Editorials: 17-July-2025

 

The Hindu Editorials

Safe havens no more: On growing crime against women

Sexual violence in workplaces and educational institutions is worrying

July 17, 2025

From Odisha to Karnataka, Bengal to Delhi, violence against women has seen an (1) ominous rise over the past few months. What is even more (2) appalling is that crimes are being committed in spaces such as school and college campuses or workplaces which are usually presumed to be (3) safe havens. On July 14, a 20-year-old student of Fakir Mohan Autonomous College, Balasore, passed away after suffering 90% burns in an (4) immolation bid. The B.Ed student had taken the extreme step outside the principal’s office after her repeated complaints of sexual harassment, against a senior teacher, went unheard. The accused teacher, Samir Sahu, and the principal, Dillip Ghosh, have been arrested, but a precious life would not have been lost had her (5) grievances been redressed in time. She ran from (6) pillar to post, taking it right up to the Chief Minister’s office, but no one paid attention to her (7) grave complaint. In Bengal, even before a year has passed since a post-graduate student’s brutal killing at R.G. Kar Medical Hospital in 2024, a law college student was gang-raped on campus this June; in Mangaluru, two lecturers have been arrested for the (8) alleged rape of a student; in Delhi, a nine-year-old girl’s rape and murder led to the Opposition (9) crying foul over the collapse of law and order.

Little seems to have changed on the ground after Nirbhaya’s rape and murder in Delhi in 2012. (10) Stringent laws are in place, but to what effect? The Odisha student’s plight has put the spotlight on Internal Complaint Committees, mandatory under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013. The Odisha government asked all colleges to form the committees within 24 hours, after the tragic death. Questions should be raised about the manner in which the system failed the student, and the absolute lack of accountability. The annual ‘Crime in India’ report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for the year 2023 is yet to be released. Figures available for 2022 show that a total of 4,45,256 cases of ‘crimes against women’ were registered, showing an increase of 4% over 2021. While the majority of crimes against women were registered under ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’ (31.4%), ‘assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’ comprised 18.7% of all crimes, and ‘rape’ was pegged at 7.1%. It must be noted that many crimes go unreported as well. In this backdrop, conversations about sexual violence and gender are imperative, and must start early. The clamour for justice against a crime should not die down after a few days either, especially when protectors turn predators.

Some cheer: On India’s trade data

India needs to diversify its energy sources to keep trade deficit low

July 17, 2025

India’s trade data for the first quarter of this financial year (Q1FY26) and for June 2025 are leading to some room for cheer but there is considerable (1) concern as well. The Commerce Ministry’s monthly export-import data indicate that June’s merchandise trade saw the sharpest (2) uptick in outbound shipments to the U.S. in 14 months, at a growth rate of 23.5% to $8.3 billion. This was likely aided by importers wishing to stock up before the July 9 “pause” in “reciprocal tariffs”, but now extended to August 1. While overall goods exports in June almost stayed flat at $35.14 billion ($35.16 billion, last June), likely on account of (3) softer crude oil prices, Q1FY26 registered a (4) marginal year on year growth of 1.92% at $112.17 billion. Despite the widening year on year merchandise trade (5) deficit to $67.26 billion ($62.1 billion, Q1FY25), it is the impressive growth in services exports, by almost 11% to $98.13 billion ($88.46 billion, Q1FY25) that has aided in (6) shrinking India’s overall trade deficit by 9.4% in Q1FY26. This (7) mirrors years of India’s trade trajectory, where services have outperformed goods exports.

It is important to note that refined petroleum products have traditionally constituted the largest chunk of India’s goods export (at about 15%). While many believe U.S. President Trump is unlikely to stay the course on his threat of a 100% “secondary tariffs” on countries buying Russian crude — to pressure Moscow to end its invasion of Ukraine — it hits an (8) underbelly in India’s merchandise trade. India overtook China recently to become the largest importer of Russian crude, forming 36% of its oil imports. This has helped India leverage the cost (9) arbitrage as western European nations maintain a ban on Russian crude imports. But Mr. Trump’s threat makes India’s need to diversify its fuel and energy imports more (10) urgent, as it focuses on electrifying transport and ramping up renewables. It also highlights the need for India to diversify and grow merchandise trade, by further leveraging its sprawling, labour-intensive micro, small and medium enterprises, which constitutes almost half (46%) its goods exports. Exports in electronic goods (46.93%), tea (32.64%), meat, dairy and poultry (19.7%) and marine products (13.33%), saw steady growth this June when compared with last June. But overall goods exports excluding petroleum and gems and jewellery were almost flat in the same period. With a fortnight to go and three rounds of negotiations to scramble a ‘mini deal’ before the autumn deadline to reach a Bilateral Trade Agreement, the government has its task cut out to reach a favourable outcome. The stakes could not be higher as the U.S. has constituted the largest share of India’s overall exports for some years now, at nearly a fifth (17.7%) of total exports in the last fiscal alone.

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