Global Indian News
The Modi frenzy swamped the sprawling SAP Center in California on Sunday evening as nearly 19,000 Indians watched the masterly performer weave a spell with his trademark oratory and his radiant vision of India’s Century. It was a captivating show in the heart of Silicon Valley, with music, dance and frenzied chants of ‘Modi, Modi’ filling the huge auditorium
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It was the quintessential Facebook moment for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, eliciting thousands of likes. In a spirited townhall-style meeting at the Faceboook headquarters at the sprawling Menlo Park near San Francisco, the leader of the world’s largest democracy interacted with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and captive listeners as he waxed eloquent on the power of social media to connect people in a wired world.
Mr Modi, who deftly harnessed social media for his electoral campaign in the summer of 2014, spoke about his ambitious agenda for transforming India through digital revolution. But the moment that’s going to stay in memory of nearly 500 people present at the Facebook HQ and all those following it on TV is when the Indian prime minister got emotional when talking about his mother, his eyes moist with tears.
Welcome to Brave New Digital India, right in the heart of Silicon Valley – home to nearly half a million Indians and the crucible of innovation, creativity and enterprise. On a balmy laid back evening in San Jose plunging into Saturday night frenzy, there was a joyous celebration of the transformative power of technology and the power of ideas as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi unfurled his radiant vision of Digital India in a wired world where Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are our “new neighbourhoods.”
“The status that now matters is not whether you are awake or asleep, but whether you are online or offline. The most fundamental debate for our youth is the choice between Android, iOS or Windows,” said Mr Modi, triggering applause from the movers and shakers of Silicon Valley. Closeted with tech titans and pioneers, which included India-born Microsoft boss Satya Nadella and Google’s Sundar Pichai, Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen, Qualcomm’s Paul Jacobs, and Cisco’s John Chambers, the Indian leader expounded eloquently on his vision of a digitally empowered India, which is adding millions to its burgeoning online population every passing day. From a man who rose from being a tea-seller to the leader of the world’s largest democracy, Mr Modi knows how to sell dreams with conviction and has scripted a new anthem of digital redemption, with its own vocabulary and semantics.
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It’s business with a capital B for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York. Expect PM Modi to drum up the India growth story and ease of doing business as he courts the corporate elite of the US on his day 1 in the US’ financial capital.
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Is India’s growing relationship with the US, as epitomized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second visit to the US in a year, directed against China? Beijing thinks so, but Washington is wary of such a spin.
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It’s a leap of faith, uplifting spirits and bringing much cheer to India’s diplomatic establishment. In a milestone of sorts, the UN General Assembly has finally adopted a negotiating text for reform and expansion of the UN Security Council, ending a thousand visions and revisions that marked the process for over two decades. The adoption of the negotiating text by consensus is a big boost for India’s quest for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council and the larger drive to make the global body more reflective of the tectonic power shift from the West to the rest.
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Seven billion people, seven days and 17 goals. Call it Mission 7717, if you like, or simply Mission 17. Blending glamour, glitz, star shower and snappy story-telling, the staid United Nations, known for pompous well-meaning speeches, has launched an audacious path-breaking campaign to tell the world about its “Global Goals” of weeding out poverty, combating inequality and climate change by 2030.
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There is a new upswing in India’s relations with the United Arab Emirates, home to 2.6 million-strong Indian community and New Delhi’s third largest trading partner after China and the US. Barely weeks after the successful trip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Gulf state in August, UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdulla Bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited India on September 2 and 3, imparting a fresh momentum to multilayered bilateral ties.
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Ahead of the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), India’s top leadership is set to engage the President-elect of the UNGA Mogens Lykketoft and impress upon him the imperative of fast-tracking reforms of the UN Security Council.
Mr Lykketoft, a former speaker of Denmark’s parliament, will succeed Uganda’s Sam Kuetsa and will begin his UNGA presidency in September at the commencement of the 70th General Assembly session. He will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
The reforms of the UNSC have languished for years due to procedural quibbles and indifference of the permanent members of the UNSC, who are not keen to let emerging powers inside this exclusive club. India is hoping for for the launch of the text-based negotiations at the 70th anniversary of the founding of the UN, and this will be the key point of discussions between Mr Modi and Mr Lykketoft.
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Maloula, Syria: Far from the sounds of gunfire and civil conflict that embroil Syria lurks an oasis of faith and miracles in this tiny village perched on the rugged mountains. …
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