Interaction at Council on Foreign Relations, New York

Text of PM’s interaction at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York

PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI: (Through interpreter.) Dr. Richard Haass and all the respected guests here, five previous prime ministers have had the opportunity to talk to you in this hall before. I am the number six.

For the last three days I’ve been in your city, and the encouragement and love and affection that I have got, for that I’m very grateful to the city and for U.S., and I express my gratitude from my heart, especially the tradition of CFR which has created its own credibility, and I would like to congratulate it for that, that they do not impose their own ideas. They listen to the ideas, they listen to the ideas of all the aspects and then present them before the world and deliver it to the world, that these are the different ideas, these are the different aspects, you judge what is right and what’s wrong.

I believe that in itself, this is not a small thing. Otherwise, there is so much love of an institution — the institution is always concerned about its own image, that somewhere or the other they always to color their own ideas and impose their own ideas. But CFR has always tried to save itself continuously and has brought all the aspects together and presented them before everybody. This is something for which I would like to congratulate CFR from my heart.

Dr. Haass has had a very good relationship with India, and in the last decade, the relationship between India and the U.S. has been given an impetus. And in that, Dr. Haass has played a very important role. When — (inaudible) — was in government, at that time, he had played a very important role and the entire government has always remembered his contribution in a very positive way. And even today, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Haass for this.

As Dr. Haass just told us, that after 30 years, for the first time in India, a government has been elected with full, absolute majority, and that party which was always in the opposition, such a party has come to power. And for the first time in India, such a person has got the opportunity to become the prime minister who was in independent India.

So far, all the prime ministers that have been in our country were born in the British era, and that is why I’m a person who did not get the opportunity to see the days of slavery. I was born and I — as soon as I was born, I took my first breath in the democracy, and in each breath of mine, there is democracy. And because of my firm faith in democracy, today, every person of very humble grounding has come to the highest office. This is the power of democracy.

This is the first time that we got absolute majority, and because of that, almost two generations who had been sitting there keeping all their expectations and aspirations, suddenly there has been a (boil ?) and every single youth in India who is about 40 to 45 years old today, from the age of 10 to the age of 40, he has only seen instability, disappointment — that kind of an atmosphere is all he has seen.

And when this situation has come, it is natural his expectations have risen a lot, and to fulfill those expectations is our duty. India is a very wide country. To understand its election is also a very difficult task. And as books are written on elections in the Western countries, there is no such tradition in India so far.

And because of that, the color and the way the elections are held and its perimeter, everything, unless and until somebody sees elections from close angle, he will not understand all of that. And perhaps in the world, in such large-scale elections taking place and getting votes from so many people and become victorious is a huge task, but the people in India have given their blessings.

And in this election we came with two major subjects. One was a request for good governance and the second was development. We agree that the problems to – the solution to all the problems cannot be found unless we can focus on these two things. Earlier we used to have a habit that, you know, just make the smaller sections happy; just throw them some loaves and keep your vote bank intact and play with politics. That’s a very easy solution, a very easy way.

And to stay in politics, the people India were getting used to that, but when we talk of good governance and development and getting up, raising yourself up from smaller issues is a difficult thing. Whereby people accepted that is because the youth generation, the young generation in India, their thinking, their way to think has changed. They don’t want to live anymore in small pieces. The treatment that they have received so far, they are not happy with that and they want something new.

And India is a very fortunate country. It is the oldest civilization in the world besides it’s also the most youthful country in the world. It’s a very unique combination that we have. We have a very great heritage and we are also the youngest country in the world. Sixty-five percent of our population is under 35 year old. And the aspiration of this youth, the ideas that they have in their mind, it’s the result of that that such a huge political transformation has taken place.

It is definite that in politics, stability in itself is a very big message. We know that if we have stability, a common man will have confidence that now something will go on the basis of the policies and laws and will be OK. So by taking a decision to follow the policies, we have made – we have put a foundation, and people themselves are responsible for putting the foundation for development.

When I say good governance, I believe that there should be minimum government and maximum government because to run such a huge country there are so many traditions, rules, regulations, hierarchies. All these things are there that become obstacles in their way and the government’s own order becomes obstacle sometimes, problem sometimes. My objective is to see how to make them easier, how to make them speedy. And I’m working in that direction, how to bring transparency.

