Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ahead of the European House-Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, Italy, September 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

India and China can play a role in finding a solution to the dragging conflict in Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Saturday (September 7, 2024) after holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Italian Prime Minister’s comments at northern Italy’s Cernobbio city came two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin named India, Brazil and China as possible intermediaries that could play a role in resolving the conflict.

“China and India have a role to play in resolving the conflict,” Meloni was quoted as saying in Italian media.

“What must not happen is to think that the conflict can be resolved by abandoning Ukraine to its fate,” she said.

“The decision to support Kyiv is in line with Italy’s national interest and will never change,” Meloni said, reaffirming her government’s full support for Ukraine.

On September 5, 2024, Mr.Putin, speaking at a panel discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok, said that he was in touch with India, Brazil and China on the Ukraine conflict.

“First of all, it is Chinese People’s Republic, Brazil and India — I am in contact with my partners and I have no doubt that the leaders of these countries — and we have relations of trust and confidence with one another — will be really interested and provide a helping hand,” he said.

His remarks came in response to a question on possible countries that can act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kyiv last month during which he conveyed to Zelenskyy that both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an “active role” to restore peace in the region.

The Prime Minister said India was on the side of peace since the beginning of the conflict and he would even like to contribute personally for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Mr. Modi’s nearly nine-hour visit to Ukraine on August 23, the first by an Indian prime minister since its independence in 1991, came six weeks after he held summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Mumbai:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the government is taking various measures at the policy level to promote the fintech sector, which attracted over USD 31 billion in investments in the last 10 years, and the abolition of the Angel Tax is also a step towards the growth of the segment.

Addressing the Global Fintech Fest 2024 here, the Prime Minister also asked the regulators to take more measures to stop cyber fraud and further increase digital literacy among people.

“Fintech has played a significant role in democratising financial services,” he said, and expressed confidence that it will help in improving the quality of life for Indians.

PM Modi emphasised that the adoption of fintech by Indians is “unmatched in speed and scale” and no such example can be found anywhere else in the world.

He said the transformation brought about by the fintech sector in India is not just limited to technology, but its social impact is far-reaching.

He also stressed that fintech has dented the parallel economy and is bridging the gap between villages and cities on the financial services front.

The Prime Minister also said that in the last 10 years, the fintech space has attracted investments of more than USD 31 billion and fintech startups have grown by 500 per cent.

He said it is festive season in India, and there is also festivity in the economy and markets, in an apparent reference to the robust GDP growth and capital market scaling new highs.

PM Modi also informed the gathering that loans worth over Rs 27 lakh crore have been disbursed under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, the world’s largest microfinance scheme.

Speaking at the event, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said, digital technologies have been instrumental in expanding financial inclusion, improving efficiency and enabling real-time services across the country.

“Today, India stands as a global leader in digital payments, a feat achieved by combining proactive policy-making with innovation and technological advancements. Collaboration between policymakers, regulators and innovators is the defining element of India’s Fintech journey,” Mr Das said.

The Reserve Bank’s regulatory frameworks have facilitated new and innovative businesses to grow in an orderly manner, he said.

“These regulatory initiatives reflect our commitment to support innovation with prudence. Our collaborative approach is visible in the fact that we have held a large number of interactions over the last one year with the Fintech sector players,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) which completed ten years of its implementation on Wednesday has had a profound impact on every corner of the country.

The scheme launched in 2014, has proven to be the foundation stone in bringing over 80 per cent of Indian women under the ambit of financial inclusion. A significant boost in the bank account ownership of women in a decade, it has gone up from just 26 per cent in 2011 to 78 per cent in 2021.

Out of the total 53.13 crore Jan Dhan accounts over 30 crore are women’s accounts. Over 35 crore of the Jan Dhan account hail from rural or semi-urban areas. PM Jan Dhana Yojana has diminished the rural-urban divide in terms of bank accounts. The percentage of households that have a bank account or a post office account is now almost the same in urban and rural areas, 95 per cent vs 96 per cent respectively.

PM Jan Dhan Yojana has also bridged the gender gap in access to financial services. The gender gap in accessing financial services was 20 per cent in 2011, and it has been reduced to 6 per cent in 2017 which was less than the Global gap of 9 per cent.

