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Hindustan Times
8 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
PM Modi to host NDA parliamentary meet on Tuesday
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the BJP-led NDA parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday, a get-together of the ruling alliance's MPs which is being held after a considerable gap. The prime minister is also likely to be felicitated by the parliamentary party over his government's military response to the terror strike.(ANI) The NDA meeting comes a couple of days before the filing of nomination for vice president's election begins from August 7. The NDA will have to announce its candidate, whose election will be a certainty due to the alliance's majority in the electoral college, by August 21, the last date of nomination-filing and the Monsoon Session of Parliament. The meeting comes in the middle of a session which has been all but a washout so far, except for a two-day discussion on the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor, due to a united Opposition's ceaseless protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar by the Election Commission. PM Modi is expected to speak on a host of current issues as the Opposition has been raising the heat over the poll body's alleged partisan conduct favouring the government, and the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor. The prime minister is also likely to be felicitated by the parliamentary party over his government's military response to the terror strike. The electoral college for the vice president poll includes MPs of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and its current strength is 782. If the Opposition also names a candidate, a distinct possibility, then the poll is scheduled to be held on September 9. Since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the BJP lost its majority but comfortably crossed the halfway mark with allies, the sessional meeting of the party's MPs was expanded to include its allies. PM Modi had addressed the first such meeting on July 2. However, no meeting has been held in the last few sessions. Before the last national elections, he used to address the weekly meetings of BJP parliamentary party, now expanded to include party's allies such as the TDP, JD(U), and LJP (Ram Vilas). The meeting is attended by MPs of the ruling alliance, and PM Modi often covers a sweep of political and governance issues, and at times touches on the government's agenda in Parliament. He often offers to the MPs talking points to be raised in public, especially their constituencies.
India Today
38 minutes ago
- India Today
How Modi's ‘swadeshi' call gives India's economic nationalism a new voice
On August 2, in political hotspot Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached for a word he rarely uses in economic speeches. Not Aatmanirbhar, not Make in India, not Vocal for Local. This time, it was something older and more socio-culturally loaded.'Every new item entering our homes,' Modi told a gathering of farmers, shopkeepers and traders, 'must be swadeshi.' He followed it up with an exhortation to the country's retailers: pledge to sell only swadeshi setting was familiar—Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency. But the script felt different. The word swadeshi carries the moral weight of India's freedom movement, associated with Mahatma Gandhi's boycotts, the spinning wheel and the rejection of foreign over a decade, Modi's economic vocabulary has largely centred on growth, scale, self-reliance and global competitiveness. But now, with the world fragmenting and protectionism making a global comeback, the prime minister was repositioning India's economic sovereignty not just as policy but as a cultural commitment. Modi's swadeshi call was promptly endorsed and echoed by several of his top cabinet ministers, especially those with pro-swadeshi credentials, such as Ashwini Vaishnaw and Piyush Goyal. The timing was no accident. The Donald Trump administration in the United States had just imposed a 25per cent tariff on several Indian exports and warned that India's continued imports of cheap Russian crude and defence hardware 'could invite consequences'.The US announcement had jolted diplomats and bureaucrats in South Block and North Block into crisis-mode consultations. To make Washington's blow more intense, the thought leaders of Indian diaspora (among Republicans) were unleashed to build the narrative that 'India needs America more than America needs India'.In the middle of it all, the prime minister's turn to swadeshi wasn't a spontaneous emotional flourish. It was a calibrated message—for domestic consumers and shopkeepers, for trade negotiators and investors and, most of all, for global capitals watching India's next moves. 'The message is clear,' said a top BJP leader. 'New Delhi will not concede to any pressure, and will continue to chart path on the self-reliance trajectory, and rely on the country's purchase capacity and the market's appetite.'For India's political class and industry watchers, the line triggered some dj vu. Ever since Modi came to power in 2014, there has been a tug of war between globalist impulses and swadeshi instincts. The Make in India campaign has had shades of both. The Aatmanirbhar Bharat pitch leaned into strategic autonomy but remained couched in the language of growth and technology. But swadeshi, as a term, has long been favoured more by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) than by technocrats at NITI Aayog or the Union finance ministry. That the prime minister himself invoked it—and repeated it—suggests a us march towards a self-reliant India,' posted S. Gurumurthy, former co-convenor of the RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) on X. 'SJM applauds Hon'ble Prime Minister's appeal for embracing SWADESHI in all walks of life.'The capitalised emphasis was not stylistic. It was triumphal. For years, SJM has criticised India's deepening dependence on foreign electronics, e-commerce platforms and defence imports—even under the Modi government. SJM, since 2020, has been backing the government's push for self-reliance. Several SJM leaders have said in the past that they see the self-reliance call as synonymous with their version of swadeshi. For them, Modi's speech in Varanasi comes as a definitive alignment with the SJM's long-argued economic the significance of Modi's swadeshi call goes beyond domestic symbolism. It comes at a time when India is in the middle of delicate trade negotiations—with the US, the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). These talks are at critical stages and hinge on difficult issues: rules of origin, market access, digital sovereignty and local content mandates. The one with the US is almost in a stalemate. The return of swadeshi into the prime ministerial lexicon signals India may now be drawing firmer red lines, especially on industrial in the Union commerce ministry say UK and EU trade negotiators are pushing hard on lowering tariffs for consumer goods and machinery whereas India has historically sought to protect micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Modi's phrasing—'every item entering our homes'—appears to push back against exactly that. It frames the issue as one of national behaviour and economic nationalism. For Delhi's negotiators, it's a useful