Trump Tariff, India and Congress

After a long time, US President Trump announced a 25% trade tariff on India and said India and Russia are a dead economy and let them go together. And New Delhi very cautiously reacted and said the government will do everything to save the national interest. But the Congress seems a confused party, Leaders of different groups are giving reactions on different lines. Rahul Gandhi  support Trump's remark while his party leader Rajiv Shukla said the Indian economy is not dead. Economic reforms were made when PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh were there. Atal Bihari Vajpayee took those reforms forward. Trump is living in a delusion. Imposing tariffs is wrong. MP Karti Chidambaram says, "Trump is not a conventional politician. Normal protocols of diplomacy and normal rules of intergovernmental relationships don't work. He is very unorthodox." Shashi Tharoor says, "We have ongoing negotiations with the EU, we have already concluded a deal with the UK, and we are talking with other countries also. If we can't compete in America, we may have to diversify our markets outside of America. We are not out of options. If America is completely unreasonable with its demands, we have to move elsewhere. That is the strength of India."

High-profile crossovers from bureaucracy to politics witnessed in Bihar

Many high-profile crossovers from bureaucracy to politics have been witnessed in the recent past in Bihar, likely to go to polls in the coming months. The civil servants with an eye on politics are former Purnea DM Arvind Kumar Singh, former Joint Secretary Gopal Narayan Singh, Rakesh Kumar Mishra and former Nawada DM Lallan Yadav. All of them have joined the Jan Suraaj Party. The latest to throw his hat into the ring is Jai Prakash Singh, a 2000-batch IPS officer who took voluntary retirement after serving as Additional Director General (ADG) in Himachal Pradesh and joined the Jan Suraaj Party. Also, an Odisha cadre IAS officer Manish Verma of the 2000-batch, joined JD(U) in 2024 and was quickly elevated to the post of General Secretary. The officer, a Kurmi by caste, has been in Nitish’s inner circle since 2012 as advisor. Last month, Dinesh Kumar Rai, a senior IAS officer serving as Secretary (Revenue), too reportedly applied for VRS, signalling his intent to enter the poll arena. Rai, who served as Nitish Kumar’s Political Secretary for nine years, belongs to the Kurmi community. In April, Shivdeep Lande, a 2006-batch IPS officer took VRS and floated a political party, Hindu Sena Party. Also, IPS officer Anand Mishra from the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, who took VRS contested Parliament polls unsuccessfully.