Another Step in Safeguarding India

On paper, the Bill seeks to collect together different laws that govern the entry of foreigners and their exit from India. Some of these laws such as the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939, and the Foreigners Act, 1946 were enacted during the colonial period. Since then much has changed and the need for a new, comprehensive legislation was acutely felt.

The Bill has some important provisions such as the requirement for educational institutions admitting any foreigners to furnish information to a registration officer appointed by the Centre about such foreigners. It is noteworthy here that the Supreme Court recently gave a green signal for the education of Rohingyas who have illegally immigrated to India under the garb of a plea that “children should not be discriminated” in matters of education. The Bill, when it becomes a law, will enable the government to know how many such Rohingyas are enrolled in educational institutions.

Another provision in the Bill [Section 7(2)(f)] empowers the Centre to control the movement of foreigners as well as asking them to reside at a particular place. This innocuous sounding section is of great importance in curbing the spread of illegal immigrants, especially in demographically challenged states like Assam. The government has built detention centres for illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Rohingyas from Myanmar. But this policy of detention has been challenged legally on ‘human rights’ grounds and the danger that courts may set these illegal immigrants free is real. It was imperative that the Centre empowered itself legally to handle any such risk that poses danger to India’s integrity.

Then there are provisions like the creation of the Bureau of Immigration. In reality, such a bureau does exist but it did not have legislative backing. In general, the tenor of the law is to vastly empower Central officers to take decisions on matters pertaining to foreigners. It is in the absence of such clear guidelines and legislative backing that clever lawyers and so-called human rights activists have managed to ensure the planting of illegal immigrants on Indian soil.

The debate in Lok Sabha after the Bill was introduced was inchoate with Opposition members claiming that the Bill violated “fundamental rights”. But here’s the question: which country allows illegal immigrants a ‘fundamental right’ to reside within its territory? Similarly, the right to grant entry within its territory—by giving a visa—is not a ‘right’: if a consular officer, at the first stage, and an immigration officer, at a later stage, say that entry of a foreigner is disallowed, then that’s the end of the matter. That is how matters are in most nations—except those that are not governed properly—and there is no need for India to make an exception. The question of ‘rights’ in such a situation is spurious. It is such attitudes that have wreaked demographic havoc in many Indian states. The politics behind such licentiousness is obvious to those who observe such matters.

There has been speculation after the introduction of the Bill that it ‘complements’ the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. That may or may not be the case and those regulations and laws have their own distinct existence. But the end goal is clear: the prevention of illegal immigrants from flooding India and changing the demographic complexion of the country. India is a country that prides in its diversity but that is an internal attribute; ‘diversity’ cannot be a licence to import illegal immigrants.

Balochistan Bungle

Pakistan’s never-ending travails in the restive Balochistan province took another turn on March 11 when the nationalist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) hijacked the Jaffar Express, a long-distance train near Panir in the Kacchi district. The train, which had more than 400 passengers on board when the incident took place, was travelling from Quetta to Peshawar in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The BLA militants later released more than 100 civilian passengers while keeping a large number of military personnel hostage. There are conflicting reports about the fate of the armed forces men.

There is not a single district in Balochistan—from Zhob in the north to Kech and Gwadar in the south and from Chagai in the west to Khuzdar in the east—that has not seen violent incidents in recent years. All are geared towards the long-term goal of the Baloch people: Independence.

What has added fuel to this fire is the extractive nature of the Pakistani state coupled with the lack of representative institutions that have legitimacy in the eyes of the Baloch people. Balochistan is rich in resources like natural gas and minerals. There are large Chinese investments to extract these resources that are opposed by the Baloch people. Peaceful agitations, such as the one by Mehrang Baloch, the doctor-turned-activist, are either ignored or the subject of disinformation campaigns by powerful security agencies.

After the incident, Akhtar Mengal, a former chief minister of the province, posted a statement on X on March 12 where he said, “There is not a single inch of Balochistan left where the government can claim authority. They have lost this war—completely and irreversibly. It is over.” What Mengal said echoes the statement of another Pakistani politician, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam some weeks ago where he warned that Pakistan was on the verge of losing Balochistan. That may or may not happen as Pakistan can unleash more violence but its ability to control Balochistan is slipping away.

The Big Picture
Dubai, March 9, 2025

We Did It! KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja celebrate India’s victory in the ICC Champions Trophy Final after Jadeja scored the winning runs against New Zealand.

Newsmaker: Mark Carney
Canadian Cool
Can the incoming prime minister reset ties with the US and also win the next election?

He was the governor of the Bank of Canada during the global recession and that of the Bank of England during Brexit. Mark Carney, who succeeds Justin Trudeau as Liberal Party leader and by default as Canada’s prime minister, might be the best man to tackle the housing crisis and rising cost of living but he has never held elected office. A political novice, who has begun by tackling US President Donald Trump head-on: “Americans should make no mistake. In trade, as in hockey, Canada will win.” With Trump blowing hot and cold on the 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods, Carney may feel reason to be brave, or at least talk courage into a population suddenly hating America (pubs and stores reportedly began removing US goods like Bourbon, nachos, beer, etc from shelves).

