Tight court slap to ED; Deepening India-Russia ties; Nirmala Sitharaman’s new worry
Opinion Watch
Tight court slap to ED
Events remind that the Enforcement Directorate, which has the serious mandate for probing money laundering cases, is now a tool for political witch-hunting. What was the Central Bureau Investigation under the watch of P Chidambaram is now the ED with Amit Shah at the helm of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Story remains same, scale only becomes bigger.
The Hindu in its Editorial has taken note of the remark on record of a special court dealing with PMLA cases that “the arrest of Sanjay Raut (the Shiv Sena leader) was not only illegal, but without any reason”. The Chennai-based daily stated that the materials put on record by Judge MG Deshpande substantiates the Opposition charges that the ED is being misused to hound the political opponents.
The case for which Raut spent three months in jail, ruled the court, involved a civil dispute with no involvement of money, while those who were actually involved have not even been arrested, added the daily, which called the misuse of the agency “unlaundered truth”. There is no denying the fact that the PMLA gives excessive discretionary powers in the hands of the ED officials, who, since most of them are without spines, would bend backwards to please their political masters to send innocents to jails. That’s the undiluted story of India.
Deepening India-Russia ties
India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Moscow for an official visit, first after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and held wide ranging discussions with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov. In the aftermath of the Ukrainian War, India-Russia trade has gone up by 170 per cent.
The Indian Express in its Editorial has given an account of Jaishankar’s statements – Global South is in stress because of the Ukraine War, India will help to de-risk the global economy. Indeed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks at a bilateral with Russian President Vladimir Putin that “it’s not an era of war” continues to resonate. Putin has also patted India for pursuing independent foreign policy, while lauding the Indian talents.
But the fact remains that the onus to end the war lies with Russia, Europe and the US. The bilateral trade between India and Russia is in favour of Moscow in 20:1 ratio. The US is selling arms to Ukraine, and that keeps the American economy robust. Europe is a loser.
Nirmala Sitharaman’s new worry
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would soon have to worry about her fiscal maths going awry. The trade imbalances are shooting up. Imports are rising and exports don’t have matching steam. Rupee may come under further stress.
The Economic Times in its Editorial has warned that India’s balance of payment is likely to slip into $40-50 billion deficit in the current fiscal. The daily reminded that the forex reserves is already down to $530 billion from $642 billion a few months ago. It further stated that the current account deficit has already widened in the June Quarter to 2.8 per cent at $23.9 billion, while it further balloon as per the Barclay report amid the global slowdown. The daily counselled that India should embrace more reforms to attract FDI. But the daily asks no questions on the outcome of the slogan – Make in India, Make for World. That was given in 2022.
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