This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Manisha Pande, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by Nitin Pai, co-founder and director of The Takshashila Institution, and senior journalist Hridayesh Joshi from Uttarkashi. 

The episode opens with a discussion on Trump’s recent announcement to double the tariff on India, from 25 percent to 50 percent. Nitin argued that there is nothing wrong with India buying oil from Russia. 

He said, “ I don’t think there’s anything wrong in India buying oil from Russia or from Iran or from wherever, as long as we can get away with it. To claim that, 'Oh, you're buying gas from a country which is at war and you're killing' is absurd… If the yardstick is that you're supplying or buying from people who are killing others, then the United States has to sanction itself to death."

Manisha asks Nitin what India should do next. 

Despite the current tensions, including the imposition of steep tariffs by Trump and the broader uncertainty in US-India relations, Nitin underlines a crucial strategic point: that the United States remains India’s most important partner for long-term growth and development.

“Even after all of this, the United States is still India’s best partner for growth and development. We've got to work with these guys and figure out how we can make use of the US economy and US military power to help us grow and be secure.” Nitin said.

He further added that it would be foolish to talk about retaliation or going to the other side and forming an anti-US bloc. The answer is not in Moscow or Beijing – the answer is still in New Delhi.

For the discussion on the Uttarkashi disaster, Hridayesh joined the discussion from ground zero. 

Hridayesh said that the death toll in the incident could increase as the rescue operation unfolds. He asserted that this disaster is not the result of the cloud bursts. 

“According to the definition [of cloudbursts], you require a hundred millimeters of rainfall in one hour in a particular area. So it has not happened [in Uttarkashi]. And, the other theories that are coming in say that there may be some obstruction in the upper reaches, and it may have formed a temporary lake. And that lake burst because of some landslide from above or by its own volume or pressure because it was raining continuously.” Hridayesh added. 

Manisha added that the Uttarakhand government’s focus should be on such national disasters, but their priority instead is ‘Land Jihad’, ‘Love Jihad’, and registration of live-in relationships. 

Shardool added that you can negotiate with every human problem, but you cannot negotiate with nature. “Like an overflowing river, it does not care who you are and what you are, and what your problems are. Nature is very brutal in its judgment,” he said. 

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