PMJDY has other benefits as well in terms of financial inclusion. As of August 2024, over 36.13 crores of RuPay debit cards are issued without any cost to Jan Dhan account holders. The RuPay debit card is free of cost, it gives an insurance benefit of Rs 2 lakh along with an overdraft facility of up to Rs 10,000 to every cardholder.

The government’s focus on Digital Public infrastructure along with the trinity of Aadhar cards, mobile penetration and Jan Dhan accounts, the JAM trinity has propelled the financial inclusion rate from 25 per cent in 2008 to over 80 per cent of adults in the last 6 years.

PMJDY has been the foundation stone for many more people-centric economic initiatives. Whether it is direct benefit transfers, COVID-19 financial assistance, PM-KISAN, increased wages under MGNREGA, or life and health insurance coverage.

An SBI report in 2021 observed that states with higher PMJDY account balances saw a drop in crime rates and reduced alcohol and tobacco consumption, highlighting the program’s positive social impact.

The Jan Dhan Yojana has garnered global praise for its transformative impact on financial inclusion in India.

In 2023, a G20 report by the World Bank reveals that India has achieved its financial inclusion goals in just 6 years, a feat that would have taken 47 years without its advanced Digital Public Infrastructure.

India has surpassed China in financial inclusion metrics says the SBI report of 2021. Mobile and Internet banking transactions soared to 13,615 per 1,000 adults in 2020, up from 183 in 2015, while the number of bank branches per 100,000 adults rose to 14.7, exceeding those in Germany, China, and South Africa.

India’s account ownership more than doubled from 35 per cent in 2011 to 78 per cent in 2021. All these are because of the government’s various initiatives for financial inclusion.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit landslide-struck Wayanad in Kerala on August 10 (Saturday) and interact with the survivors of the disaster that hit the southern state last month, a source said on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to arrive on a special flight that will land in Kannur.

From Kannur, PM Modi will conduct an aerial survey of the landslide-affected areas on a helicopter. He will then visit a few relief camps where over 10,000 people are currently sheltered.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan are expected to accompany PM Modi after his arrival in Kannur.

The Vijayan-led state government as well as the Congress-led Opposition have been demanding that the Central government declare the disaster as a national calamity.

Meanwhile, the toll from the disaster on Wednesday rose to 413, with 152 people still missing.

The announcement of PM Modi’s visit came hours after Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday urged the Union government to declare the Wayanad landslide as a national disaster given the devastation it has left behind.

“I urge the Union government to support a comprehensive rehabilitation package for Wayanad. This package must include building disaster-resilient infrastructures to help the affected communities. The Union government should also enhance the compensation that people are getting. Importantly, the Union government should declare the Wayanad landslide as a national disaster,” LoP Rahul Gandhi said while addressing the Lok Sabha.

He said that there is a need for a comprehensive assistance plan from the Union to rebuild Wayanad.

On August 1, Rahul Gandhi along with his sister — Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra — visited the landslide-affected Chooralmala in Kerala’s Wayanad.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at the inauguration of the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists, in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Inaugurating the triennial conference organised by the International Association of Agricultural Economists here on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India’s experience is valuable for discussions on transforming the food system and is sure to benefit the Global South. India is hosting the conference for the second time after a gap of 65 years. The Prime Minister said from a newly independent nation facing challenges to ensure food security 65 years ago, India has now become a food surplus country, the largest producer of milk, pulses and spices, and the second largest producer of food grain, fruits, vegetables, cotton, sugar, tea and farmed fish.

He said during the last time time the conference was held in India, the country’s food security was a matter of concern for the world while today, India is providing solutions to global food and nutrition security. “Therefore, India’s experience is valuable for discussions on food system transformation and is sure to benefit the Global South,” Mr. Modi said.

Also Read:Climate-resilient agriculture is prerequisite for sustainable development, says ICAR chief

Reiterating India’s commitment to global welfare, Mr. Modi said India does not view the health of humans, plants and animals “in silos”. “Challenges before sustainable agriculture and food systems can only be tackled under the holistic approach of ‘One Earth, One Family and One Future’,” he said.

The Prime Minister said agriculture is at the centre of India’s economic policies and said small farmers are the biggest strength of India’s food security. He claimed that the positive results of promoting chemical-free natural farming on a large scale can be seen in the country. He told agricultural scientists from around the world who are attending the conference that India handed over 1,900 new climate-resilient varieties of seeds to farmers in the last 10 years. He also talked about “a huge campaign” for the digitisation of land where farmers will be given a digital identification number for their land and on the use of drones in farming.