That’s what is our effort. We are emphasizing on e-governance, electronic governance. And because of that there is a possibility, a full possibility of effective government and easy government. We are emphasizing on that too. There is a possibility, a full possibility, of effective government, an easy government. We are emphasizing on that too.

And secondly is development. For development, we have two aspects. One, on a world level, we should come and (power ?) with developing countries. And at the same time, the poorest of the poor person of my country, the last person in my country, how to bring transformation in his life. And when we talk about India, this one aspect that we forget about, and it’s a demand of the time that we talk about it. And that is new middle class, people who have come out of the clutches but they haven’t reached the middle class yet. And now, they do not want to go back into poverty. This is a huge (ball ?)

Now, we want to address this new middle class. If we can address the new middle class and we can bring changes in their economic life, then we can make sure that they are very firm, they are very sure about getting out of poverty. But if we bring disappointment to them and, unfortunately, if they once again go back towards poverty, then a poor person will never have the ambition to even get out of poverty because he will believe, OK, you know, this is what God has destined for me and then I should just follow this as is and I should just accept my situation.

I want to change this, and for that, what plans can we have for this section is what we are emphasizing at this time.

When I say that we should go — want to go at global level where we can increase our growth rate, our economy, we want to expedite our economy, it’s better that in the first three months we’ve grown from 4.5 (percent) to 5.7 percent. We have been successful in increasing it by 1.3 percent, and the main reason behind that is that after the government was elected, there has been an atmosphere of confidence, of trust. And because of this confidence and trust atmosphere, it gives us the momentum.

Sometimes if a person is sick and if he’s sick in a different city, unless and until he finds his own doctor, he cannot recover. He’s worried. He needs his own doctor, and it is his own confidence, his own trust in that treatment that gets him out of that disease. And that’s what the confidence with which people have formed this government.

Now, they have formed this government and they have some aspirations and ambitions that they want to fulfill, and because of that, there has been a confidence that has arisen in the hearts of people. And trust and confidence is doing a big, huge psychological thing, and there is a magnetive effect — magnetic effect all around. And there is an atmosphere of a race towards development, towards growth. And if we want to come next to the developing countries, this is what is important.

We want that our economy should move forward on the basis of three pillars: agriculture, manufacturing and service sector. And we want to balance all three. In our entire economy, 30 percent contribution should be from agriculture, 30 (percent) from manufacturing and 30 (percent) from service sector.

If, you know, there is a point here and there, then the country’s economy should not suffer. This is the direction in which we want to go. When we talk about manufacturing, we talk — we try to create a trust and Make in India — we’re telling the world Make in India — come join us and Make in India.

And I tell the people in India that you should also do such manufacturing that your product should work and be in demand in the world economy. That’s why I say zero defect, zero effect. Our products should be such that it has zero effect and our process of our products should be such that it has zero effect on the environment. And that’s why zero defect, zero effect is something that we want to carry on with our manufacturing process and product, and therefore, we want to create our own place in the world.

When I talk about Make in India, people from the world are here, and every entrepreneur, every industrialist has to make — do manufacturing, and there is market available. But he’s only worried how to do low-cost production, how to get effective governance, how to have security of his investment and how he gets the proper human resources for his own employees and for his officers, how he gets the quality of life. If we pay attention to these things, then the foreign investors can come and invest there.

India is a young country, and we are paying attention on skill development. In skill development, I have two aspects. One, by the year 2020 the world is going to need a lot of workforce. World is going to need such a huge workforce that it’s a matter of concern where the workforce will come. India is a young country. The requirement — the workforce requirement of the world can be meted out by India. It has that potential. The world will need a lot of workforce. And we want to do that work.

Similarly, we also want to do large-scale development in which out entrepreneurs are — get ready, and those should be the people who should be job creators. Small people with small industries or work can become job creators. And then in that way there should be a network of small industries, and our economy should go forward. This is the direction in which we want to go. And I’m sure that the steps that we have taken so far, those will have a direct impact.

And in the last three months, the small short duration of three months, as Dr. Haass has told you, that in March — on Mars planet we have done a big achievement. You will be happy to know that in India, in different places, in small factories, small part were manufactured, and our space scientists collected all of them. And in a very small expenditure we were able to reach Mars, in a very small expenditure. If I talk about expenditure, a Hollywood movie is more expensive in its production than this. A Hollywood movie, even less expense than a Hollywood movie. We reached 650 million miles of journey to Mars, and we have reached there. And India is the first country in the world which was successful in its maiden attempt, in its first attempt. People have taken — countries have taken seven to eight attempts, but India is the first country which was successful, its very first attempt.

