India and the World

Remaking of India: Dovetailing Diplomacy & Development

- by Manish Chand

It’s time for making and remaking of India, an ancient rainbow civilisation transforming into a modern nation and an emerging powerhouse that is spawning a new narrative of renaissance, resurgence and renewal. The India Story is back in global circulation, with international rating agencies and bankers conjuring up cheery forecasts for growth prospects of Asia’s third largest economy. The IMF and the World Bank have already predicted that India’s economic growth will surpass that of China’s by 2016-2017, a prognosis that has been reinforced by Asian Development Bank and other trend-trackers.

The Economist has encapsulated this new mood of ‘India Optimism’ in its recent cover story entitled “A chance to fly.” The prestigious British magazine says India has a rare opportunity to become the world’s most dynamic big economy,” but adds on a cautionary note: “The potential is there; the question has always been whether it can be unleashed.”

If the potential of 1.2 billion people of India and their surging dreams has to be realised, the Modi government in India will have to walk the talk on second-generation economic reforms (and it is already doing so by going ahead with crucial reforms in a host of areas, including raising the FDI cap in insurance and telecom). But the success of the India story in the coming months and years will also depend on how New Delhi leverages its growing global stature and harnesses its external relationships and multiple strategic partnerships through smart diplomacy to stimulate an Indian renaissance.

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French CEOs upbeat about India Story, Make in India

- by Manish Chand

PARIS: The India Story is shining bright in France, Europe’s heavyweight economy, with top French CEOs of big-ticket corporates striking an upbeat note about pouring investments into Asia’s third largest economy and voicing their enthusiasm about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India mission.
With Mr Modi’s Europe agenda being primarily economic, fittingly around 50 top CEOs of India and France brainstormed in Paris to spur the flow of two-way of investment and outlining a concrete roadmap for imparting a fresh momentum to multifarious economic relationship between the two counties.
In his interaction with the French business community, Mr Modi, who begins his four-day visit to France April 9, is expected to make a robust pitch for more French investments in a wide array of areas, including in his pet project of smart cities.
There were free and frank discussions on issues relating to investment and ease of doing business in India and France, Mr Dhruv M. Sawhney, co-chairman of Indo-French CEOs Forum and chairman & MD of Triveni Turbine Limited, told Indian journalists at Hotel Plaza Athenee in the heart of the elitist Champ Elysees.
The CEOs Forum culminated in the leaders of Indian and French business, setting up four task forces in areas of energy, water, infrastructure financing and life sciences.

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Rafale deal may get push during Modi visit: India’s ex-envoy

- by India Writes Network

India and France forged strategic partnership in 1998, which has steadily expanded to include a host of new areas. Defence cooperation forms the bedrock of this vital relationship. In this interview with Manish Chand, Editor-in-Chief, India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org), Mr Rakesh Sood, India’s former ambassador to France, speaks about the prospects of the mammoth Rafale deal, possibilities of bilateral cooperation in the crucial Indian Ocean region and how the burgeoning strategic ties are complemented by cultural bonding.
(Excerpts from the interview)
Q) France is betting big on the Rafale deal. Do you see a closure of this deal in the near future do you think that the Modi-Hollande meeting will give the political push for the closure of the deal?
A) I am quite sure the prime minister’s meeting in Paris with the French president will give the push. These negotiations have been going on for sometime; understandably these are some complex negotiations and we are also moving into new areas on life cycle costing and so on, which are a new experience for us. And there can’t be a bigger political push than a summit-level meeting between the prime minister and the president.

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India pitches “meaningful dialogue” at UN Disarmament Commission

- by India Writes Network

In a bid to move towards a more inclusive and nondiscriminatory international security agenda, India has pitched for a “meaningful dialogue” among all countries with nuclear weapons to build trust and confidence and reduce the “salience of nuclear weapons in international affairs and security doctrines”.

Speaking at a session of the UN Disarmament Commission (UNDC), India’s Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, Ambassador D B Venkatesh Varma, said that India has supported the proposal put forward by Indonesia on behalf of Non-Aligned Movement to commence talks on a Comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Convention. He said that, “India attaches the highest priority to global, non- discriminatory, verifiable nuclear disarmament and the complete elimination of nuclear weapons in a time bound manner.” He added that Disarmament Commission as a platform for dialogue and cooperation was significant and its functioning needs to be improved by undertaking “focused and result oriented discussions” on items on its agenda.

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India & France: Spring Time, New Horizons

- by Manish Chand

It’s spring time in Paris, and there is a new spring, bounce and vitality in India-France relations. Paris in April looks like the heaven on earth, and is the first stop in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden trip to Europe and the continent’s powerful economy. France is India’s key strategic partner in the European continent, and the strategic partnership the two countries forged in 1998 have steadily scaled new frontiers.