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Member of NITI Aayog Ramesh Chand, conference president Matin Qaim and Director-General of Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) Himanshu Pathak were present on the occasion. The theme for this year’s conference is “Transformation Towards Sustainable Agri-Food Systems”. Professor Chand said agriculture has been a key focus area of development strategy in India, and the country has achieved historically the highest growth rate of 5% during the seven-year period from 2016-17 to 2022-23. “Agricultural growth in the last 15 years has saved many countries from economic collapse. Due to the poor effort of industry in pulling the labour force out of agriculture, the onus of remunerative employment for the large workforce still remains on agriculture,” he said.

New Delhi:

A 100 million. That’s how many people follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media platform X, making him the second most-followed world politician after former US President Barack Obama and the most-followed global leader currently holding office.

In India, he is way ahead of his political rivals – followers of Rahul Gandhi (26.4 million), Arvind Kejriwal (27.5 million), Akhilesh Yadav (19.9 million), Mamata Banerjee (7.4 million), Lalu Yadav (6.3 million), Tejashwi Yadav (5.2 million), and Sharad Pawar (2.9 million) add up to less than 100 million.

The Prime Minister has more followers than Virat Kohli (64.1 million), Neymar Jr (63.6 million), and LeBron James (52.9 million), and is ahead of celebrities like Taylor Swift (95.3 million), Lady Gaga (83.1 million), and Kim Kardashian (75.2 million).

PM Modi’s X account has seen a mammoth growth of approximately 30 million users over the last three years. His influence extends to YouTube and Instagram, where he has nearly 25 million subscribers and over 91 million followers respectively.

Since joining the platform in 2009, PM Modi has been quite active on the platform, following party workers, supporters, cabinet colleagues, and common people.

A hundred million on @X!

Happy to be on this vibrant medium and cherish the discussion, debate, insights, people’s blessings, constructive criticism and more.

Looking forward to an equally engaging time in the future as well. pic.twitter.com/Gcl16wsSM5

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 14, 2024

Reacting to the milestone achievement, PM Modi posted: A hundred million on X! Happy to be on this vibrant medium and cherish the discussion, debate, insights, people’s blessings, constructive criticism, and more. Looking forward to an equally engaging time in the future as well.”

Jairam Ramesh. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Congress on July 14 accused the Modi government of showing “insensitivity and hostility” towards Maharashtra, alleging that the past ten years have seen the State “consistently squeezed out of multiple key projects and investments”.

The Opposition party’s attack came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted at an event in Mumbai on July 13 that his aim is to make Maharashtra the world’s big financial powerhouse and to make Mumbai a global fintech capital.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh, said, “Last evening in Mumbai, the self-anointed non-biological Prime Minister claimed that his ‘aim is to make Maharashtra the world’s big financial powerhouse and to make Mumbai a global fintech capital’. This is his trademark lie. Despite Mumbai having been the financial capital of India for 200 years, Mr. Modi has repeatedly refused to set up an IFSC in Mumbai. An International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) has been set up only in GIFT City in Gujarat. Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2006 had begun the effort to set it up in Mumbai,” Mr. Ramesh said.

“Land in the Bandra Kurla Complex had also been set aside for the IFSC but it was reallocated to the bullet train, costing Mumbai potentially two lakh jobs,” he claimed.

“In fact, the past ten years have seen Maharashtra consistently squeezed out of multiple key projects and investments — the attempted shift of the diamond industry to Surat, the shifting of industrial projects such as the Tata-Airbus manufacturing plant and the (now-failed) Vedanta-Foxconn chip factory, and the transfer of Central Government institutions such as the Textile Commissionerate Office and the Dattopant Thengadi National Board for Workers Education and Development,” Mr. Ramesh said.

“All this appears to be part of a larger insensitivity and hostility towards Maharashtra, as further evidenced by Mr. Modi’s continued refusal for the last ten years to declare Marathi a classical Indian language,” the Congress leader said.

His remarks came a day after PM Modi, during the event to launch projects costing ₹29,000 crore in road, railway, and port sectors, said, “Our aim is to improve everyone’s standard of living and make quality of life the best. This is why efforts are being made to better the connectivity of areas close to Mumbai.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on July 12 said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “used PR” to keep the government away from basic issues but people were now demanding accountability after the June Lok Sabha poll results.

