India’s success in Unified Payments Interface (UPI), 5G stack, Covaxin and Chandrayaan, has enhanced the country’s image in the world and has made the world associate India with ‘talent’, the Union External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar said here today. 

He was speaking at the 20th National Summit of Young Indians (Yi), which is the youth wing of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). This year’s summit was on the theme ‘Take Pride 2023’. 

“India’s digital payments in a month,” the Minister said, “is more than three times that of the US in a full year,” and the audience went delirious. 

He said he was in the BRICS summit in South Africa along with Prime Minister Modi when the Chandrayaan landed on the moon. “I can’t tell you what an impact it made on the other participants.”  

When Jaishankar mentioned that holding G-20 meetings showed India’s “diplomatic talent”, once again there was an explosive applause. He went on to say that while G-20 meetings had been happening since 2008, those that took place during India’s presidency made the world look at it sit up and take notice. He pointed out that 230-odd meetings took place across 60 cities, with everybody chipping in—not just the government of India. “We did it with a panache,” he said. 

Speaking of his ministry’s achievements, Jaishankar said that ten years ago, there were 77 places where one could get his passport; today there are 527. He spoke of the Vande Bharat mission, the world’s largest civilian repatriation exercise, (in which 9.5 million people were brought into India during the Covid pandemic.) 

Relevance of the UN 

Later, in the questions and answers session, Jaishankar was asked about the relevance of the United Nations. He replied observing that there was a “mismatch between the state of the world and the institutions of the world.” 

While noting that “it happens in every walk of life”, the Minister pointed out that the UN Security Council does not have the largest country in the world (India), no representation from 54 countries of Africa or from the entire continent of South America. “But diplomacy is a patient profession,” he said, once again evoking mirthful laughter from the audience. 

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