When Prime Minister Modi sits down for talks with the French president in Paris April 10, there will be a lot on the table besides delicious gourmet food for which the French are famous. The menu will be appetising and varied – trade and investment, nuclear energy, science and technology, defence deals and space will vie for the leaders’ mind space as they map out an ambitious agenda to upscale India-France relations across the spectrum.

Economic relations are on an upward trajectory, with bilateral trade exceeding $7 billion. French companies are betting on India’s growth prospects, and plan to put in more money into Asia’s third largest economy and one of the world’s fastest growing companies. French investments in India have already exceeded around $10 billion. And more than 700 French companies are doing thriving business in India, creating jobs and setting new benchmarks in innovation.

Paris in April looks a perfect place and time to flower new dreams for this crucial strategic partnership, and map out fresh avenues for the evolving and dynamic India-France relations.

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India, US back inclusive Afghanistan

- by India Writes Network

Following US President Barack Obama’s visit to India earlier this year, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Dan Feldman, visited New Delhi recently to continue high-level US-India consultations on Afghanistan.

Mr Feldman, who was in Delhi on 7th April, met India’s National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, and S. Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary of India, amongst other Indian government officials.

The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the best way to support a stable, sustainable, inclusive, sovereign and democratic political order in Afghanistan. They also spoke about the outcomes of Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah’s visit to Washington in March 2015.

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Global climate change: Modi draws red line, focuses on India’s clean energy plans

- by India Writes Network

Months before the Paris global climate summit, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid down red lines, saying said he would not succumb to foreign pressure to commit cuts in carbon emissions and stressed on the country’s plan to focus on ramping up the production of clean energy and home growth methods to combat climate change.

He underlined that respecting nature is engrained in our cultural values and India could lead the world in battling climate change, rather than merely following Western guidelines.

Inaugurating a two-day conference of state environment and forest ministers in New Delhi, he said that “we have a legacy of thousands of years in this field… India can show the way to the world out of this crisis”.

India is today the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Though our per capita emissions remain way below the developed countries (1.7 metric tonnes per capita, as opposed to China (6.2 mtpc) and USA (17.6 mtpc)), they are slated to increase with economic growth and development. There is pressure on India to restrict emissions, especially after the US and China committed to reductions in a land mark announcement last year (China agreed to cap emissions latest by 2030 and have 20% share of renewable energy in energy mix). Mr Modi highlighted India’s initiatives in solar and wind energy sectors and the need to switch to renewable energy and find innovative solutions to global warming.

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Modi’s Europe yatra: Cruise with Hollande, cleaning up Ganga via Rhine

- by Manish Chand

It promises to be a memorable evening in Paris, redolent of the famous Bollywood number of the late 1960s. When India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande go on a boat ride on the shimmering moon-lit Seine river next week, expect sparks to fly, and illuminate the multi-hued tapestry of India-France relations. The evening boat ride will be a time to do some small talk, think big, and map out an ambitious trajectory for one of India’s most crucial strategic partnerships in the European continent.
The planned Modi-Hollande boat cruise shows how the Indian diplomacy has changed in its tone, texture and atmospherics since Mr Modi took charge of the world’s most populous democracy and Asia’s third largest economy, nearly a year ago. In the staid and stuffy world of diplomacy, it has taken Modi, a former tea-seller, to reinvent the rules of the game and understand the value of spectacle and gestures in the media-saturated landscape.
From Make in India to Skill India and Clean Ganga, Prime Minister Modi will be looking to rope in two of Europe’s most powerful economies and influential players, for the overarching project of India’s economic resurgence. If it takes a boat ride with the French president and serenading the India Story with the German chancellor, so be it.

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Celebrating India’s pluralism: Muslim girl wins Gita contest

- by India Writes Network

It’s a showcase story of India’s vibrant multi-religious pluralistic society. A Muslim girl, studying in the sixth standard at a Mumbai school, has emerged as the winner of an inter school Gita competition – the Gita Champions League – organised by International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). She stood first in the written examination, which had about a hundred questions, leaving behind more than 4,000 other students. The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to felicitate the 12-year-old girl for attaining the first position. The award is expected to send a powerful message across in the state about knowing and respecting all religions in the society, and should have special relevance in India’s largest state that is known for intermittent religious tensions and bouts of communal violence.
Mariyam Asif Siddiqui, a student at the Cosmopolitan High School, Mira Road in Mumbai, underwent a month of preparation to understand deep teachings of religious Hindu poem-text, which encapsulates key tenets of the Hindu philosophy and way of life, with its focus on karma and dharma.

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