Gun to the head.

"Rebutting comments of the Opposition members made in Rajya Sabha," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "So, in response to the tariff announcements made by President Trump, here are we doing it. No, we have been doing it from 2023." HT. Why were they raised in the first place? "Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's budget for 2018-19 proposed an increase in customs duty on a range of products - from fruit juice to mobile phones - to incentivize domestic value addition and boost the government's Make in India program." Mint. In Budget 2019-20, Ms Sitharaman "proposed hike in customs duty on 75 imported items to give a push to Make in India program." India Today. Again in Budget 2020-21, Ms Sitharaman "has provided a definitive push towards government's Make in India theme with import duties hiked on a host of products." BT. In Budget 2021-22, import duties were raised on electronics, auto components and agri produce to help in Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) program. BS. What happened to Make in India? Sadly, Bharat could not become Atmanirbhar on Make in India, so Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme was launched in 2020, "With an impressive outlay of Rs 1.97 trillion (over US $24 billion)" to provide a leg-up to "14 critical sectors" "to enhance the country's manufacturing prowess". static.pib.gov.in. How successful have these experiments been? "The decade ending 2023-24 shows an interesting trend of a distinct decline in the contribution of manufacturing in India's overall story of economic growth." "In terms of gross value added (GVA), which denotes output, its share has come down from 16.5% in 2013-14 to 14.3% in 2023-24," wrote Madan Sabnavis. Mr Narendra Modi won his first term as prime minister in 2014. wikipedia. Steadily downhill since then. Indeed, India's trade data show that the country's "share in global merchandise exports continues to remain below what it was at the time of Independence, nearly 80 years ago." The Print. "Above all, firms don't know if domestic consumers will be able to buy what they make." "A recent survey of 16,000 consumers by New Delhi-based LocalCircles showed that one in four of them expects their earnings to drop by 25% or more in 2025," wrote Andy Mukherjee. "The huge increase in household debt is alarming" and "the total household debt in India during 2010-11 was 8% of GDP and has now edged up to 37%," said economist Pinaki Chakarborty. Trump's tariffs are a gun held to India's head. "It is just what was needed to wake up India's self-congratulatory establishment from its headline managing fantasies," wrote Shekhar Gupta. Ms Sitharaman has been reducing tariffs since 2023. Please tell us why?