rhetorical shield. For their counterparts in London and Brussels, it's a cue to recalibrate reassertion of economic nationalism also reflects broader global shifts. Across the world, protectionism is back in vogue. The US has its Inflation Reduction Act. The EU is selectively decoupling from China. Even globalist Germany is subsidising chip-making and green tech. India's own PLI (Production Linked Incentive) schemes were already a nudge towards deeper localisation. Now, Modi's swadeshi comment gives political backing to go further, especially in sectors such as electronics, semiconductors, defence, solar panels and even FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods).Multinational firms and foreign investors will be watching carefully. On the one hand, Modi's remarks reaffirm India's enormous domestic demand potential. On the other, they point to rising policy risk. The warning is implicit: global players will be welcome but only if they embed themselves deeply in Indian supply chains, create value locally and respect India's economic statement also landed within a broader speech where the prime minister celebrated the upcoming BrahMos missile production facility in Lucknow and defended India's sovereign right to source oil 'from wherever it is cheapest'. This was no longer just about consumer products. It was about linking energy, defence and trade policy into a broader economic security doctrine. In that framework, swadeshi is not an emotional cry—it is strategic the swadeshi revival call has monetary implications too. Over the past year, India has been quietly expanding rupee-settled trade with Russia, the UAE and several African partners. While still a small fraction of the overall trade, this signals a hedging strategy—one that aligns with the idea of a swadeshi financial architecture. Less exposure to the dollar, more bilateralism and greater control over external vulnerabilities. In a world where economic coercion is being weaponised, India seems to be learning from both friends and questions remain about how far this rhetorical pivot will be translated into hard policy. Will the government formalise local-content requirements across sectors beyond defence and electronics? Will it introduce new import duties on foreign consumer goods, a move that would please domestic industry but upset trade partners? Or is this simply a calibrated nudge to voters and allies, not an ironclad economic doctrine?One indicator may lie in how India navigates its MSME-heavy manufacturing base. These enterprises have long lobbied for protection against Chinese and ASEAN imports, particularly in textiles, toys, leather goods and low-end electronics. According to data from the ministry of commerce and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Indian MSMEs contribute nearly 30 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but face stiff competition from under-invoiced or dumped imports—especially post-RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) Delhi is already working with counterparts governing ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) trade pacts, along with CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement)-like agreements in Far Eastern countries such as Japan and South Korea, to review the more-than-a-decade-old agreements. The prime minister's swadeshi call could be seen as a moral cover for a fresh round of defensive industrial policy, particularly in sectors that employ millions and hold electoral bellwether will be the digital economy. The EU and US trade teams have been pressing India to commit to non-discriminatory data flow rules in the free trade agreement (FTA) texts. But India's push for data localisation and the wider regulatory moat around digital infrastructure fit naturally with the swadeshi narrative. If India begins couching tech policy as economic self-rule, we could see a hardening of positions in negotiations and tighter scrutiny of foreign digital the Varanasi speech was a masterstroke. It allows the BJP to convert the narrative of what could have been framed as a moment of US pressure—tariff threats, energy scrutiny—into a sovereignty narrative. It gives the domestic industry something to rally around and positions India as a confident voice of the Global South. It also puts the Opposition in a bind: how does one oppose a swadeshi call without sounding like a cheerleader for foreign goods?The challenge, of course, lies in execution. If swadeshi becomes policy, it must avoid the trappings of inefficiency and cronyism that plagued licence-era industrialism. If it remains rhetorical, it must still offer clarity to investors, consumers and trade partners. For now, it appears to be doing what it was designed to do: consolidate economic nationalism ahead of a global economic reordering—and set the tone for India's place in that humid August 2 afternoon in Varanasi, Modi didn't just revive a word. He reignited an idea. In doing so, he signalled that India's next phase of global economic engagement will not be dictated from outside, but shaped from within—and that swadeshi, once the vocabulary of freedom, is now the language of to India Today Magazine- EndsTune InMust Watch
Hindustan Times
38 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Central Vista: PM to inaugurate Kartavya Bhavan on August 6
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Kartavya Bhavan, or the Central Secretariat Building-3, on Wednesday (August 6), his office said on Monday. A view of the revamped Central Vista Avenue in New Delhi. (PTI File Photo) The building will house offices of key ministries such as home, external affairs, petroleum and natural gas, and the office of the principal scientific advisor to the PM. The CCS-3 is the first building being made ready as part of the marquee Central Vista revamp conceived in 2019. This makeover is the centrepiece of Prime Minister Modi's bid to leave a new architectural legacy, a contrast to the previous mix of colonial-era architecture from the seat of power. The ones already delivered are the new Parliament building, which hosted its first session in September 2023; the redeveloped and re-christened Raj Path as Kartavya Path, which opened in September 2022, and the Vice-President's enclave, which was ready in April 2024. The new Parliament building and the Vice President's enclave were delayed by more than a year as the entire Central Vista overhaul was originally scheduled to be completed by 2024. Now CCS-3, along with CCS-1 and 2, are set for completion in September, with 88% of the project already completed, a government reply in the Parliament on July 24 said. CCS-10 (28% of construction completed) is scheduled to be ready by April 2026, while CCS-6 and CCS-7 (1% of the work completed) are expected to finish construction by October 2026, the reply added. A government release said the CCS-3 building is designed to use 30% less energy. 'It has special glass windows to keep the building cool and reduce outside noise. Energy-saving LED lights, sensors that switch off lights when not needed, smart lifts that save power, and an advanced system to manage electricity use will all help save energy. Solar panels on the roof of Kartavya Bhavan-3 will generate over 5.34 lakh units of electricity every year. Solar water heaters meet more than a quarter of the daily hot water needs. Charging stations for electric vehicles have also been provided.
