Sunday View: The Best Weekend Opinion Reads, Curated Just for You

We sifted through the papers to find the best opinion reads, so you won't have to.

Keep the chai, forget the paper. Read the best opinion and editorial articles from across the print media on Sunday View.

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Mr Trump Will Be a Loser

Writing for The Indian Express, P Chidambaram contends that the US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy has more to do with electoral loyalty than economics, as he aims to appease the disillusioned white male industrial workforce in the seven swing states that secured his victory, namely – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Mr Trump won all the seven states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and took their 93 electoral votes. Mr Trump’s constituency is the seven swing states. They share common characteristics: de-industrialized, high unemployment, and political discourse around issues like inflation, immigration and white male industrial workers’ preferences. Since Mr Trump won all the seven states he believes that the issues that concern the seven states are the issues that concern the United States and he is obliged to address those issues.

P Chidambaram, for The Indian Express

Meanwhile, as India quietly pursues a trade deal with the US, the former finance minister urges policymakers to align with responsible global voices, in the likes of Ursula von der Leyen and Mark Carney, as economists strongly predict global recession should the tariffs come into effect.

US-China Trade War Gives India Shot in Some Sectors

Although Donald Trump’s 'tariff war' threatens to disrupt global trade and destabilise the supply and demand chains, it has presented India with a unique opportunity of filling an impending vacuum, only if the nation responds strategically, argues Pavan K Varma in his Deccan Chronicle article.

What are these opportunities? The most important priority is to make our economy stronger by radically improving cost competitiveness and substantially expediting the “ease of doing business” agenda. A noticeable complacency has crept into India’s corporate sector, where the existence of certain captive markets within the nation and internationally, have slowed down innovations and improvements in quality and quantity of production lines. The need for greater economic competition internally is often finessed by the growth of monopoly houses which see no real incentive in upgrading their economic performance.

Pavan K Varma, for Deccan Chronicle

As opposed to mirroring China’s retaliatory stance, India, Varma argues, should focus on strengthening domestic competitiveness in a bid to become a reliable global partner. With streamlined regulations, India has the potential to replace China in sectors like electronics, pharmaceuticals and textiles.

China Is on Our Side. Really?

Facing escalating tariffs from the USA, China is now seeking conciliatory ties with India. Author Sunil Sharan, however, cautions against forging close relations with China in his piece for The Statesman, stating the neighbouring nation’s consistent financial and military support to Pakistan as a major reason for the scepticism.

Modi has expended an enormous amount of time and energy to befriend China, only to be spurned time and again. If we want to be a part of the Global North, we must make friends with the leader of the Global North. And the leader of the Global North, whether one likes it or not, is the United States. We must do what is in the best interest of India, and our best interests lie with the United States and not with China. We have been backstabbed by China once. Not any more.

Sunil Sharan, for The Statesman

Sharan argues China’s claim of a mutually beneficial economic relationship is in direct contrast with their action in the Global South, as prevalent border disputes and efforts to expand its global influence constraints India.

The Indian Diaspora Is Part Responsible for Its Sorry State

Amid the humiliating spectacle of illegal Indian migrants being offloaded at Amritsar, following their expulsion from the US, Ajai Sahni argues the Indian diaspora cannot avoid culpability for the plight in his The New Indian Express piece. The erstwhile image of being a law-abiding and peaceful community has now been tainted by the emergence of unqualified and criminal elements.

Regrettably, these images have been rapidly diluted over the past years, and several factors have been responsible for this. The first of these is a gradual but sustained transformation in the profile of migrants from India—with increasing numbers of unqualified, often uneducated, migrants journeying to the West, many of them illegally.

Ajai Sahni, for The New Indian Express

As the challenges affecting the Indian diaspora spread beyond Donald Trump’s America, Sahni calls for Indian leaders abroad to foster societal integration, preventing further alienation and disintegration of the community.

Why PM Modi’s Leadership Is Needed Urgently at This Time

In her piece for The Indian Express, Tavleen Singh critiques India’s leaders for their inaction during economic turmoil. Whilst Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent focus has been on religious visits, the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, resorted to personal jibes instead of offering a strategic response.

It is in times of chaos and turmoil that leaders most need to lead. The world has been thrown into chaos, turmoil and grim uncertainty since Donald Trump announced his tariffs and India is vulnerable, but our leaders are behaving as if all is well. The Prime Minister visited his constituency last week and as is his wont, spent much time at religious gatherings and posting on X details of his spiritual experiences. So, on Mahavir Jayanti, he posted that ‘the ideals of Bhagwan Mahavir have greatly inspired countless people including me’.

