This is a weekly foreign media digest that tells you how India has been covered in the global media from June 18, 2023 to June 24,2023
The Wallstreet Journal – A Growing India Is Good for the U.S.
- New trade and investment opportunities will help both countries become less dependent on China.
- When India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the U.S. this week, Americans should pay careful attention to his vision for 8% growth. Both countries would benefit greatly from faster growth.
- Faster growth in India would help the U.S. by allowing new opportunities for trade and investment, less dependence on China, and better balance for the bipolar world economy.
- While Mr. Modi’s budget calls for more government investment, it is critical that investment shift to the private sector, particularly so small businesses can grow. Reforms offer big potential upside in three particular areas.
- Modi has taken steps to reduce bureaucracy, but training more than three million central government employees is a tall order.
- India is a rising power. Mr. Modi’s visit to the U.S. is an opportunity for the two countries to improve growth prospects as India sets its sights on 8%
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-growing-india-is-good-for-the-us-modi-state-visit-8-percent-reform-65f1047d?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1 )
Reuters – Tesla’s Musk eyes significant India investments after meeting Modi
- Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was pushing the car maker to make a “significant investment” in the country, adding that such an announcement was expected soon.
- India has strong potential for a sustainable energy future including solar power, stationary battery packs and electric vehicles, Musk said, adding that he hopes to bring SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service to India as well.
- India opened the way for private launches in 2020 and wants its private space companies to increase their share of the global launch market by five-fold within the next decade.
- Modi’s meeting with Musk, who owns Twitter, came days after Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey accused India of threatening to shut down the platform for not complying with content takedown orders during a 2020-2021 protest. India called the allegation an “outright lie”.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.reuters.com/world/india/musk-brief-modi-teslas-india-investment-plans-us-meeting-source-2023-06-20/ )
Bloomberg – Modi Looks to Solidify India’s Tech Ambition With US Visit
- Manufacturing diversification out of China benefiting neighbor.
- Emboldened India is carving out its own regulatory regime.
- Narendra Modi arrives in the US on his first official state visit with India’s geopolitical clout higher than at any point since he took power in 2014. He’ll be looking to leverage that to become an indispensable partner for American tech ambitions.
- Modi’s ambition for India to become a player in chip manufacturing looks far more credible today, after US imports of chips from the South Asian nation multiplied more than 38 times in the first quarter.
- Apple Inc. tripled iPhone production in India over the past fiscal year as it seeks to reduce its reliance on Beijing, while memory maker Micron Technology Inc., which is under investigation in China, is close to receiving government approval on a $1 billion semiconductor plant.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-20/modi-looks-to-solidify-india-s-tech-prowess-with-us-state-visit?leadSource=uverify%20wall#xj4y7vzkg )
The Economist – Narendra Modi’s yoga evangelism
- The Economist joins an invigorating mass contortion in Trafalgar SquareTrafalgar square, like many public areas in London, is crammed with British Indian history. On one of its giant plinths is a statue of Charles James Napier, conqueror of Sindh in 1843. On another is Henry Havelock, who beat the rebels at Kanpur in 1857. On June 20th the square hosted a more novel sort of Indian empire-building— in the form of some 300 British Indians and assorted others (including The Economist) practising yoga.
- It was an early celebration of international yoga day, a un initiative launched at the urging of Narendra Modi in 2015. Critics of the Indian prime minister’s Hindunationalist agenda view his yoga evangelism with suspicion, given the practice’s Hindu origins.
- The yoga chant “Om” is a sacred sound in Hindu scripture. Yet the annual yoga day is, like the practice itself, more obviously inclusive. It signifies increased Indian confidence and visibility—and Mr Modi’s genius for marketing his country and himself.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/06/20/narendra-modis-yoga-evangelism )
BBC – Swindon celebrates Rath Yatra Hindu festival for first time
- Rath Yatra is an annual chariot festival. Hundreds of people have paraded through a town centre as part of a Hindu festival.
- Rath Yatra – or Chariot Festival – attracts millions in India and has been celebrated in Swindon, Wiltshire, for the first time.
- The festival procession started from the Swindon Hindu Centre.It featured a colourful chariot, a flag flown in from a temple in India and some special offerings, chanting and dancing.
- Siddarth Patel from the Swindon Hindu Centre helped to organise the event.
- “Swindon has never had this Rath Yatra before. Other cities like Reading and Bristol have had it so it’s really a pleasure to have it in Swindon.
- “There’s a whole team of people who have put a huge amount of effort. It’s taken three months to build the chariot and we’ve got some really great DIY engineers who have done a fantastic job.”
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-65968724 )
The Guardian – Advocate for separate Sikh state in India shot dead in Canada
- A campaigner for a Sikh nation to be carved out of India’s Punjab state who was wanted by Indian authorities has been shot dead in Canada, police have said.
- Nijjar was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism offences and conspiracy to commit murder, which he reportedly denied to Canadian media.
- India’s Punjab state – which is about 58% Sikh and 39% Hindu – was rocked by a violent Khalistan separatist movement in the 1980s and early 1990s, in which thousands of people died.
- India has often complained to foreign governments, including Ottawa, about the activities of Sikh hardliners among the Indian diaspora who, it says, are trying to revive the insurgency.
