India and the World

It’s time for Latin America: Indian diplomacy on upswing

- by Manish Chand

Distances never came in the way of love affairs from blossoming or diplomacy’s perennial drive to interlink dreams and destines. Invoking India’s sage poet Rabindranath Tagore and Pablo Neruda, the beloved poet of desire, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a multi-pronged Latin America charm offensive to deepen New Delhi’s engagement with this emerging growth pole of the world.
In a well-received speech in Brasilia at the BRICS’ outreach meeting with the leaders of South American countries July 16, Mr Modi offered an exhilarating brew of trade, IT, tele-medicine and capacity building to South America, which he called
“this great continent; of beauty, opportunities and warm people.”

Read More

Modi Mantra: Make BRICS people-centric

- by Manish Chand

It’s time for BRICS to move beyond summits and cement bonds among over three billion people living in the five emerging countries straddling the four continents. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rightly underlined the need for making BRICS “people-centric” and forging long-term partnership based on knowledge, skills and innovation.
If the BRICS leaders can think and act imaginatively by linking BRICS with surging dreams and aspirations of over three billion people living in India, China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, it could be a game-changer in elevating the profile of the grouping and buttress its credentials as the voice of the developing world.

Read More

Walking the talk: Indian to be first CEO of BRICS Bank, Shanghai will host NDB

- by Manish Chand

Don’t write off BRICS; bank on BRICS. The journey that started in Delhi two years ago culminated in the Brazilian seaside resort town of Fortaleza July 15, with the formal launch of a BRICS-patented New Development Bank that seeks to provide an alternative source of infrastructure finance to emerging economies and the larger developing world.
In a pithy and eloquent speech at the plenary session of the BRICS summit at the Ceara Convention Centre in Fortaleza, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi encapsulated the spirit and essence of the BRICS Bank. “The vision of a New Development Bank, at the Delhi Summit two years ago, has been translated into a reality, in Fortaleza. It will benefit BRICS nations, but will also support other developing nations. And, it will be rooted in our own experiences, as developing countries.”

Read More

BRICS summit: India pitches for reforms of UN, warns against selective targeting of terror

- by Manish Chand

In his first major foreign policy address after taking charge of the world’s most populous democracy, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined the need for restoring “a climate of pace and stability” in a crisis-ridden world and made a strong pitch for the reform of global governance institutions.
In the complex chessboard of global geopolitics, Modi, dressed in a dapper grey bandh-gala suit, looked at ease as he alluded to the traditional Indian ideal of vasundhara kutumbakam and called for the world to unite to collectively face a host of cross-cutting threats and issues, including terrorism, climate change and sustainable development.

Read More