After winning the party vote by a landslide, Carney rebuked all talk of Canada becoming the US’ 51st state. However, he and his party—dropped by Trudeau’s unpopularity to 20 points behind the opposition Conservatives led by Pierre Poilievre—have been done a great service by the US president. Poilievre, a Trump fan, has been left adrift by the nasty turn in bilateral relations, needing to quickly pivot or see the Liberals move ahead in the polls. Carney, meanwhile, does offer Trump one concession: tightening Canada’s borders. But he will keep the counter-tariffs on “until the Americans show us respect”. Not perhaps the best thing to ask of Trump. (By Sudeep Paul)

Noisemaker: Mallikarjun Kharge
Loose Talker

Before he was elevated as Congress president, veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge was an old-style politician more at ease with maintaining informal communication with political parties and leaders in Parliament. He was a regular presence in the Central Hall of the old Parliament building where he would sit with MPs and journalists, generously hosting cups of coffee and tea. But since he became party president, he has found himself under pressure to compete with louder voices in Congress, and crossed a line when he used a particularly coarse word against the government. Time was when leaders of the Opposition made incisive speeches that forced the treasury benches to listen and sometimes even nod appreciatively. The bar is now very low.

Ideas
Rule Of Law

Former president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on March 11 and sent to The Hague where the International Criminal Court will proceed against him for crimes against humanity, an extraordinary takedown of a man who once boasted of the very crimes that he is now accused of. This was his policy against drugs when he was the president of the country, when there were large-scale killings of alleged traffickers without due process. The rule of law demands that justice must obey both form and function. It is not enough to do what is right but it must be done in the rightful manner. What difference does that make, one might ask. Rule of law is necessary to not protect criminals but the innocent because without proving a crime beyond doubt, justice by whim, as happened with Duterte, inevitably leads to overreach. How is one to know that the person killed is really a drug trafficker and not someone targeted for a different personal agenda? In Mumbai, when the encounter specialists started killing gangsters in the 1990s, they soon ended up as criminals themselves because now they were doing it for profit. Rule of law is a counterweight to the abuse of power as happened with Duterte. It takes its time and does not always work as is envisaged but the alternative is to have killing squads roam around obeying whoever is in power and that means no one can be safe.

Money Mantra
Trump Versus The Markets
The tariff war signals a global economic meltdown

WHILE THE POLITICAL justification for tariffs often revolves around protecting domestic industries and reducing trade deficits, their unintended consequences can be severe, especially for inflation and economic growth. More critically, tariffs present the US Federal Reserve with a policy dilemma, forcing it to navigate an economic minefield where a wrong move could trigger a recession.

When tariffs are imposed, they act as a hidden tax on consumers. Prices of imported goods rise, and businesses, especially those reliant on global supply chains, are forced to pass these costs on to consumers. Whether it’s a higher price tag on everyday essentials like electronics and food, or increased production costs for manufacturers, inflationary pressures begin to mount. The US has already seen inflationary shocks over the past few years, and additional tariffs could prolong price rises just as the economy is struggling to stabilise.

Ordinarily, when inflation runs high, the Federal Reserve responds by raising interest rates to cool demand. However, tariffs present a different kind of problem. Unlike inflation caused by excessive consumer demand, tariff-driven inflation is cost-push inflation, meaning prices rise due to higher supply chain costs rather than excessive spending. Raising interest rates in such a scenario does little to address the root cause, but could worsen economic conditions by increasing borrowing costs for businesses and consumers alike.

This is where the Fed finds itself constrained. On the one hand, it faces a policy mandate to control inflation which could compel it to delay rate cuts that markets and businesses are hoping for. On the other, keeping interest rates high for too long could stifle growth, slow down investments, and lead to job losses in export-driven sectors like agriculture and technology.

Compounding the problem is the risk of retaliatory tariffs by US’ trade partners, which would further dampen economic activity and hurt American exporters. (By Ramesh Singh)

Viral
Poor Form

It is a set of directions we in India are very familiar with. Every public restroom invariably comes with a notice taped on its walls, of the things one can and cannot flush down the toilet. One can fathom why. Many Indians, it is said, pay little heed to the things they discard in a lavatory. This poor toilet etiquette became the subject of a viral news item, when an Air India flight, flying from Chicago to Delhi, had to turn around several hours into the flight, when many of its toilets broke down. The crew found eight out of the 12 toilets in the aircraft had become, in the airline’s words, “unserviceable” a few hours into the flight, and the pilots decided to turn the flight back. When the toilets were later checked, it was found that polythene bags, rags and clothes had been flushed down and had got stuck in the plumbing. “We take this opportunity to urge passengers to use lavatories only for the purposes that they are meant for,” the airline said in a statement.

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