- In March, Indian authorities summoned Canada’s top diplomat in Delhi after Sikh protesters gathered outside India’s diplomatic mission in Canada
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/20/advocate-separate-sikh-state-india-shot-dead-canada-hardeep-singh-nijjar-temple )
The Wallstreet Journal – Airbus Sells 500 Jets to India’s IndiGo in Record Aircraft Deal
- The $50 billion agreement, at list prices, opens the Paris Air Show as demand for air travel surges.
- Indian discount airline IndiGo agreed to buy 500 Airbus jets, marking the largest commercial jet deal in civil-aviation history as travel rebounds after the height of the pandemic.
- The IndiGo deal surpasses the number of aircraft ordered by a smaller Indian carrier, Air India, which said earlier this year that it planned to buy a total of 470 from Airbus and Boeing. That deal hasn’t been completed.
- The Indian carrier has made sizable orders in the past, with the latest deal taking its agreed buys from Airbus to more than 1,300jets.
- Industry executives said India is rivaling China as the crucial target for both plane makers, given its relative lack of maturity and its growth prospects
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.wsj.com/articles/airbus-sells-500-jets-to-indias-indigo-in-record-aircraft-deal-76a215bb?mod=Searchresults_pos4&page=1)
Independent – Students take on Canada and win after falling victim to immigration scam in India
- Deportation of students duped into paying thousands of dollars to consultant halted for now.
- A “day and night” protest spearheaded by hundreds of students who were defrauded into entering Canada and were sent deportation letters has finally paid off for them.
- The Indian students will no longer be deported to their home country after they held sit-in protests in front of Ottawa’s detention centre. They had fallen prey to an immigration scam after spending thousands of dollars.
- The international students, who had paid tens of thousands of dollars to an immigration consultant in India, were to be deported this week, but the step has been halted for now.
- Problems surfaced when they were sent fake admission letters by their consultant in India and were served deportation letters, leaving them to arrange for lawyer fees and fight against getting rejected by the Justin Trudeau administration.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/canada-indian-students-immigration-scam-b2360172.html )
The Economist – Indians are flocking to study at British universities
- European university students are mostly gone, replaced by ones from farther afield.
- Six years ago only a few hundred Indian citizens took classes at the University of East London (uel), a former polytechnic with campuses in Stratford and the Docklands. By last year more than 6,000 students, or about one-quarter of the total, hailed from India.
- The Indian newcomers are mostly postgraduates—only a quarter are undergraduates. The largest cohort is drawn from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, two south-eastern states with lots of tech and engineering firms, plus governments that encourage overseas study.
- A related risk is that migrant-students, who are often lured by smooth-talking recruiters, find that Britain offers them a less than satisfactory experience. Amit Tiwari, of the Indian National Students Association UK, says an increasingly common complaint is over the high cost of living, especially pricey housing. Some students also lament that, three years after the start of the pandemic, universities still deliver far too much instruction online.
(For a detailed report click on the link – https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/06/18/indians-are-flocking-to-study-at-british-universities )
Reuters – Coastal areas of India’s Gujarat state return to normalcy after cyclone
- Some 1,500 villages were still without electricity in India’s western state of Gujarat, officials said on Saturday, as coastal areas recovered from the impact of this week’s cyclone Biparjoy.
- The storm caused extensive damage, especially to power infrastructure, uprooting thousands of electricity poles and damaging overhead power lines.
- Early warnings, accurate identification of vulnerable areas and timely evacuations helped India to avert major casualties. • Authorities in India and neighbouring Pakistan evacuated more than 180,000 people from vulnerable areas as the cyclone approached.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.reuters.com/world/india/coastal-areas-indias-gujarat-state-return-normalcy-after-cyclone-2023-06-17/ )
BBC – Joe Biden and Narendra Modi hail ‘defining’ US-India partnership
- US President Joe Biden hailed US-India ties, while rolling out the pomp and pageantry for visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
- This included marching bands, a lavish vegetarian dinner and a 21-gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House.
- Mr Modi, who is on a state visit, also addressed the US Congress, where he received a standing ovation.
- Washington has long viewed India as a counterbalance to China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific, although Delhi has never been fully comfortable with owning the tag.
- When addressing Congress, Mr Modi did not mention China by name, although he mentioned “dark clouds of coercion and confrontation casting their shadow over the Indo-Pacific”.
- Mr Modi also did not mention Russia or who started the war, saying instead, “With the Ukraine conflict, war has returned to Europe”.
(For detailed report click on the link – https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65994923 )
Reuters – India’s Modi seeks African Union’s full membership in G20
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written to the leaders of the G20 nations proposing the African Union be given full, permanent membership of the diplomatic group at its upcoming summit in India, an official source said.
- India began its year-long presidency of the G20 in December last year and will host the summit later this year.
- Modi’s proposal to grant the African Union full membership in the G20 demonstrates India’s commitment to strengthening Africa’s representation and partnership in shaping global affairs, the source said.
(For detailed report click on the Link – https://www.reuters.com/world/indias-modi-seeks-african-unions-full-membership-g20-2023-06-18/
(The report has been compiled by Dr Vinay Nalwa)
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