India’s persistent campaign for reforms in global institutions, like the UN, World Bank and the IMF, has borne fruit with the US nominating Indian-American Ajay Banga to the post of the World Bank President. Our Cover Story puts the issue in perspective, while explaining the significance of this welcome development. Banga, says our report, has a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing developing countries and how the World Bank can deliver on its ambitious agenda. We also have an interesting report on the ‘charm offensive’ launched by Banga, who is all set to hold the top post at the multilateral institution. A related report on this page cites a key G20 document to elaborate how India is geared up to spawn a new age of reforms in global financial institutions.
In our constant endeavour to add value to Blitz India content, we kick off a new series, called New India. As the title suggests, it will focus on stories of progress and growth that are underway in New India. The first in this series is about the Namami Gange Programme, which has proved to be a resounding success. Our special report, crafted with painstaking research, deals with the multiplicity of projects that are being undertaken under the NGP, the agencies, the manpower and the funds involved; and the multifarious achievements.
With PM Modi’s Mann Ki Baat nearing its century-episode mark, Blitz India has come up with a novel initiative – to organise live broadcast sessions of this popular radio programme in various prime locations in the country. The first session, held at the posh shopping centre of Khan Market in New Delhi, turned out to be a huge success. We share select pictures of the event in our Zoom-In section and carry the highlights of the PM’s talk-show on the Rising India page. Though he touched upon a whole lot of subjects, as always, PM Modi’s focus this month was on India’s digital strides. Our report lists some of these, while also including key quotes of the PM. A related report is about his applause for those behind the revival of an ancient tradition, ‘Tribeni Kumbho Mohotshav’.
The first minister-level dialogue under India’s G20 presidency – the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting – was quite eventful, as also highly successful from India’s point of view, and we cover it prominently.
The main report on G20 Podium is about PM Modi’s inaugural address, wherein he again highlighted that the image of global financial institutions had suffered and called for working towards restoration of “stability, confidence and growth to the global economy”. The meeting also presented first major challenge to India’s G20 presidency with Russia and China opposing any reference to Ukraine war in the joint communiqué, but India handled it deftly by coming up with a Chair Summary instead. Besides carrying a detailed report on this development, we have another report about Russia praising India’s efforts to make G20 presidency “fair” and inclusive of “interests and positions of all countries”. IMF chief’s laudatory comments about India’s growth in digital public infrastructure comprise our last report on the Podium, besides a bouquet of tweets.
Read all this plus our regular columns and the weekly news round-up.
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