Highlighting India’s path to becoming global influencer

SINGAPORE: To become a global influencer in the next 10 years, India needs to rise as a confident nation willing to deal with the outside world, Ram Madhav, national general secretary of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, said on Friday.

Madhav was one of the panellists in a group discussion on the subject, ‘Becoming a Global Influencer - What India Needs to do in the Next 10 Years,’ at the Mint Asia-Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in Singapore. Other participants were Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Pavan Varma, national general secretary of the Janata Dal (United).

“India has to rise as a confident nation. Not just political leadership but the entire spectrum of leadership must be confident. We have to create a nation that is willing to deal with the world outside,” Madhav said.

Additionally, he said India has to move towards less government, more governance and allow different levels of government to become more independent by empowering them.

For Scindia, sustainable growth will be one of the major challenges that India will have to face in the next decade. He also called for a robust foreign policy based on international relations “where you make nations believe that their progress is part of your goal”.

In reaction to Madhav’s remarks, Scindia said it is also important for the government to practice what it preaches and respect other people’s views.

“It is important for us in the govern- ment to listen to other people’s views because we are not the repository of all the answers. There is a wealth of knowledge out there and to be able to take that wealth of knowledge and make it part of our progress is a true challenge,” he said.

India is already a global influence and the challenge in the next 10 years would be how the government can promote not just sustainable economic growth but also social justice, said Varma.“Over the next 10 years, the real challenge is how do we marry a vibrant democracy to credible deliverables,” he said.

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It is important for us in the government to listen to other people’s views because we are not the repository of all the answers. There is a wealth of knowledge out there...

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JYOTIRADITYA SCINDIA, Congress MP India has to rise as a confident nation. Not just political leadership but the entire spectrum of leadership must be confident. We have to create a nation that is willing to deal with the world outside.

RAM MADHAV, BJP’s general secretary