BJP- NDA for his or her company insurance policies and the small print might be labored out by the SKM SCC of Bihar.

The assembly demanded the Election Fee of India to repeal the Particular Intensive Revision of voters record meant to disclaim the voting rights to the poor individuals and likewise demanded motion towards ADG (HQ) of Bihar Police Kunthan Krishnan for depicting your entire farmers of Bihar as criminals engaged in Supari Murders.

Go to to Peasant Suicide Sufferer Households in Vidharbha, Maharashtra – the dates and different particulars might be determined in session with the SKM SCC.

The assembly adopted resolutions in assist of farmers battle in Sohana, Mewat, Haryana towards betrayal of land homeowners by buying land with out sufficient compensation thus violating LARR Act 2013 and the farmers battle in Himachal Pradesh towards slicing of apple bushes and evicting the homes of the tenant farmers cultivating for a lot of generations within the forest land for greater than 50 years violating the FRA, proper for rehabilitation and resettlement.

(Courtesy: Newsclick, an Indian information web site based by Prabir Purkayastha in 2009, who additionally serves because the Editor-in-Chief.)