So — and people have the competence to manufacture things. And this is what we have told the world. People in manufacturing sector, (no ?), they don’t need to see anything else. They should just take our — they should just study of our experience on Mars, and then after doing the case study, they can say, yes, we can go to Mars. Such a huge achievement in such a small expenditure, and with skill development, they’ll understand. If a person brings a product he can do it. And that is why “make in India” mission is something we are going forward with. We are emphasizing on skill development. And we are trying to bring a lot of change in our — in our laws.

We have done labor reforms also. I know in a country like India, from the political point of view, it may sometimes be not very appropriate. But the mandate that people have given us, looking at that, I believe that I have to take my country into the direction of progress. It’s my duty. And therefore, even if it is not politically needed, I would still take very responsible steps. And ultimately that is going to go in favor of everybody. We do not want that everybody should face any problems. And if you have to do any labor reforms you should do it.

When it comes to central government, we will give you full cooperation between central and state government. India is a federal government, have a federal structure. We have started the governance on the basis of “team India” between center and states. Why not they work together? If a company wants to come in, invest in our country, it comes and talks New Delhi, and Delhi doesn’t have to do anything on its own. It has to send it to a different state. But if the people in the states do not know what to do, then they do not give a right response. But if the center and the states work together as a team, then everybody will believe, whether I go to Delhi or go to a headquarter in any state — my work will never face any obstacles. There is an atmosphere of confidence now, and that is why Team India is working, and we have brought complete change in our working system, and we are trying to move forward with that confidence.

Similarly, ease of business. I know sometimes I say, in Hindu mythology, that if you go to four pilgrimages, then you will get — achieve moksha — that is, salvation, but in our country, a file can travel to 32 places, but it will still not reach the right place. It will still not reach salvation. So I told them how to move the files quickly. And for that, we have changed the process. If you had to fill a form, people will have 10-page-long, archaic forms, and for each thing, they have to fill in a new form, so I said this will not go on anymore. I told all my officers, there should be a one-page form, and never ask anybody anything else. That means people feel these are very small things, but we all know, no matter how big and huge the lock is, it will only open with a small key, and that’s why small things can open doors to bigger things, and emphasizing that, we are trying to move our system forward towards progress.

About foreign direct investment, we have taken initiatives in our very first budget. The railway system in our country — people have not paid attention to that, but there is nothing bigger than this for economic development. This is the second largest railway line in the world. It’s so much work in the railways, and we need private investment in that. For many years, it was not taking place. A lot of industrial houses, people met me today, and they said, we have heard a lot, but nothing really happened. I said, you have heard so far now? This has happened; this has taken place. We have made provision in our budget officially.

We have allowed 100 percent FDI, that we want to upgrade railways, that we want to increase the speed of railways, that we want to expand railways, and that in India, we want that railway should fulfill the main spirit in India for travel, and I believe that trillions and trillions of dollars of business is there in India’s railways itself. It is linked with India’s railways, and that’s such a job for which we don’t need, really, rocket science. If people from a good factory come, they can work towards that. I have the manpower, and you have the money. I have talent, you have business experience. If we merge both of these, we can fulfill this, and 1.25 billion peoples’ lives can only change with these things, and we are trying to bring those changes.

Even for environment, we are equally conscious. When I was the chief minister in Gujarat, it was the fourth government in the world which had a separate department for climate change, and we gave a lot of boost to climate change. Eighty percent of solar energy — clean energy was manufactured in Gujarat, where I was the chief minister. So we have emphasized everything keeping environment in mind.

We’ve also taken the task of cleaning the river Ganges — 2,500 miles long Ganges, and 30 percent of the people are impacted by this river Ganges. Their life is attached to this. The economy of the villages of those are connected with this. Our agriculture sector is based on this — on the river Ganges in north, and whether it’s Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal — all these areas are such where it is our first priority to fight against poverty and keep taking this task in mind, we have moved forward. Of course, Ganges will be cleaned. Environment and production will also be paid attention to. But at the same time, those poor areas, we want that they should be — this should become a big basis for generating economy there. And I want to create a public movement, a revolution there to clean Ganges. And I’m going to invite people from all over the world, people who believe — who have faith in the River Ganges. I’m going to invite them also to come.

