Someone questioned Modi about bringing Gita as a present for Abe.
He replied that he brought it considering it a philosophical or knowledgeable book, if so called secularists see it as a religious act, i cannot help it. They may criticize me for it, if they want. I am not bothered.
with love,
sanjay
Modi is busy PM.
Yesterday he returned from Japan and today Australian PM Tony Abott is coming to India. He will meet Modi tomorow.
Besides other things, the key issue is to supply Australian uranium supply to India. First five rounds of the talks has been completed successfully on this. Perhaps, both countries would seal off the deal this time.
with love.
sanjay
Besides many other things, Australia signed the agreement of supplying raw uraanium to India. This was expected.
with love,
sanjay
Secondly, as requested by the Indian government, Australian PM returned two old stolen statues from Indian temples to India. Abott bought these two with him and handed over Modi. These statues were in the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) for quite a long time.
with love,
sanjay
5 August is celebrated as the Teacher’s day in India in the memory of Dr Radhakrishnan, who was the first vice-president and the second president of the India. He was basically a reacher and a notable philosopher. He wrote many commentries on Vedas, Puranas and Upnishads.
The general practice is that the academic teaching is kept suspended this day. The students bring flowers and gift for teachers and they are honored by giving them medals etc.
But, Modi used this occasion differently. He decided to talk to the students and teachers directly at this occasion.
He talked aboput 1000 teachers and students live in an auditorium. Every school in the India was asked to show this interaction live through projectors. Besides that, students from some schools all over India were selected to talk to the PM directly dsing Skype.
Students asked various questions and he answered those. He did not made any speech on his own. The programme continued for about three hours non-stop and was telecast live on all private and government channels.
There was no political conversation from his side. The srudents asked him various questions about his personal life, his childhood and his journey from a tea vendor to Prime Minister. And, he answerd all.
The programme was huge success and first of its own kind. In India, politicians are known only for their political speeches. They never interact with the people directly besides political motives. There is huge deficit of the trust for the politicians amongst people.
Some critics are saying that it is merely a PR excercise, which may be true.
with love,
sanjay
Indian government has canceled the proposal of importing new seven submarines and 40 special utility ultralight helicopters.
The submarine order was very big and important. Canceling that would delay its procurement by four years, yet government did that.
As promised in the manifesto, Modi government is committed to decrease the imports of arms and push indigenous production, even if it would cost some time.
Submarine suppliers are asked to manufacture submarines in the Indian private and public dockyards, if they are interested. In simple words, they have to transfer their technology too. The same is in the case of special utility helicopters.
with love,
sanjay
Chinese president Xi Jinping is coming India today.
Economics is going to be the main agenda during the talks. Besides that, the second issue is border dispute and foreign relations.
Japan agreed to invest 35 billion $ and the expectation is that China will outscore this number. The question is by what margin!
with love,
sanjay
But, just before a day from the Chinese president’s visit, the Indian president, who is on the visit of Vietnam, signed an agreement with Vietnam that gives an Indian public sector oil company to explore oil in South China sea.
The agreement is not important itself but its timing certainly is. Indian govt would have chosen easily any other time but i think it is done intentionally to bargain while dealing the border issue. Besides that, Dalai Lama is seen with sympathy in India and India may support the Chinese Tibet policy in the bargain of dropping its claim to Arunachal Pradesh, which is a part of India on the ground.
China has expressed its displeasure over this agreement with Vietnam as it is very sensitive issue for China.
with love,
sanjay
Chinese president Xi returned home after concluding his three day visit. The trip was not much successful and fell short of many expectations.
with love,
sanjay
Following the general foreign policy of China, Xi tried to keep the border dispute and economic relations separate, as China does that while dealing with all its other neighboring countries, but Modi refused to fall in line.
He very categorically said that good border relations are the basis of good economic relations, not the other way around.
This approach did not go well with China and as the result of that, Xi announced the Chinese investment in the tune of only 20 billion USD. This is far below from the expectation and lower than what Japan promised (35 million USD).
with love,
sanjay
Two countries did not come up with the joint statement at the end of the tour. This shows that there are more differences than agreements between two countries.
Having said that, there are some take aways from the tour.
Firstly, for the first time, both countries agreed that there is a dispute on the border. Till now, China was not even acknowledging that is any dispute.
Secondly, both countries agreed the dispute can be solved only by the demarcation of the line of actual control on the ground, not sitting in the capitals. Modi emphasized that the sooner the better. Both leaders agreed to set up teams to negociate, comprises of military officials.
Thirdly, Xi invited Modi to visit to China in the first quarter of the next year. Modi accepted the proposal and details will be finalized later by the authorities.
with love,
sanjay
duplicate
Today Modi gave its first interview after becoming the PM of India.
An India born American journlist Fareed Dazaria did that for CNN and it was telecasted today.
It was not a long conversation but very short but precise.
with love,
sanjay
When asked about the threat of Al-Quida to India, Modi replied that every attempt of Al-Quida to woo Indian Muslims to join funamantilism will fail.
He said that Al-quida is living in delusion if it thinks that Indiam Muslims will also join it like Afganistan and Pakistan.
with love,
sanjay
He also expressed his views on China and its relation and compitition with India.
He said that that there is no need for India to become a China. China is China and India should not try to follow it blindly in every aspect. India has its own advantages and disadvantages and should act accordingly.
with love,
sanjay
On the issue of Yoga, Modi said that it is the part of his life and he see its role besides spirituality.
He said that mind and body are supposed to work as joint entity but that does not happen all the time. Sometimes body is engaged in a work but mind refuses to pay attention to it, and as the result, the outcome may not be as it should be.
Yoga, by definition, is supposed to bring both constituents of the existence together and in line. That is why it is called Yoga ( to add or totaled sum).
with love,
sanjay
Modi is a strict vegetarian.
Within some days after taking charge as a PM, he forbidded non-veg food in his offce and residence (both are the same). Even any form of alcohal is not allowed in the meetings and parties arranged within the premises.
The only exceptions are the foreign delagates.
with love,
sanjay
Yesterday India achieved a great landmark when its interplanetary satellite, called Mangalyan was successfully positioned in the Mars orbit.
Modi spared time for this from his schedule and was present at the control center to be a witness of this historic moment. He congratulated and thanked scientists on the behalf of the nation in his one hour speech there.
with love,
sanjay
By doing this, India joined the elite group of USA, Russia and EU as no other country has been able to done that so far, not even China and Japan. The earlier single attempt of China and two from Japan failed.
Secondly, India became the first country in the world to be able to do that successfully in the first attempt. It took six attempts to USA to succeed.
with love,
sanjay
Thirdly, the cost of this Indian project is merely 74 million USD which is about 1/10 of the same project of USA during last year, named Maven. It is even less than the cost of the cheapest jet of the Boeing and the amount spent on the latest Hollywood movie Gravity, which was about 100 million USD.
The cost of the project is more important that its success. The launching of the satellites is a huge business and estimated around 30 Billion USD worldwide.
with love,
sanjay