What Modi-Trump Meeting Augurs
In this article for The Indian Express, Kanti Bajpai discusses the key takeaways from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first visit to Washington during US President Donald Trump's second term.
Bajpai asserts that the meeting between the two heads of state went "as well as it could," despite some points of friction, particularly regarding trade and immigration.
The big friction points going into the meeting were trade and immigration: India’s large trade surplus on the back of high tariffs, and the status of illegal Indian migration to the US. Delhi can be reasonably satisfied with how both these were treated in the joint statement. In essence, the US avoided slamming India on tariffs publicly. The road ahead seems to be to find a way to reduce the surplus through a multisectoral trade agreement to be concluded by the fall of 2025. As for illegal migration, the two sides agreed that they would “aggressively” combat illegal migration and the networks that facilitate it — the world “aggressively” undoubtedly reflecting US insistence and the focus on networks being an Indian preference.Kanti Bajpai, The Indian Express
Budget Abandons the Lesser Gods – 1
In his weekly column for The Indian Express, former finance minister P Chidambaram reflects on the 2025-26 Budget, arguing that it disproportionately benefits a small number of income taxpayers, neglecting the majority of citizens, particularly the poor and unemployed.
The FM calculated that she had — or was told she must find — a treasure of Rs 1,00,000 crore to distribute. She ‘found’ the money, and she decided to give away all of it to 3.2 crore persons who paid income tax (among the population of 143 crore people). It is a minor detail that the 3.2 crore income-tax payers included the middle class, the rich, the very rich and the super rich. Along with the ten virtues contained in the Tamil proverb, modern values of governance such as equity, social justice and distributive fairness were thrown to the winds.P Chidambaram, The Indian Express
No Immediate Relief in Sight From Climate Crisis
In his article for the Hindustan Times, Ananda Banerjee warns that with January 2025 being the warmest on record, the world is headed for catastrophic climate impacts.
He highlights the failure of major powers to address the crisis, such as the US's withdrawal from the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and its continued reliance on fossil fuels, while noting that China's carbon emissions may peak sooner than expected.
An interesting player to watch out for, of course, is China. The country’s carbon emissions are said to peak this year, much earlier than its 2030 target. Hopefully, as China’s emissions plateau, global warming may get a breather. Although the country hasn’t yet talked about phasing out coal, it gives a sliver of hope for getting closer to the target set by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by around 40 percent by 2030 compared to 2019 levels to limit the further rise from 1.5 °C...At least for the next two decades, coal will remain the backbone of the Indian energy system, with consumption slated to peak between 2030 and 2035.Ananda Banerjee, Hindustan Times
India Needs DOGE
In her weekly column for The Indian Express, Tavleen Singh critiques Prime Minister Modi’s failure to address the issues of overstaffed ministries and outdated departments, despite his promise of "minimum government and maximum governance." Singh writes that in the current bloated government system, public sector jobs are viewed as an aspiration rather than a means of achieving efficient governance.
Can we please abolish the post of the Collector? These unelected despots not only have the power to control all development in their districts, but they also live in grander style than we can afford. Why does this colonial post continue to exist 75 years after our colonial masters departed? If Modi wants to live up to the new slogan he invented in Washington, MIGA (Make India Great Again), he could begin by setting up a series of discussions with his new best friend Elon Musk and get more details of how DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) works.Tavleen Singh, The Indian Express
In Techno-State Utopia, Efficiency Is at Odds With Democracy
In her piece for Deccan Herald, Yamini Aiyar warns against an over-reliance on technology as a solution to bureaucratic inefficiency while building state capacity in India. She compares this to the growing trend of "techno-state" governance in the US, where efficiency is often used to justify anti-democratic actions.
States should deliver and do so efficiently but we must remember that the State is not a private firm. Its scale, form, and roles are different. As citizens, we relate to the State in affective terms, as clients, we relate to the firm in transactional, market-based terms. The State has to balance equity, justice, and social stability as it seeks “efficiency”. Its tasks are an outcome of a political bargain and may necessitate “inefficiency” as it makes trade-offs: between redistribution and growth, environmental protection and business, tax cuts for the middle class and expenditures on welfare. These are outcomes of democratic bargaining necessary to preserve freedoms and a stable society.Yamini Aiyar, Deccan Herald
The Stench of Flesh
In his piece for The New Indian Express (TNIE), mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik discusses the growing dominance of strict vegetarianism within Hindu institutions, which excludes the majority of Hindus, especially those from non-vegetarian backgrounds. He questions the spiritual superiority often attributed to vegetarianism and explores the historical and cultural complexities of dietary choices in Indian religions.
"If Muslims have a right to Halal food, then apparently Sanatan Dharma has a right to enforce strict vegetarianism in North Indian pilgrim sites and during North Indian festivals. Clearly this new politically charged Sanatan Dharma of the Hindi belt has no patience with fish-eating Brahmins of Kashmir, Konkan, Bengal, Mithila or Odisha, as well as the Kayasthas, Rajputs and Shudras, not to mention the many pork, mutton, chicken and fish-eating gods and goddesses of the hinterland."Devdutt Pattanaik, The New Indian Express (TNIE)
Bjp Convinced Delhi Voters It Was Futile to Support AAP
In his column for Deccan Chronicle, diplomat Pavan K Varma reflects on the recent Delhi Assembly elections and the BJP's relentless determination to defeat AAP, despite its past dominance. Varma explains how the BJP exploited the challenges faced by AAP, such as limited powers and bureaucratic hurdles, which made it difficult for the party to fulfill its promises.
The BJP created a situation where even many of those opposed to it recognised the futility of supporting AAP. They realised that an AAP government will face unending hurdles in implementing its promises...Moreover, the AAP government does not now even have control over bureaucrats, including the chief secretary, serving under it.Pavan K Varma, Deccan Chronicle
Professor’s Cut: Learning From High-Art Cinema
Rahul Jayaram, Writing for Deccan Herald, argues that incorporating well-curated cinema into higher education can help enhance students' social awareness, communication skills, and critical thinking, particularly in non-arts disciplines, improving their ability to engage with and reflect on their social environments.
Given the age we live in, and the mobile phone and the internet being its most favoured forms of communication and mediation, one reckons cinema can be deeply helpful in educational settings, but only if they are read, taught and curated perspicaciously. Indeed, this becomes all the more vital in spheres of non-arts education. So often we have reports on industry sectors saying STEM graduates weren’t skilled enough, failing to communicate clearly or confidently or not knowing how to express themselves. In this sense, foregrounding cinema education as a means to get undergraduates to appreciate and then reflect on what they’ve seen are key means to get them to absorb and identify with the markers of their social spheres.Rahul Jayaram, Deccan Herald
The Changing Tracks of Romance of Trains
In his piece for the Hindustan Times, Abhishek Asthana reflects on the unique experience of travelling on India’s long-distance trains, particularly the side-lower berth, which offers a panoramic view of the countryside despite its limited comfort. He describes the journey as a window into the lives of India’s people, from glimpsing homes along the tracks to observing the hustle at every station.
You read shop boards, sex clinic ads on walls, and random inscriptions to figure out which city it is, racing against time to guess the city before the train draws close to the platform and signages reveal the name. The name is painted on a stone plaque, black on yellow. The moment it’s revealed, there is commotion in the train. Coolies, pheriwalas, passengers who need to disembark, passengers who need to board, your dad with his compulsive urge to get down and fill all the water bottles during the two-minute stop, one guy who claims that the poori sabji is famous here, everybody is suddenly active.Abhishek Asthana, Hindustan Times
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