Washington, DC: The United States and Ukraine have signed an “economic partnership agreement”, giving Washington access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in return for creating an investment fund in the country, CNN reported. Since President Donald Trump assumed office in January, the US and Ukraine have been trying to sign an agreement on natural resources.

The deal between the two nations comes after weeks of intense negotiations that at times became bitter and temporarily derailed US aid to Ukraine. On Wednesday, the US Treasury Department said that both nations signed the agreement. In a statement, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “As the President has said, the United States is committed to helping facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war.”

He stated, “This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” CNN reported. He noted, “And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.” Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko was in the US to sign the agreement on behalf of the Ukrainian government.

In a post on X, Svyrydenko stated, “On behalf of the Government of Ukraine, I signed the Agreement on the Establishment of a United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. Together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country.”

In the post, she stated, “It is the Ukrainian state that determines what and where to extract. Subsoil remains under Ukrainian ownership — this is clearly established in the Agreement.” The two nations signed the deal just hours after a last-minute disagreement over which documents to sign Wednesday threatened to derail the agreement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was expected to sign the agreement during his visit to the US in February. However, the agreement was not signed after his visit was cut short following the contentious Oval Office meeting. The key sticking point of the negotiations included the question of security guarantees and whether the US would provide them as part of the agreement. Initially, Trump refused, saying he wanted Ukraine to sign the deal first and talk about security guarantees later, CNN reported.

At that time, Zelenskyy called the draft agreement as asking him to “sell” his nation. Since then, Ukrainian officials indicated they believed that US investment and the presence of US firms in Ukraine will make the US more interested in security of Ukraine.

Shortly after his visit, Trump ordered the suspension of US aid to Ukraine. The assistance has now been restored. However, his decision became a major wake-up call for Ukraine’s European allies, who have vowed to step up their help to Ukraine.

Trump has largely termed the agreement as Ukraine “paying back” for the aid which has been provided by the US to Ukraine since Russia started its military action in Ukraine in 2022.

The details of the agreement have not been disclosed publicly. However, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Sunday that the agreement “will not include assistance provided before its signing”, CNN reported.

Speaking on Wednesday, he called the deal a “strategic agreement on the establishment of an investment partnership fund”. He further said, “It is truly an equal and beneficial international agreement on joint investments in the development and recovery of Ukraine between the US and Ukrainian governments.”

Shmyhal said that under the deal, the US and Ukraine will create a joint investment fund in Ukraine with equal contributions from both and equal distribution of management shares between them. He said, “The American side may also count new, I emphasise new, military aid to Ukraine as a contribution to this fund.”

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday criticised the Congress for taking credit for the inclusion of caste-based enumeration in the upcoming census and questioned why previous Congress governments had failed to implement such a move.
Slamming Congress’ slogan “Sarkar tumhari, system humara” (Your government, our system), Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was a “staunch opponent of caste-based reservations,” which is why a caste census was not conducted under his leadership.
Addressing a press conference, Pradhan said, “They claim the government is theirs, and the system is ours. When this issue was raised, it should have been discussed openly. The country deserves to know the truth. In 1951, whose government was it? Whose system was in place? The last caste census was conducted in 1931. The country wasn’t independent in 1941, so it wasn’t done then. But in 1951, who was in power? It was the late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.”
“This is well known. If it weren’t for Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi, social sensitivity wouldn’t be a national concern. If the advice of the Constituent Assembly had not been heeded, there would be no reservations today. Why? Because the first Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru, strongly opposed caste-based reservations. His opposition wasn’t limited to words—he even wrote letters to state chief ministers at the time, warning that caste-based opportunities would degrade quality,” he added.
Pradhan further targeted the Gandhi family for not acting on the Kaka Kalelkar Report and the Mandal Commission Report.
“Who controlled the system? Who decided to suppress the Kaka Kalelkar Committee report for years? Even then, the so-called ‘First Family,’ which now speaks so arrogantly, held the reins of power. The command lay with their grandmother, the then Prime Minister, the late Indira Gandhi,” he said.
“The Janata Party government introduced the Mandal Commission in 1977 to realign the course of social justice. At that time, the BJP, in its earlier form as Jan Sangh, was part of the Janata Party. Leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani were part of that government. But who kept the Mandal Commission report locked away for a decade? Who was in power? It was the Congress Party. This is sheer hypocrisy and arrogance,” he added.
His remarks come after the Congress credited the Modi government’s decision to conduct a caste-based census to Rahul Gandhi’s persistent advocacy, calling it a victory for his vision.
“Rahul Gandhi ji said, ‘Start counting.’ Now the Modi government is making arrangements for the count,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “When our leader Shri Rahul Gandhi ji called the caste census the ‘X-ray of society,’ the ruling party mocked him, ignored him, and delayed action.”
“He has long demanded this—raising the issue repeatedly in Parliament, at public gatherings, and during his travels. But how long can the voice of millions demanding their rights be ignored? Now that the Modi government has agreed to conduct a caste census, we say—better late than never! This is a significant step toward ensuring social justice. It is a victory for millions of Indians who have long fought for equality, fairness, and representation,” Ramesh added.
A caste census is systematic recording of individuals’ caste identities during a national census. In India, where caste deeply influences social, economic, and political life, such data can provide critical insights into the distribution and socio-economic status of various caste groups. This information is vital for shaping policies related to affirmative action and social justice.
Caste enumeration was a routine feature of census exercises during British rule, from 1881 to 1931. However, with the first census of independent India in 1951, the practice was discontinued—except for the enumeration of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The Congress on Thursday (May 1, 2025) alleged that the last 11 years have seen the Modi government preside over “widespread depredation” of India’s workers, inflicting injustices such as “declining real wages, anti-worker labour codes and throttling of MGNREGA”.

