Author: India Writes Network

It’s India’s moment, Chak de India: IMF chief

- by India Writes Network

“It’s India’s moment; seize it. Chak de India!” This ringing endorsement of an upswing in India’s economic fortunes from the IMF chief should be music to the ears of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his core economic team, who are shepherding the second-generation economic reforms in Asia’s third largest economy.
Christine Lagarde, the chief of the International Monetary Fund, has betted big on the India growth story and underlined that India continues to be a bright spot when the global economic recovery continues to be “too slow, too brittle and too lopsided.”

Downbeat on the prospects of global economy, but upbeat on India, Lagarde reiterated the IMF’s forecast on the world economy, saying that more than six years after the global financial crisis, the world economy is expected to grow by just 3.5 percent this year and 3.7 percent in 2015.

“I want a larger quota of India at the IMF. This is India’s moment; seize it. Chak de India!” she said.

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Modi’s Sri Lanka visit: Mapping the road ahead

- by India Writes Network

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recently-concluded visit to Sri Lanka did not generate any big bang commitments, but laid out an ambitious roadmap for providing more economic substance and strategic heft to this crucial bilateral relationship.
Mr Modi’s visit was rife with symbolism as well as substance, and emphasised on shared cultural relations and economic and security concerns to pave way for a long-term partnership.
The Sri Lankan visit ought to be seen within the larger rubric of the Indian Ocean Region diplomacy: China’s overtures to gain strategic in roads in India’s neighbourhood with economic investments, India’s new government pushing for dynamism in the economy, and India’s aspirations in a multipolar world. There has been a subtle shift in envisioning the region as well. While China pushes the Maritime Silk Road project, India’s ‘Mausam’ initiative, seeks to project soft power, and revive cultural linkages among the Indian Ocean littoral, showing India’s desire to move to a new regional identity (beyond SAARC), and ensuring a leadership role within it.

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India forever, for Sri Lanka: Modi

- by India Writes Network

I am convinced that the future of any country is influenced by the state of its neighbourhood.

The future that I dream for India is also the future that I wish for our neighbours.

We in this region are on the same journey: to transform the lives of our people.

Our path will be easier, the journey quicker and destination nearer when we walk step in step.

As I stand here in Colombo and look north towards the Himalaya, I marvel at our region’s uniqueness – our rich diversity and our common civilisational links.

We have been formed from the same elements; and, from our interconnected histories.

Today, we stand together as proud independent nations – sovereign and equal.

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