Tavleen Singh, for The Indian Express

With bureaucratic obstacles continuing to hinder businesses in India, more than 20% of India’s financial elite have already left the nation. Should decisive and pre-emptive measures not be taken, Singh warns, India faces the peril of sliding into poverty.

Against Annihilation

On a similar April summer eight decades ago, as World War II raged on, with Adolf Hitler retreating to his bunker and Harry S Truman becoming the US President following Franklin D Roosevelt’s death, the Manhattan Project progressed steadily, eventually marking the dawn of the global nuclear age. Reflecting on the events of 1945 in his piece for The Telegraph, Gopalkrishna Gandhi explains why he feels the world is sitting on a nuclear catastrophe yet again, with the USA developing a bomb 24 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima and Russia altering its nuclear doctrine.

India has been one of the nine ‘nuke’ powers for long now. It is time, this 80th anniversary year, for it to do something unusual, something very quintessentially Indian: be the first out of the nine to become a counter-nuke nuke power. Can it offer any greater example of Vishwaguruness?

Gopalkrishna Gandhi, for The Telegraph

The former governor of West Bengal asserts that India must reclaim its stance as the global moral leader, by voluntarily dismantling part of its nuclear arsenal and designing counter-nuclear systems. Notably, the Congress had championed nuclear disarmament in 1955 and 1988.

Create With Languages, Not Conflict Over Them

Amid an ongoing debate over the Centre’s three languages initiative, Rahul Jayaram, in his piece for Deccan Herald, criticises how languages are reduced to political tools of divisiveness, as opposed to being cultural treasures for enrichment.

If there’s such passion for one’s language, why on earth can that not be channelled into creative enterprise? My love for what my mother tongue means to me should not always require me reacting to a threat to it. Why can’t it always be evoked as an invitation to curiosity, learning, and wonder. And yes, why is it not becoming and providing me with the means to flourish? Why can’t either our Centre or states promise that people can culturally and economically prosper through nurturing our languages?

Rahul Jayaram, for Deccan Herald

Jayaram opines that passion for one’s mother tongue should inspire creativity and prosperity, instead of promulgating political turmoil. Drawing inspiration from renowned scholars like AK Ramanujan and Velcheru Narayana Rao, the writer advocates for a nurturing environment to cultivate India’s rich linguistic heritage.

On-Demand Transport No Easy Gig for Women

Lalita Panicker writes about the stark underrepresentation of women in India’s booming gig economy for Hindustan Times, with less than 1% of the nation’s delivery and ride-hailing drivers being females. Barring safety risks, societal expectations from women further exacerbate gender disparity.

Expectations that women should prioritise caregiving over paid work make it difficult for them to commit to gig work’s demanding hours. Participating women are frequently paid less than their male counterparts, perpetuating the gender pay gap. High material investment costs, such as obtaining driving licences and purchasing vehicles, present significant hurdles, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The financial exclusion is stark as many women lack access to bank accounts, making it difficult to receive payments from gig platforms. This makes gig work inaccessible for many women.

Lalita Panicker, for Hindustan Times

Suggesting practical solutions to increase female representation, Panicker advocates for gender-segregated rides – an initiative that has been successfully implemented in Sri Lanka and Nepal. Moreover, she has urged the platforms to offer financial assistance to female drivers through rental vehicle schemes.

For Favours Expected: MPs Have the Gifts but Who’s Paying, Really?

As Karnataka’s Congress government faces allegations of corruption, Venkatesh Nayak highlights veiled malpractice in his Deccan Herald piece – the act of offering gifts as a subtle, yet a very pervasive form of corruption, especially in public sectors.

While outright bribery is the most visible face of corruption in the public sector, the dubious practice of gift-giving rarely attracts attention. Last year, during Deepavali, a Lok Sabha MP from Bihar and member of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways returned a gold coin and a block of silver which were ‘gifted’ to him. In his whistleblowing letter to the Committee’s Chairman, he alleged that representatives of two central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) controlled by the Railways Ministry visited him in his room in the middle of the night and handed over two bags filled with expensive festival memorabilia.

Venkatesh Nayak, for Deccan Herald

Despite the current parliamentary policy strictly prohibiting any exchange of gifts, public sector dealings continue to flout ethics, highlighting a deeply ingrained systemic issue that demands urgent political intervention.

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