PM Modi to deliver 'State of the World' special address at WEF today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the ‘State of the World’ special address at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Davos Agenda today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the ‘State of the World’ special address at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Davos Agenda on Monday According to Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), PM Modi will address the WEF at 8:30 pm IST via video conference on Tuesday, the office said in a press release. The virtual event will be held from January 17-21.

Several heads of state will address the event including Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and EU Commission’s chief Ursua von der Leyen. The event will also witness the participation of top industry leaders, international organisations and civil society, who will deliberate on critical challenges being faced by the world today and discuss how to address them.

Grilled on CAA at WEF, Goyal says Muslims in India safer than anywhere else

Defending the new citizenship amendment law, Goyal also said, ‘India has a duty to protect people who are sufferers of religious persecution’

Union minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said Muslims in India are safer than most places in the world. “India is probably one of the most inclusive societies in the world,” Goyal said here at a session on ‘Strategic Outlook: India’ at the WEF 2020. “India is a country which welcomes all diverse viewpoints, all diverse opinions, the Muslims in India are safer than any other part of the world in terms of equal opportunity,” he stressed. He further noted that there is absolutely no discrimination in any of the government programmes.

“When we take electricity to every home we do not ask them their colour or their religion, when we take toilets, digital tech, bank accounts, cooking gas to every home we do not ask their religion. All our programmes are equal for all,” the minister said. Defending the new citizenship amendment Act, Goyal also said, “India has a duty to protect people who are sufferers of religious persecution.”

The minister for Railways as well as Commerce and Industry, said India is a land that has the power of democracy, demography, leadership, talent, culminating in the “power of opportunity.” “Citizenship is an area that every country protects, that every country has the rules of the game, every country has citizenship laws that are respected by the world,” he said. He further said there are about 57 odd islamic countries in the world and except for one or two, every country respects that what India is doing is for the welfare of the people of India, across all religion” he said…

Railways can generate 1 mn jobs but the system is slow: Piyush Goyal at WEF

Over the years, the system that has been created is slow to move, said Goyal at World Economic Forum

 

“We have the potential to create no less than a million jobs around railways if we can provide an enabling environment,” said Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal at the World Economic Forum’s India summit on Thursday.

While Railways is already one of the country’s biggest employer, the scope to create jobs is immense.

“There are 2,000 railway stations in India that don’t have a booking office. So rather than having a ticketing office, why not encourage a local entrepreneur from the village to book tickets and earn a commission,” Goyal said.

However, the problem is that the system is slow to move.

Over the years, the system that has been created is slow to move, said Goyal. This causes delays and reduces focus on costs and efficiency. As a consequence, investments are not as effective as desired.(economy policy)

The minister stressed that transformative results are possible but “we need to change the mindset.”

“The investments in the pipeline can alone create thousands of jobs. We can also monetise our real estate. That will also create many opportunities,” Goyal said.

Jobs is undoubtedly top of the agenda at the India economic summit.

Other panelists at the session titled - Creating Indian Narratives – also stressed on the need to create jobs to absorb the millions that are entering the labour force each year.

“India needs to focus on creating jobs and focus on improving productivity by engineering the shift away from informality towards formality,” said Ajay S Banga, president and chief executive officer, Mastercard....READ MORE