On International Workers Day, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the path-breaking gig worker welfare measures in Telangana and Karnataka are only the beginning and the Indian National Congress envisions safe and secure employment for all of India’s working people.

“The last eleven years have seen the Modi Government preside over the widespread depredation of India’s workers, aided and abetted by the Government’s own policies,” he said in a statement.

Mr. Ramesh said there have been at least five major injustices inflicted upon workers in India over the last decade.

Listing out the injustices, Mr. Ramesh flagged “declining real wages” and pointed out that Labour Bureau data shows that between 2014-15 and 2022-23, real wages of agricultural workers rose by an annual average of only 0.8%, and just 0.2% for non-agricultural workers.

“For construction workers, real wage growth was actually negative. Even salaried workers have not been spared – according to PLFS data, after adjusting for inflation, salaried workers made 12% less in 2022-23 than they did in 2017-18,” he said.

Mr. Ramesh also accused the government of bringing in anti-workers labour code and rise in contractualisation.

“The Modi government’s four new labour codes of 2019-20 made employment more unstable for all workers. Contractualisation has become rampant, both in the public and private sectors. According to the Annual Survey of Industries, 98.4% of factories employed contract workers in 2019-20, up from 28.3% of factories in 2011,” he said.

Flagging the issue of de-industrialisation, Mr. Ramesh said the Modi government has systematically reversed India’s economic transformation, sending workers from factories back to farms.

“From 2011-12 to 2022, the total number of workers in manufacturing was stagnant, going from approximately 6 crore to just about 6.3 crore. Since 2018-19, the number of agricultural workers has gone up by 6 crore,” he said.

Mr. Ramesh claimed there has been a decline in salaried jobs and increase in self-employment.

“Self-employment rose from 51% in 2017-18 to a shocking 57% in 2022-23, while salaried work fell from 23% to 21%. The number of unpaid workers in the self-employed category has shot up from about 40 million in 2017-18 to 95 million in 2022-23. The mass unemployment crisis has forced workers to move into low-paying or non-paying jobs,” he said.

Mr. Ramesh accused the government of “throttling MGNREGA”, saying the budget allocation for MGNREGA has been slashed repeatedly and in 2023-24 it was at only 0.25% of GDP – the lowest in its history.

“As a result, the Modi government has suppressed MGNREGA wages. For instance, since 2014, the daily wage rate for Uttar Pradesh has increased just 4% per year, when inflation has been much higher than that,” he said.

As part of its Nyay Patra for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, the Indian National Congress had announced the five-point Shramik Nyay Guarantees, Ramesh pointed out.

Listing the guarantees, he said the Congress has promised a national minimum wage of ₹400 per day, including for MGNREGA workers.

The guarantees include the Right to Health law that will provide universal health coverage of ₹25 lakh, including free essential diagnostics, medicines, treatment, surgery, and rehabilitative and palliative care, Mr. Ramesh said.

The Congress has also guaranteed an employment guarantee act for urban areas, with a focus on building public infrastructure, making cities resilient to climate change, and bridging gaps in social services, he said.

Mr. Ramesh said the Congress has also promised a comprehensive social security for all unorganised workers, including life insurance and accident insurance.

The party has also vowed to carry out a review of the anti-worker labour codes passed by the Modi Government, and a commitment to stop contractualisation of employment in core government functions, he said.

“The Congress Party has stood firm with India’s working people since its inception, with Mahatma Gandhi himself guiding the historic Ahmedabad Mill Workers Strike of 1918 and several INC leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, VV Giri, and Babu Jagjivan Ram being associated with the labour movement,” he said.

On the occasion of International Workers Day, the Congress reaffirms its allegiance to India’s working people and renews its commitment to the five-point Shramik Nyay Agenda, Mr. Ramesh asserted.