Modi’s Atmanirbhar Push, Trump-Putin Meeting, GST Rejig On The Anvil — The Week That Was

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin dominated the news cycle this week.

Modi made a clarion call to reduce foreign reliance on everything from defence to nuclear energy to achieve economic autonomy. This appeal comes amid the rising global uncertainties.

Putin and Trump concluded more than two hours of talks in Alaska without a resolution to end the war in Ukraine.

A natural calamity in a Jammu and Kashmir village claimed at least 60 lives.

Modi’s Atmanirbhar Push

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday addressed the nation from the Red Fort and encouraged Indians to produce and buy locally under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative. In a veiled reference to the US tariff policies, he also assailed the “economic selfishness” of countries. Modi said India will face challenges head-on and secure the interests of her farmers, fishermen and dairy producers.

Trump-Putin Meeting

The highly anticipated and publicised meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Saturday ended without any breakthrough in the two and a half year long war in Ukraine.

Standing aside Putin at an event wrapping up the summit, Trump called their discussions “extremely productive” but added: “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.”

Trump said he would speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and tell him to make a deal.

GST Rejig In Diwali 

The Centre has proposed a two-slab GST structure that could bring widespread relief to consumers and streamline indirect taxation in a move that could be the most significant overhaul of the Goods and Services Tax regime since its rollout in 2017.

As per the Centre’s proposal, the existing 12% and 28% GST slabs will be scrapped entirely. In their place, a simplified structure is being mooted while retaining the 5% and 18% tax slabs.

Inflation At New Low

India’s retail and wholesale price inflation dipped further in July, driven by lower food prices.

The consumer price index-based inflation moderated to 1.55% in July, from 2.1% in June, according to data from the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation on Tuesday. Core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and fuel components, saw a downtick to 4.2% in July from 4.5% in June.

This was also the sixth straight month when inflation was below the Reserve Bank of India’s 4% target. This has raised expectations for a rate cut in the upcoming MPC meeting.

Wholesale price inflation eased to the lowest since July 2023, as per data released on Thursday.

Kishtwar Cloudburst

At least 60 people lost their lives and over 100 others were injured after a cloudburst in a remote village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district. A coordinated rescue and relief operation continued for the third consecutive day on Saturday.

Disaster struck Chisoti, the last motorable village on the way to the Machail Mata temple, around 12:25 pm on Thursday, leaving a trail of death and destruction.

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