Mr. Kharge took a swipe at the Prime Minister, saying that while he is holding meetings under the shadow of cameras for the upcoming budget, he must pay attention to the basic economic issues of the country.

In a post in Hindi on X, the Congress president said, “Narendra Modi ji, Your government has ruined the lives of crores of people by pushing them into the pit of unemployment, inflation and inequality.” Listing the “failures” of the government, Kharge said that due to the unemployment rate of 9.2 per cent, the future of the youth is staring at naught.

“For people aged 20-24 years, the unemployment rate has risen to 40%, highlighting the serious crisis in the job market among the youth,” Mr. Kharge said.

The promise of doubling the income of farmers and MSP of cost plus 50 per cent has turned out to be false, he said.

Recently, on the MSP of 14 Kharif crops, the Modi government has again proved that it wants to use the MSP recommendation of the Swaminathan report only as an “election gimmick”, he claimed.

The Congress leader said, “3.84 lakh government jobs have been lost in the 7 PSUs in which the majority of government stake has been sold! This has also led to the loss of jobs for SC, ST, OBC, EWS reserved posts”.

He said 1.25 lakh people have lost government jobs in the 20 top PSUs in which the Modi government has sold a small stake since 2016.

Manufacturing as a percentage of GDP has fallen from 16.5 per cent during the UPA regime to 14.5 per cent during the Modi government, he pointed out.

“Private investment has also fallen drastically in the last 10 years. New private investment plans, which are an important part of GDP, fell to a 20-year low of only ₹44,300 crore between April and June. Last year, private investment of ₹7.9 lakh crore was made during this period,” he said.

Mr. Kharge also alleged that the havoc of inflation is at its peak.

The prices of flour, pulses, rice, milk, sugar, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and all essential food items are skyrocketing, he noted.

The result is that the household savings of families are at the lowest level in 50 years, he added.

Mr. Kharge said that economic inequality is the highest in 100 years, while wage growth in rural India is negative.

“Unemployment has increased significantly in rural areas and it has now increased from 6.3% in May to 9.3%. The average number of days of workers employed in MNREGA has decreased,” he said.

“Modi ji, It has been 10 years, you used your PR to keep the government away from the basic issues of the people, but after June 2024, this will not work anymore, the public is now demanding accountability,” Mr. Kharge said.

The arbitrary tampering with the country’s economy must now stop, he added.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

India will continue to be a strategic partner for the U.S. despite concerns over its ties with Russia, the Biden Administration has said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Russia for two days for the 22nd India-Russia annual summit that has been watched closely by the West amidst the raging Ukraine conflict.

During his talks with Mr. Putin on Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi told President Putin that a solution to the Ukraine conflict is not possible on the battlefield and peace efforts do not succeed amid bombs and bullets.

On Tuesday, spokespersons of the Pentagon and the State Department reacted separately to questions on India’s relationship with Russia and Modi’s visit to Moscow.

“India and Russia have had a relationship for a very long time. From a US perspective, India is a strategic partner with whom we continue to engage in full and frank dialogue to include their relationship with Russia. As it relates to the NATO summit being this week, of course, like you, the world is focused on that,” Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder told reporters at a news conference.

On the other hand, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at his daily news conference that the US has been quite clear about its “concerns about India’s relationship with Russia.” “We have expressed those privately directly to the Indian government, and continue to do so. And that has not changed,” Miller told reporters at his daily news conference.

India has been stoutly defending its “special and privileged strategic partnership” with Russia and maintained the momentum in the ties notwithstanding the Ukraine conflict.

India has not yet condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has consistently pitched for a resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.

Mr. Ryder said: “I do not think anybody will be surprised if (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin tries to represent this visit in a way that seeks to somehow show that he is not isolated from the rest of the world. And the fact of the matter is President Putin’s war of choice has isolated Russia from the rest of the world, and it has come at great cost.

Their war of aggression has come at great cost, and the facts bear that out,” he said.

“So we will continue to view India as a strategic partner. We will continue to have a robust dialogue with them,” Ryder said.

“He [Putin] is not looking so isolated with the head of the world’s largest democracy being in Moscow, embracing him right now,” a reporter asked.

Mr. Ryder responded by saying that Prime Minister Modi also met recently with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and offered his assurances that India will continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine.

