New Delhi. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said that in the last 10 years, there has been a lot of positive change in the world’s thinking regarding India. In an exclusive interview with AnyTV, along with foreign policy, he also talked about the Indian Premier League (IPL) and his favorite team. When he was asked, ‘You have also done cricket diplomacy many times in your career of diplomacy. Right now IPL is also going on. Which is your favorite team?
In response to this the Foreign Minister said, “Nowadays we don’t get time. I saw a match in which Marcus Stoinis changed the entire match, against CSK. I am from Delhi, so there is some association with Delhi Capitals since the beginning.”
Introducing Foreign Minister S. Highlights of question and answer with Jaishankar:
Question: There is a lot of advice available in India. How do you feel when someone gives you advice who doesn’t know what foreign policy is?
answer: I don’t have such experience because when people talk to me about foreign policy, most of the people want to know about it. That’s why they don’t give knowledge, but ask reasonable questions. Whatever advice I get, it comes from outside.
Question: What kind of thinking do you see in foreign countries regarding India?
answer: I think the world’s perception of India has changed a lot in the last 10 years. The main reasons for this are – the way we fought the Corona epidemic. In January 2020, when we got information that Covid had started, a virtual meeting of G-20 was held. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended this meeting from India’s side. I was also with him. In that meeting, the biggest concern of the G-20 countries was about India because it was said that there is a country where there is no health system, no medicines, poor public infrastructure and which will not be able to tolerate the epidemic at all. That is India.
The Foreign Minister further said, “Our work started from there. Then people saw that within the next two years, the same country about which you were worried, supplied the vaccine to about 100 countries. The second reason is economy. You will see that the world economy has collapsed due to Covid and other reasons. Many countries have gone into recession. Seeing 7 percent growth in a big economy is a wonderful thing for them.”
S Jaishankar cited the country’s digital delivery as the third reason for the world’s changing perception about India. He said, “There is a lot of discussion in the world that today we are able to give ration because of digital delivery. Are able to provide ration to 80 crore people. Under Jan Arogya Yojana, we are able to take care of the health of 30 crore people. 20 crore people have benefited from the housing scheme. Thus, being able to deliver big schemes with such efficiency without any shortcomings and without corruption is a great achievement. Because lack of planning is the problem of the whole world.”
The Foreign Minister said, “The world feels that we are also dealing with shortcomings. Also showing growth. Have come out of Covid also. And today even the infrastructure is developing rapidly, when the same people come to India after 3-4 years, they see that the roads have changed, an airport has been built here. Railway stations were built. The world is amazed to see all this. We are ahead of the First World in many things.”
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Tags: Delhi Capitals, IPL 2024, S Jaishankar
FIRST PUBLISHED: May 1, 2024, 20:03 IST