The process of reforms is likely to face resistance, says Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Jacob Zuma at an informal BRICS meeting during G 20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia on
Brisbane: As he seeks to accelerate his economic reform drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said reform process is bound to face resistance and wanted it to be insulated from political pressures.
Making a strong pitch for economic reforms, Mr Modi told fellow G20 leaders at a retreat here that reforms should lead to simplification of processes and that methods of governance must be reformed.
“Reform is bound to face resistance, must be insulated from political pressures,” said Mr Modi. The Prime Minister also made it clear that reform has to be driven by the people and that it cannot be undertaken by “stealth”.
Asserting that reform must be people-centric and people-driven, he said globally reforms are handicapped with perception of being government programmes and a burden on the people and this needs to change. He felt that reforms should lead to simplification of processes and that governance methods must be reformed.
Noting that reform is a continuous multi-stage process and that it must be institutionalised, the PM said it must be technology driven and must have scale and address root causes. Meanwhile, more meetings are on the anvil for Mr Modi during the remaining days in Australia and Fiji, where he will be making a day-long visit.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters yesterday that Prime Minister Abbott had specially requested Modi to outline his vision for reforms at the informal meeting of G20 leaders at the retreat in addition to his intervention at the main summit.
The Prime Minister he is set to renew the country’s commitment at the G20 summit to a global response to deal with cross border tax avoidance and evasion. India is also expected to urge the G20 to pressure tax havens into revealing more information on black money from India to help retrieve this illegal money.
Besides Mr Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Jacob Zuma and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, were the other leaders who took part in the informal interaction.
PM bats for speeding up BRICS bank
Making a strong pitch for speeding up the creation of a Brics development bank, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that India hopes to ratify the agreement over the financial institution by year-end and 2016 should be set as the target for its inauguration.
“The historic 6th Brics Summit in Fortaleza delivered the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement. These signal our collective capacities to create and manage global institutions,” Mr Modi said at an informal meeting of leaders of the five-nation Brics bloc here.
“We propose that we should set the target of 2016 for inauguration of this Bank. We hope to ratify the agreement by the end of the year. We would soon nominate our candidate for the post of the presidency,” Mr Modi said.
India will hold the presidency of the $100 billion New Development Bank for the first six years. The bank will be based in Shanghai.
Join hands to fight terror: Modi
As the US leads a sustained campaign against the dreaded terror outfit Islamic State (IS), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said success against global terror is within reach if countries adopt a common strategy.
The call for a common strategy by Mr Modi came during his bilateral meeting with French President Francois Hollande on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. “Success against global terror is within reach if States adopt a common strategy,” Mr Modi told Mr Hollande.
Mr Modi’s remarks came against the backdrop of US defence secretary Chuck Hagel’s comments that the US-led air war against the the IS will intensify and that the American people must prepare for a long and difficult struggle.
IS is an Al Qaeda splinter group and it has seized hundreds of square miles in Iraq and Syria, declaring an Islamic Caliphate.
PM seeks global help on stash
As India makes attempts to retrieve the black money, the Prime Minister has already made it clear that close cooperation to retrieve the black money from abroad is a key issue for him.
The G20 meet host Australia on Friday vowed a “very aggressive” crackdown on tax avoidance. India is also seeking strong action by the group of 20 industrialised and emerging economies against tax havens.
“A key issue for me would be to highlight the importance of international cooperation against the menace of black money,” Prime Minister Mr Modi had said.
( Source : PTI )
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