Three issues, this week
I propose to give my views on three matters which have attracted attention over the past week. Two of these have gained great coverage in the Indian media. The third has only been briefly mentioned.
The Indian Women’s Cricket team’s success in the World Cup gave joy to the entire country. India is ‘mad’ about cricket but truth be told it is the men’s game which is followed by millions of Indians. It is said by many sports pundits that it was the 1983 World Cup win that began the process of making cricket a truly mass game. Kapil Dev and his team mates became national heroes and ever since then great men cricketers are national icons. They have recognition similar to well-established political leaders or movie stars.
Will the World Cup victory transform the status of women’s cricket and, more generally, encourage their participation in sports? It will certainly give a fillip to girls’ ambitions and will also prevail upon many parents to allow their daughters to participate in sports but social attitudes will still have to be contented with. This may take time but the fact that each of the women who were part of the Indian cricket team got unstinted support from their families should help in overcoming resistance from those quarters who wish to keep girls away from the sports fields.
It will be appropriate for the central and the states’ governments to spread the message that the participation of girls in sports will be beneficial for their physical and mental growth; besides, if they excel it would bring financial security to them. This would also require the allocation of adequate financial resources by governments but the private sector should also come forth in this endeavour. I look forward to the day when women sportswomen from J&K bring national glory in the games of their choice. The J&K government should consider ways and means of encouraging girls’ sports within the ambit of cultural attitudes.
Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York mayor’s elections is astounding. He is only 34 and has little political experience but was able to gain over 50% of the vote. The New York mayor enjoys vast executive powers including over the city police. He also has a budget of over US $ 120 billion in a city which has a GDP of over a trillion US Dollars. Mamdani is of Indian descent though he grew up in Africa and the US. He is a naturalized US national. His father Mehmood Mamdani is a well-known academic and his mother Mira Nair is a famous film maker.
What is remarkable is that Mamdani made no secret that he is a Muslim and a Democratic Socialist. He was also critical of Israel in a city which has an influential population of Jews who are prominent in finance, academia, the professions and the media. President Trump, who belongs to New York, was completely against Mamdani whom he called a communist. Trump, however, could do nothing to wean away Mamdani’s supporters because of his core message that the city had to be made affordable for the poor, that it should have a free and fast transport system and child care. Trump appeals to the rich and the powerful. Mamdani spoke out for the disadvantaged in a country where disparities in wealth are becoming greater. Mamdani’s political success will count as one of the great political accomplishments of this century. He will now have to show the humility to work with the Trump administration so that he succeeds in delivering on his promises. He will need its cooperation. Without that it will be difficult going for him.
The United States Supreme Court has begun hearings on challenges by US importers to the tariffs imposed by President Trump on almost all the country’s trading partners. Trump has done so by using powers given to him by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. The Federal Courts have held that the Act does not give a US President unrestricted powers to impose tariffs like Trump has done. For Trump tariffs are a ‘weapon’ which he can deploy to defend US interests. Broadly, the Courts have held that this is not so because the power to raise taxes and funds—and tariffs do that---are a legislative power and not an executive one. Trump has appealed to the Supreme Court to strike down the lower Courts’s decisions and accept his understanding of the Act.
As the Supreme Court began its hearings Trump posted on the social media the case was “literally LIFE OR DEATH for our country. With a Victory, we have tremendous, but fair, Financial and National Security. Without it we are virtually defenseless against other Countries, who have, for years, taken advantage of us”. He has also said that this is the most important case the Court will decide in years. For him it is indeed so. This is because if the Court were to go along with the decisions of the lower courts on this issue, Trump’s entire approach to foreign policy since the beginning of this term will fall.
My own instinct was that the Supreme Court will not intervene in Trump’s use of tariffs as a ‘weapon’ for national security. However, the oral observations made by even some of the conservative Supreme Court judges point in the other direction. Hence, it is possible that while it may give the Trump powers to impose tariffs the Court may impose restrictions on the manner he can do so. These restrictions too will impact Trump’s foreign policy decision making and that will make a tremendous impact on the world, including India. Hence, the implications of the Court’s decision are of global significance.
