Team Blitz India
In an interview with French publication Les Echos before his two-day visit to France, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised on India’s role as a bridge between the Global South and the western world.
The rights of the Global South have been long denied, said PM Modi. As a result, there is a feeling of anguish among these countries, he added. We bring you excerpts from the interview, highlighting the Prime Minister’s views on different subjects.
UN Security Council: The world needs to have an honest discussion about the multilateral governance structures that were built in the aftermath of the Second World War. Nearly eight decades after the institutions were created, the world has transformed. The number of member countries has grown by four times. The character of the global economy has changed. We live in an era of new technology. New powers have risen causing a relative shift in global balance.
How can we talk of it (United Nations Security Council) as a primary organ of a global body, when entire continents of Africa and Latin America are ignored? How can it claim to speak for the world when its most populous country, and its largest democracy, is not a permanent member? And its skewed membership leads to opaque decision-making processes, which adds to its helplessness in addressing the challenges of today.
Demographic dividend: India is a rich civilisation that is thousands of years old. Today, India is the most youthful nation in the world. India’s strongest asset is our youth. At a time when many countries in the world are ageing and their populations are shrinking, India’s young and skilled workforce will be an asset for the world over the decades to come. What is unique is that this workforce is steeped in openness and democratic values, eager to embrace technology, and ready to adapt to the changing world.
Even today, Indian diaspora, wherever they are, contributes towards the prosperity of their adopted homeland. The progress of one-sixth of humanity will give the world a more prosperous and sustainable future.
India’s soft power: It is our civilisational ethos and heritage that provides the basis what could be termed as India’s soft power. We are blessed to have this in abundance. Our exports have never been war and subjugation, but yoga, Ayurveda, spirituality, science, mathematics, and astronomy. We have always been a contributor to global peace and progress. Indian cinema, cuisine, music and dance is being sought after across the world.
Relationship with US: I have personally enjoyed an excellent rapport with US leadership, across difference Administrations, over the last nine years. During my State visit to the United States in June, President Joe Biden and I agreed that the partnership between the world’s two largest democracies with exceptionally strong people-topeople ties could be the defining partnership of this century.
