“A New India is emerging which will be corruption-free, having no black money, people working hard and remaining sincere to their work. Whatever we have achieved in Singapore, we would like to achieve for India,” asserted Dr BK Modi, noted businessman and founder of Global Citizen Forum (GCF), while interacting with media persons in Singapore. He announced the launch of a series of events starting from August 9 to 15 to celebrate intrinsic economic and cultural ties between India and Singapore.
Talking about the concept of ‘New India’, Dr Modi said, “The term has been coined by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during March this year. It is a five-year programme and the process has already started from this year and will continue till 2022. We are creating awareness about the New India globally.”
He exhorted Singaporean companies to become a part in formation of ‘New India’ under the ‘Smart City’ initiative. Though India has announced plan of 100 Smart Cities but in the near future, about 1000 Smart Cities will be required. Singapore Airlines (SIA) has already become a part of the drive as it has already started flight services from many major cities of India for Singapore.
Giving an epithet of ‘Global Indians’ to the NRIs, he said, “Global Indians are Smart Indians who have been exported out of India. People export goods, but India is contributing to the growth of many nations by sending Smart Indians worldwide, including Singapore.”
Talking about changes taking place in India, Dr R Theyvendran, Chairman of SICCI ( Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry), said, “India is awakening from a deep sleep and people have become more active. They have faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He would lead India to the New India. Even, businessmen are putting their weight behind him.”
He added, “There is marriage between people and the leadership and they are driven by one direction, one vision and one goal.”
Dr BK Modi is the founder of Global Citizen Forum. It is a network of progressive ‘Global Citizens’, aiming for fostering a value-based, sustained world community by encapsulating the power of technology and globalisation. Headquartered in Singapore, GCF is committed to the cause of building a better planet based on the principles of interconnectedness, collaboration and unity.
When asked about the reason for forming Global Citizen Forum, he related an interesting anecdote about his granddaughter who happens to be a British citizen. She was a student in Indian school ‘Sanskriti’. Her classmates did not allow her to sit along with them citing her as a British citizen. Dejected, she came back and related the matter to her grandfather. The latter said, “Go back and tell them that you are a global citizen.”
Her grandfather’s mantra about global citizen worked wonders and she started sitting with her classmates.