“I think that we trust that India will support efforts to realise an enduring and just peace for Ukraine and will convey to Mr Putin the importance of adhering to the UN charter and the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.

Miller said the US continues to “urge India to support efforts to realise an enduring and just peace in Ukraine, based on the principles of the UN charter based on upholding Ukraine’s territorial integrity and its sovereignty. And that will continue to be what we will engage with India about.

The story so far: Leaders of the Group of Seven, the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, Japan, the U.K. and Italy, met in Italy’s Apulia region from June 13-15, along with the European Union leadership, for a summit to discuss a host of issues. India has been invited to the outreach 11 times, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending it for the fifth time.

What was the G-7 summit hoping to achieve?

Bridging differences between the “West and the Rest”, finding new ways to fund support for the Ukraine war, investing in Africa and grappling with migration, climate change and artificial intelligence challenges, were all on the agenda for G-7 leaders. They agreed to make $50 billion more available for Ukraine, carving it out from frozen sovereign wealth funds of Russia, held a special “Energy for Growth in Africa” summit to spur investments in clean energy, attacked China for coercive trade practices, and met with leaders of 10 countries, including India, and multilateral organisations, as part of the “G-7 Outreach”, to discuss the concerns of the Global South. Apart from substantive issues, the G-7 grouping has also been trying to battle its own image, as a tired set of countries representing the old world of the ‘western elite’.

Editorial | New dynamics: On the G-7, its identity, its purpose

It was also widely commented upon that apart from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose party did well in this month’s European Parliament elections, all other G-7 leaders are battling tough election campaigns with sagging approval ratings.

How important is India to the G-7 process?

India has been an important part of the G-7 process for several years now, coming to the grouping’s attention in the 2000s for its steady growth figures during the global financial collapse. India is not only a key member of the Global South, and has hosted the “Voice of Global South” conference since 2023, it is also a member of the G-20 troika, along with Brazil and South Africa. Besides, Prime Minister Modi is a central figure at such outreaches, though India is not a member of the G-7.

Other countries whose leaders attended the outreach were Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Jordan, Kenya, Mauritania, Tunisia, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates, along with heads of the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations and the World Bank.

Is it an important platform for India?

For India, the outreach session of the G-7 meeting, that follows a day after the main G-7 deliberations, has always been an important platform to showcase its achievements and outlook to the world. The importance of the event and India’s participation can be gauged from the fact that Ms. Meloni called Mr. Modi during the election campaign to ensure his participation, and he travelled to Italy just four days after his swearing-in and even before he had proven his majority in Parliament. During the outreach session, Mr. Modi spoke about the importance of the Indian elections, which he called the “victory of the democratic world”, and the importance of harnessing technology and artificial intelligence to bridge global inequality, as well as a roadmap to fight climate change. He said it was important to pay heed to the Global South’s concerns, as it bears “the brunt of global uncertainties and tension”, a reference to how the developing world looks at unilateral sanctions as well as food, fertilizer and energy security. Mr. Modi spent most of his time in bilateral meetings and held talks with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Ms. Meloni. He also met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was a special invitee, and after the photo-op with all the leaders, he spent a few minutes with U.S. President Biden.

He released a less cordial photo of his exchange with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, reflecting the poor state of bilateral ties, but the G-7 outreach gave him the opportunity to meet global leaders and set priorities for his new term in office.

What is the future of G-7?

The G-7 is increasingly under attack for being an elitist, non-inclusive group, that doesn’t include three of the world’s top 10 economies, China, India and Brazil, or representation from the rest of the world, like the G-20 does, for example. In addition, the G-7, which has not increased its membership (in fact, it decreased it, by dropping Russia in 2014), is increasingly being challenged by a grouping like BRICS, that has now doubled its size from the original Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa grouping to include other countries and energy majors like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, as well as Egypt and Ethiopia. That the G-7 has been unable to change the course of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or stop Israel’s devastating bombardment of Gaza, or deterred China from its inroads into global connectivity and infrastructure and economic influence, is raising more questions about its relevance.

It remains to be seen how the G-7, which may have a different composition of leaders, given impending elections in the U.K. and the U.S., stands up to the challenge to re-invent itself as an effective grouping. It will next convene for the annual summit in Canada’s Alberta region in 2025; the question is whether India will continue to accept a spot on its margins.