Jaishankar urges diaspora to be part of India’s growth story

Johannesburg India is no longer "lumbering around at a relatively slow pace", External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said and urged the diaspora to be part of the country's growth story.

Speaking at a reception hosted by the Indian diaspora and expatriate community in Cape Town in his honour Saturday evening, he also spoke about the special relationship between India and South Africa, which would celebrate 30 years of new diplomatic ties. The minister was in the city with his counterparts from Brazil, Russia and China for the BRICS bloc's meeting hosted by South Africa.

"This is no longer the India that was lumbering around at a relatively slow pace. When it comes to digital, I can assert with a great deal of confidence, that I see practices (and) efficiencies in India which I don't see even if I go to Europe and North America," Jaishankar said. "This scale of change which is taking place in India, when we speak about the pace of transformation of these nine years, is really something that I think the Indian community abroad, the non-residents abroad and I would say even the friends and well-wishers of India abroad need to understand is something very powerful and very big that is going on," he said.

The minister said it is important that the diaspora and the people of Indian origin who live abroad also participate and have that sense of involvement in the change in India. Highlighting the achievements of the Modi government in its nine years in office through policy reforms and actions in various areas to raise the self-reliance of the Indian people, Jaishankar said this was not a protectionist effort. "A self-reliant India is not a protectionist India that is closing itself to the world. It is an India that is actually making more in India but making more for the world and making more with the world. "We are today actively trying to forge partnerships. One of the indices of success has been the growing amount of foreign direct investments we have attracted," the minister said.