But the work which is the most difficult work, that — how to make it environment friendly, we are placing emphasis on that. And in a way, economic development, the concern about environment, skill development of the youth, expanding the possibilities of employment, bringing improvement in governance, working towards the effective governance, we are moving ahead with all these things.

But along with that, there is no such country which can just progress on its own. The world has changed and we have to stay within the global requirements, and we have to maintain our balance with the global flows. We have to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with the global leaders. Nobody can be a master of his own mind. We have to work together in the philosophy of India that drives it.

And a country that works or moves in the shadow of philosophy sustains for a longer duration. Those who work with ideology will one day or the other topple. Ideology has its limitations. Philosophy is unlimited. And that is why the philosophy of India that the entire world is a family, that’s the philosophy we are taking with us to move forward. And then when we move forward, we adopt that.

With our neighboring countries we want friendship. On my swearing-in ceremony — many prime ministers have had their swearing-in ceremonies. That was not the first one, but this was the first such swearing-in ceremony where all the country heads were present from the SAARC countries. I had invited all the SAARC leaders.

And in such a short duration, as soon as I came in, our neighboring countries, I went and met them. I went to Nepal. Nobody had gone to Nepal in 17 years. I went to Nepal. I went to Bhutan. And I want — I’m really still busy making friendship with my neighboring countries and I’m sure that we can all share our joys and sorrows.

Recently there was a flood in Jammu and Kashmir, and people had a lot of — lot of problems after that. And there was the effect of flood in Pakistan also. And I told it publicly that we are helping in Kashmir. And on the other side, across the border, people are facing the ravages of flood. And on the basis of humanity we would like to help them also. With this background only can we live. The friendship should be very — (inaudible) — and that will be better for us too.

I have announced that we are going to — going to launch a SAARC satellite. I have already told my scientists that with the help of that SAARC satellite, we will progress in health, education, weather prediction, bring to all our neighboring countries. So we have thought about a SAARC satellite. So we are taking all those initiatives so that all our SAARC countries can work together and progress. And the efforts that are taking place to eradicate poverty we may also be able to contribute towards that.

China is also in our neighborhood. The entire world believes the 21st century is the century of Asia. Some people believe that this belongs to India, some believe that it belongs to China, but nobody has a problem in believing who the 21st century belongs to. Whether it belongs to India or China is something that people are debating in the world.

But one benefit that comes from India is that we have three things that the world does not have. In no country in the world — no country has all these three things together. One may have one or second or the third, but not all. One is democracy, the other is demographic division, and the third is or second or the third, but not all. One is democracy, the other is demographic division, and the third is demand. And all these three things — we have all these three things. In the democratic aspect, as — (inaudible) — take pride being the biggest — being the oldest democracy, India can take pride in being 1.25 billion population. There’s so much demand there, and there is no such country which has both the possibilities, and that’s why the possibility is there that India will stand with a lot of competence and will work towards the good and the well-being of the world.

I have said this in the recent years as well, after I came here, that within one month I’ve said that in the month of September itself I went to Japan, I went to — I met the Australian and the Chinese premiers. Now I’m meeting the American premier. I have met a lot of distinguished people in U.N. At such a speed I’m working at the global level. India has started this global attempt.

And I believe firmly that we have to live together in harmony. We have to work shoulder to with each other in complete bonhomie, And even in the midst of problems, difficulties, we have to keep our — each other — we have to engage in conversation, and we have to believe that there is co-existence. If we keep crying about our problems and brooding over it, then we cannot move forward. We have problems on border with China, but even after that, we have improved our trade relations, our political relations, our diplomatic relations with China.

And it is an effort that the problem, this one problem, about which the whole world is worried — and India has worried for the last 40 years — is terrorism, the problem of terrorism. This danger of terrorism needs to be taken very seriously, and I have to say it with regret that a number of countries in the world are — have never been able to understand the herculean and the draconian form of terrorism.

I had come in 1993 to State Department, and I was talking to the very senior officials of State Department and was talking about India’s terrorism, and State Department officials were telling me that this is your own law and order problem. I was trying to convince them that this is terrorism, but they were saying, no, this is law and order problem. They said, you don’t know how to run a government. You don’t have order. And I kept trying to convince. We had only 15 minutes. We talked for 1 ½ hours, but I could not convince them.

