British PM Rishi Sunak keen to clinch FTA with India by April: Report
London (PTI): British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is keen to clinch a free trade agreement (FTA) with India in time for Easter, which falls at the end of March 2024, according to a UK media report.
The India-UK FTA talks began in January last year, aimed at significantly enhancing the GBP 36-billion bilateral trading partnership. A new round of negotiations, expected to be the last, is set to start early in the new year after the thirteenth round concluded on December 15.
"Prime Minister Mr Sunak and India's premier Narendra Modi are said to be keen to get the deal wrapped up by April," reads a report in the Daily Express' newspaper updated on Saturday.
"It is hoped a deal can be signed and sealed before India's general elections begin on April 1," it claims.
The newspaper quoted a source close to the trade talks on the UK side to say that a lot of progress has been made, but some of the "hardest" aspects remain pending.
"We have made a lot of progress, but the last stuff to do is the hardest. We have negotiators out there most weeks going through the details, and we have a deadline of their elections," the source told the newspaper.
"Both Rishi Sunak and Modi remain keen, so it's just a case of seeing if we can get it over the line," the source added.
The UK hopes an FTA will open up its trade in Scotch whisky and cars to India, as well as services and investment opportunities. Meanwhile, India would seek better access to its manufactured goods and services and a deal on professional visas.
With both India and the UK heading into a general election year in 2024, signing off on a trade agreement has taken on particular urgency before leaders on both sides get into campaign mode.
A joint outcome statement released last week by the UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said: "The thirteenth round of negotiations for the UK-India Free Trade Agreement took place from 18 September to 15 December. The round included sessions, both in person, in London and Delhi, and virtual talks.
"As with round 12, these negotiations focused on complex issues, including goods, services, and investment. The UK and India will continue to negotiate towards a comprehensive and ambitious Free Trade Agreement. The fourteenth round of negotiations will take place in January 2024," the statement said.
Under the format so far, the fourteenth round is likely to be hosted by London, with talks taking place between officials in a hybrid format both in person and virtually.
"We have made substantial progress... I think both sides are very aware of the importance of the FTA and will make the utmost effort to get there. So, we have to take it as it happens," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told reporters after his meetings with Sunak and other senior Cabinet ministers during a UK visit last month.
There had been some speculation that cricket enthusiast Sunak would be following up his first India visit as British prime minister for the G20 Summit in September with some cricket diplomacy at the England versus India World Cup clash in Lucknow on October 29 when the highly anticipated FTA could be signed off.
However, the internal political turmoil of a Cabinet reshuffle within the Tory party and the Israel-Hamas conflict on the global front were said to have side-tracked focus.
"We are very close We will finish when we finish," UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch told a House of Commons committee when last questioned about timelines.
Officially, the Sunak-led government has held a firm "it's the deal, not the date" line to avoid setting firm timelines since former prime minister Boris Johnson's Diwali 2022 deadline for an India-UK FTA was missed.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Constitution powerful tool to protect poorest section of society: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Tuesday urged citizens to protect the ethos of the Constitution and said the struggle to defend India's inherent philosophy must be reinvigorated and reignited in the 75th year of its adoption.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said the Constitution is a powerful tool to protect the poorest and weakest sections of society, and the stronger it is, the stronger the country will be.
In a swipe at the BJP, the opposition party also asserted that at a time when those out to destroy the Constitution are showing insincere commitment towards it, "our duty to protect it and fight for its true values becomes all the more relevant".
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the people of India should come together to protect each and every thought expressed in the Constitution.
"The 75th year of the adoption of the Constitution has begun today. I extend my warmest wishes to all Indians on this historic occasion," the Congress president said in a post on X.
"The Constitution of India, painstakingly and carefully drafted by our foremothers and forefathers is the lifeblood of our nation. It guarantees us social, economic and political rights. It constitutes India into a sovereign socialist democratic republic," he said.
Justice, liberty, equality and fraternity are not just ideals or ideas, they are the way of life for 140 crore Indians, Kharge asserted.
"Today, we recall the tremendous contribution of the Constituent Assembly and its prolific members. We are forever indebted to their vision and wisdom," he said.
Kharge said Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr Rajendra Prasad, KM Munshi, Sarojini Naidu, Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and several eminent personalities were not just revered national icons but inspiring personalities who became the torchbearers of hope for generations together.
No mention of the Constituent Assembly should be complete without recalling the contribution of the 15 women members who provided equally important inputs for an inclusive India, the Congress president said.
"We must also not forget that the Constituent Assembly received uncountable suggestions from ordinary citizens which are a matter of record," he said.
The Objectives Resolution moved by Nehru and Ambedkar's momentous last speech to the Constituent Assembly form the Magna Carta in protecting the tenets of the Constitution, he said.
"We, the patriotic citizens of India, now have the onerous task of protecting the ethos of the Constitution," Kharge said.
"We, the people of India, should, therefore, come together to protect each and every thought expressed in the Constitution," he said.
In the 75th year of the Constitution's adoption, the struggle to defend India's inherent philosophy must be reinvigorated and reignited, just like the era of the national movement, the Congress president said.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said, "Heartiest greetings to all of you on Constitution Day. The basic spirit of our Constitution is that justice and rights should be equal for all. Everyone should get an opportunity to live with self-respect."
"The Constitution is a powerful tool to protect the poorest and weakest sections of society. The stronger it is, the stronger our country will be," he said.
"On this day, I salute the fighters, martyrs and every member of the Constituent Assembly who protected the idea of the Constitution and reiterate my resolve to protect it," Gandhi said.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that freedom fighters and great people together created a Constitution that ensured freedom, equality, fraternity and justice for crores of Indians.
"Our Constitution is the protective shield of crores of Indians which gives them every kind of rights. Happy Constitution Day to all the people of the country," she said.
"Salute to the great ancestors, martyrs, revolutionaries and every member of the Constituent Assembly. This democracy and Constitution, obtained from their tireless hard work and sacrifices, is our pride. Come, let us pledge that we will protect it in every situation," Priyanka Gandhi said in her post in Hindi on X.
Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal said India marks an important landmark as it celebrates the 75th Constitution Day today, a day when Ambedkar's revolutionary text was adopted by the Constituent Assembly.
The Constitution of India is not merely a document, it is India's soul and history of millennia in motion, he said in a post on X.
"A living document that gives hope to 140 crore Indians, the Constitution is what keeps the ideals of justice, equality, inclusivity and democracy alive in India," Venugopal said.
"At a time when those out to destroy the Constitution are showing insincere commitment towards it, our duty to protect it and fight for its true values becomes all the more relevant," Venugopal said.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh recalled two books on the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of India by the Constituent Assembly.
Many books have been, and continue to be written on the making of the Constitution. But two have become evergreen classics, he said.
"Granville Austin's scholarly 'The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation' first appeared in 1966. He had got unprecedented access to the private collections of a number of key personalities, especially Dr. Rajendra Prasad and K.M. Munshi. He had also interviewed many members of the Constituent Assembly," Ramesh said.
B Shiva Rao's magisterial four-volume "The Framing of the Indian Constitution" was published in 1968, he noted. It has a very poignant letter from Nehru to Shiva Rao on writing a foreword sent just three days before the then prime minister passed away, Ramesh recalled.
Incidentally, Shiva Rao's almost now-forgotten brother Benegal Narsing Rau was a pivotal player in the making of the Constitution, he said.
