Monday, September 14
Still smarting from President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs, Indians have come to another bitter realization: The US leader appears to be singling New Delhi out, while giving Russia’s real backers in China a free pass.The Indian establishment, which largely welcomed Trump’s ascent to power and genuinely believed that the two were on the cusp of a mutually beneficial deal, seems somewhat shell-shocked. Few could have predicted the humiliation of being just about the only country that emerged from negotiations with higher tariffs than those it was threatened with. This has not been Indian diplomacy’s finest hour; Reuters quoted an official as saying “we lacked the diplomatic support needed after the US struck better deals with Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan and the EU.”Perhaps that is wh
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said the government's aim is to accelerate the pace of highway construction to 100 km a day from 38 km/day at present.Speaking at the Business Today India@100 event, Gadkari said so far this year, the road ministry has awarded highways projects worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore, and by March next year, it will award highways projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore."Currently, the pace of National Highways construction in India is 38 km/day. We aim to accelerate the pace of highway construction to 100 km a day. This is our target, whether it will happen next year, I can not say," he said.The ministry constructed 10,660 km of national highways in 2024-25, 12,349 km in 2023-24 and 10,331 km in 2022-23.Responding to the growing concern over soci
