Earth Day Blues, Pahalgam, Stone Quarrying, and more - Issue #131
Earth day came and went; Trump’s wars extend beyond just tax exemptions.
Trump’s Wars
Earth Day came and went.
This time around, the 22nd of April also saw US President Donald Trump threatening to strip tax-exemption from a bunch of environmental organisations.
Things came to a point where, as Daily Climate wrote, some organisations began “preemptively scrubbing language like climate resilience” from their public communications and strengthening ties with groups in conservative regions to reduce risk.”
As this newsletter gets written, the precise scope of his attack is unknown. A wildlife conservation NGO in South India has seen cutbacks from its US donors. Elsewhere, climate organisations are heaving a sigh of relief — Earth Day has come and gone without harm. The future, of course, remains unknown. This is USAID redux. If tax-exemption is stripped from the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, its affirmative selection for scholarships has resulted in charges of discrimination against whites; their expenditure in developing countries might drop.
Then again, if you have read The Bill Gates Problem, that is not a bad thing. Governments in developing countries cynically offload their developmental responsibilities onto global charities, irrespective of the agendas these come with. Bihar is one instance.
On the other hand, most charities are well-meaning. As their finances worsen, ripple effects will be felt far and wide.
Trump’s wars extend beyond just tax exemptions.
Last week, the US administration also tried to get the International Energy Agency (IEA) to drop championing renewable energy. The agency’s reports, as Politico wrote, are “considered the gold standard in global energy data, guiding major investments and government decisions”. At recent IEA meetings, however, US officials have pushed the organisation to go “back to basics” and away from “clean power” and “net zero”.
The IEA is not alone. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also put similar pressure on the World Bank and IMF to drop climate support and other “social topics”.
Elsewhere, Trump’s tariff shock continues. There is mounting speculation that the US administration is wavering. Not only has it back-pedalled on Trump’s initial decision to sack US federal reserve chair Jay Powell and rolled back some of its car tariffs, it also said talks have started with China. This claim was subsequently denied by the middle kingdom. “Stocks were also boosted by a potential easing of trade tensions with Beijing, after Trump said tariffs on Chinese goods would ‘come down substantially’,” reported FT. “But Wall Street indices gave up some of their early gains after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that a deescalation in the US-China trade war would have to be mutual, denying suggestions that Trump would unilaterally cut levies on Chinese goods.”
Reporting on these flip-flops, the newspaper landed a golden quote. “Who the heck knows what weight you assign to [Bessent’s comments on China and Trump’s pivot on Powell],” the paper was told. “The market is a perpetual yo-yo.”
More incontrovertibly, Chinese production for the US market is slowing. So is ship traffic to the USA. “Essentially all shipments out of China for major retailers and manufacturers has ceased”, Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka told WSJ. Supply shortages should make themselves felt by 10 May on the west coast and 31 May on the east coast.
And so it goes. Here are a couple of additional links to read about this moment in history.
PS: Trump and the Art of the Retreat (FT)
PS: As the global trade system crumbles, what should India do? “We need an industrial policy to guide domestic industry, much like today’s developed countries themselves followed earlier,” writes Rammanohar Reddy, the founding editor of The India Forum. “India, with the promise of its large domestic market, will gain more by working out balanced agreements within BRICS, with the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, alongside pursuing an independent industrial policy designed to revive Indian manufacturing.”
PS: White House Proposal Could Gut Climate Modeling the World Depends On (Propublica)
News Of The Week
Trump has a way of monopolising mindspace — and, as we see, newsletters. And so, somehow tearing ourselves away, here are the other big developments from last week.
The first of these was the terror attack in Pahalgam. In response, India threatened to suspend the Indus Treaty — and promised to build fresh dams on the Chenab, Jhelum and Indus, to even fast-track their construction. This, as SANDRP reported, is a short-sighted measure. As a downstream country, we cannot decry potential Chinese disruption of water flows while doing the same ourselves (More on this below, in long-reads).
Other news. India’s Green Hydrogen plans face a funding shortfall. India might allow up to 49% foreign shareholding in nuclear plants. India wants to reduce GHG emissions from four of its most energy-intensive industrial sectors – aluminium, cement, chlor-alkali, and pulp & paper, reported Business Standard. “The draft proposal seeks emission cuts through either carbon-credit trading or by setting company-specific emission reduction targets within each sector.” Amongst the affected companies will be major players like Vedanta, Hindalco, Nalco, UltraTech, ACC, Ambuja, Dalmia, and JSW Cement.
Illegal stone quarrying was a major refrain last week. The Tribune reported on illegal quarrying in Kangra. Down in the South, Frontline published a multi-part series on quarrying in Tamil Nadu (see these: one, two, three, four and five). India’s politics is a game where each party claims virtue for itself. Reports like these — and Frontline’s previous work on illegal sand mining — rip that facade off Tamil Nadu’s Dravidian parties. They, too, are kleptocratic. On this point, this chapter from The Wild East on the growth of illegal sand mining in Tamil Nadu is an unmissable read. It describes the centrality of real estate and construction to political party finances.
Yet other news. India’s Environment Ministry, already under criticism for approving mining projects in forest areas, has now created a separate category on its portal to fast-track clearances for the mining of critical minerals. We learnt once more that Saudi Arabia wants to invest in India’s refining sector. Here is a long report that summarises all the steps and missteps till date on this front. India has started working on “customised insurance” for nuclear power plants as it looks to sharply expand commercial production of nuclear energy to 100 GW by 2047 from 8 GW currently. Apple will shift the assembly of all US-bound iPhones to India over the next year.
Finally, last week, this newsletter had fleetingly referred to a strange PTI report about Mossad helping Adani shutter Hindenburg — it was heavy on insinuations and insistence but light on evidence. The predictable happened, with Nate Anderson ripping the report apart.
Lessons on recovery from natural disasters
In response to the deadly floods in Valencia last year, Spain is starting to take a closer look at the role of officials in natural disasters. “There’s an argument that natural disasters should play to democracies’ strength: public accountability…. The problem today is that climate-fuelled disasters are exposing democracies’ shortcoming: the failure of long-term planning. In Valencia, the regional leader Carlos Mazón abolished a nascent emergency unit a year before the floods, as part of an attack on bureaucracy. Like various other governments around the world, his has promoted building on flood zones, and shunned climate action.” In effect: When is a natural disaster human made? And when is human failure so stark that it breaks the law?
Climate Longreads of the Week
Great Nicobar’s Development: Strategic gain or loss of development? (Mint)
Foxconn’s iPhone factory is fueling a real estate boom in a small Indian farming town (Rest Of World)
Gujarat firecracker factory blaze: Smoke, and a mirror to society (The Hindu)
What Can We Expect of International Law? (The India Forum)
Distress Deepens On India’s Farms As Farmers Harvest More Crops Than Ever. Protests Likely To Intensify (Article-14)
Faith In The Forests: In Jharkhand, A Challenge To Hindutva From Adivasis Following The Ancient Sarna Faith (Article-14)
Expired Saline Drip Kills Mother, Reveals Larger Maternal Healthcare & Livelihood Crisis In West Bengal (Article-14)
Rajasthan’s farming sector is hitting rock bottom as groundwater dries up (Scroll)
Green promise of India’s ethanol-blend fuel could be undone by land, water demands (TRF)
Infrastructure Projects in Chenab Basin and Climate Change: Need to Exercise Caution (SANDRP). Also see this: Beyond Indus water treaty suspension: A 'nationalist' push despite harsh climate realities(Counterview)
Maharashtra faces water crisis despite record rainfall as Jal Jeevan Mission falters (Frontline)