And when in ’93, when I came, they said, why don’t you sit together? And then we again sat together, and this time they were telling me what is terrorism. And they were telling me this because on trade center there had been an — a big explosion. That means that unless and until we have a bomb explosion, we don’t understand what terrorism is.

Because of terrorism, India — the world is facing a lot of problem. It’s going through a lot of pain. We have faced this problem for 40 years, and there is no limitation to this problem. It doesn’t follow any country. It does not know which country it will go to and when. It’s hard to estimate that. It’s such a — (audio break) — which we cannot ever even imagine. We cannot even imagine when we see it on TV a journalist’s throat is being slit. And we’re talking about 21st century humanity. (Audio break) — such a heinous crime is being committed in front of us. It can shake anybody — (audio break) — and as long as we don’t understand that — (audio break) — we can — (audio break) — and not take care of terrorism based on diplomacy only. Terrorism is an enemy of — (audio break) — humanity and anyone who believes in humanity, they all need to come together. The borders of the country, the casteism and communalism and all these things, we have to get over them, above them, believe in humanity. And we all need to come together and unite ourselves. Only then can we challenge the problem of terrorism. And for that, to challenge the problem of terrorism, no matter what the resources, there is only one single way. And we have to follow this one single way, and the world should understand this, that who all in believe in humanity should come join their hands.

We cannot weigh terrorism in different balances like this is good terrorism or bad terrorism. If the country that I like has terrorism, I don’t care, I just should close my eyes, and if the country that I don’t like has terrorism, then I should do something. No, that’s not how it should be. Terrorism is terrorism. There is no such thing as good or bad terrorism. And we branded like good and bad terrorism, then the terrorists are going to take benefit of that. Today the condition of West Asia that we see, they had prosperity in the last three decades if you see. They were so far ahead in their economy. But look at what the situation is now. And that is why this — these activities of humanity’s enemies, for that — for the world has to work together, in bonhomie, together with each other, and only then can we save humanity.

And when humanity walks on those — in that path, we talk about the benefit and welfare of everybody. We talk about that tradition and that philosophy. We are those people who had only learned one mantra in the — (inaudible) — era which has been said in Sanskrit here, and it means that we are the people — we’re — we want that everyone should be prosperous, and physically everybody should be healthy, everyone should be prosperous. This is the philosophy with which we have grown. Not only do we say that people who live in India should be prosperous. No, that’s not what we believe in. And that’s why we believe and like the prosperity of the world. And with that ideology, we are moving forward.

I am sure that India will move very fast towards progress. We are trying to encourage tourism. And I invite each one of you, please come and visit India. It’s a place to be seen, to be a visited. This is my mantra: Tourism unites, terrorism divides. That’s why I want that we should all meet each other that we should see — we should see each other and get to know each other, and the more we know each other, the more we will be benefited. I got the opportunity to comment between all of you, to meet all of you. I’m very grateful to you. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

RICHARD HAASS: Well, I want to begin by thanking the prime minister for those generous comments about this organization, about the Council on Foreign Relations, the overly generous comments about myself. And I want to thank him for extraordinary tour d’horizon. I couldn’t also help but think that India’s rocket may have reached Mars in less time that it took to go crosstown in New York this past week. (Muted laughter.) But that’s a problem here.

Let me begin, sir, with a — with a question on — begin with the economics — on trade, which as you know, is often cited as one of the principal locomotives or engines of economic growth. Yet India, since you became prime minister, decided not to go ahead and ratify the so-called Trade Facilitation Agreement. And as also India — also India is for the moment outside both APEC and the TPP negotiations. So could you say something about your view of trade and whether the domestic politics of India will allow you to pursue a liberal trade agenda?

PRIME MIN. MODI: (Off mic).

Q: (Off mic.)

PRIME MIN. MODI: (Through interpreter.) And the world has no problem with the fact that we have to take a positive stand with food security.

MR. HAASS: Do we have a microphone for this gentleman here? And just to sort of get the gist — (off mic) —

MR. : All right. Thank you. India is not at all opposed to the trade facilitation agreement of the WTO. We are absolutely clear in our mind with regard to our commitment to the WTO agreement on the trade facilitation. We also recognize very well that we have to work with the international community and rest of the world on this agreement.

I am personally against following populist policies or even populist economic approaches, but one must recognize that India ha